No doubt in response to Ricki Lake's documentary "The Business of Being Born," the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has issued a statement against homebirth.  The statement is unreferenced, implies that birthing at home is a fad, suggests that much or most of the blame for the rising C-section rate lies with women themselves, and says in several different ways that the only safe place to birth is in a hospital-type setting.

While neither the ACOG statement nor the documentary directly addresses breastfeeding, the connection between increasingly medicalized birth and increasing difficulty establishing breastfeeding hasn't been lost on any of us.  I'm sure various birth and breastfeeding groups will be coming out with referenced rebuttals - certainly easy enough to do.  For those of you who want to join the fun, here's their statement:

http://www.acog.org/from_home/publications/press_releases/nr02-06-08-2.cfm

Diane Wiessinger, MS, IBCLC  Ithaca, NY  USA
www.wiessinger.baka.com

             ***********************************************

Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html
To reach list owners: [log in to unmask]
Mail all list management commands to: [log in to unmask]
COMMANDS:
1. To temporarily stop your subscription write in the body of an email: set lactnet nomail
2. To start it again: set lactnet mail
3. To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
4. To get a comprehensive list of rules and directions: get lactnet welcome