Hi Betsy and all
It seems that I have not made myself clear.  You have said, "it is a gross
exaggeration to assume that most ongoing education of nurses is given by
formula companies. That is simply not true."
What I said was "most docs and nurses here have ZERO preservice training in
breastfeeding management and their in-service training is provided by
formula companies."   While that may not be the case where you live, it most
certainly is true here.  There are two maternal and child health nurse
conferences held in Victoria (sth eastern state of Aus) each year.  One is
run by VicHealth. (and there are plenty of non-code-compliant reps at the
trade stall) The other is run by Wyeth.  This situation is not very
different in other states.  The large MCH conference held in NSW this year
had no breastfeeding topics or seminars and the gifts I received from the
artificial feeding industry made my skin crawl.
In pointing this out, I am not entering into an us vs them conversation.  I
have the utmost respect for those health care professionals that are doing
the very best they can with what they have.  My point, is that, for the most
part, here is Australia, they have very little education in breastfeeding
management.  I am in no way denigrating medical professionals.  I am simply
pointing to gaps in their training.  I love the ABM and everything it stands
for.  I totally agree with Dr Wight's observation that Docs are socialised
to be unwilling to ask what they see as a 'stupid' question in front of
non-docs and that an ABM allows them to learn in an environment where they
feel safe.  We are all entitled to that.
I hope that clears things up
Nina Berry BA/Bed(Hons) Dip Arts(Phil)
Breastfeeding Counsellor
PhD Candidate - "Ethical Issues in the marketing of 'Toddler Milks'"

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

To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest)
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
All commands go to [log in to unmask]

The LACTNET email list is powered by LISTSERV (R).
There is only one LISTSERV. To learn more, visit:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html