Hi all!  I see a few familiar names, but so many new faces! I'll give what I
hope will be a very brief introduction.  My name is Anne Varberg, and I live in
Minneapolis, Minnesota where I have returned to the University of Minnesota to
complete my undergraduate degree in Family Social Science.  My dream-plan is to
go on to graduate school in the area of family policy.  My daughter just turned
4 last month and has decided she is a grown-up..sigh...almost never asks for num
anymore.  I've been busy lately looking into school options for her, but it
looks like it will be best to just keep her at her Montessori program for
another year and then try for a 1st grade placement in public school.  We'll see
what happens!

Here's my request...I'm taking a research methods class and have chosen the
graduate grading option for which I have to write up a "dummy" research
proposal.  If any of you could point me in some good directions for my
literature review I'd be very appreciative!  Breastfeeding so often still does
not seem to get referenced properly in the databases, and often the journals are
not as widely available.  The U of M's med school doesn't yet subscribe to
Breastfeeding Abstracts, even.  My topic of interest is effectiveness in terms
of breastfeeding duration of support groups and classes, and whether including
spouses and significant others makes a difference in outcomes.  Another part of
putting together a study like this is considering where to conduct such a study,
whether through WIC programs, LLL, or hospital-based services.

A couple cool things here in Minneapolis..kudos to anyone here on the list who
was behind these efforts!  There's a new initiative here to promote
breastfeeding in Black American families called Ummi Zawadi.  I got to attend
the kick-off event last summer and it was wonderful :)  And WIC here I think had
a way cool billboard here in North Mpls...absolutely beautiful!  Got to see it
every morning driving to school..."Loving Support Makes Breastfeeding Work".  Is
this campaign local only or all over?

Glad to be back!
Anne in Mpls