Hi -- My name is Elizabeth Steiner.  I'm a Family Physician in Portland OR,
doing good old-fashioned womb-to-tomb medicine.  Lots of maternity care,
kids, etc.  I'm known in my community as "the breast feeding maniac" and I'm
proud of it!  75% of my moms are still BF at 6 months (I know, not something
to brag about in lots of places, but unfortunately pretty good in the U.S.).
I BF my 3 y/o for 15 months (she weaned herself :-(  ), and am now home
full-time w/ my 3 m/o.  I'll be going back to work in October as faculty at
the local medical school and look forward to getting ideas from all of you
about how to teach med students and residents to be BF friendly.

I have to comment on the pumped breast milk issue for working moms.
Admittedly, I have a bias on this since I did it myself for a full year, but
I think that while in many ways it would be optimal for all moms to be home
w/ their babes for the 1st year or so, it isn't currently a reality in our
culture.  By pushing the issue that pumped isn't as good as direct, we risk
having some moms feel that they might as well give formula instead, which I
think we'd all agree would definitely be worse than EBM.   Currently, my goal
w/ working moms is to use my example to show them that it is very possible to
maintain a good BF relationship w/ their baby for as long as they both want
to, and that it is so much better for both mom and babe to do so.

Look forward to participating in this list!  TIA for all the advice I know
I'll be getting from all of you to help women and babies in my part of the
forest.

Elizabeth Steiner M.D.

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