Becky, and lactnetters,
    I just had a look at the website you mentioned (below).  I see what you
mean - there are a number of obvious points I'm sure we would all want to
mention, e.g. that breastfeeding exclusivity conveys a darn sight more
protection than giving *alien* milks along with breastmilk.  (Some good
recent studies.)
    One point I'd just like to raise here is the website's preoccupation
with "some parents" who "need" to know exactly how much their baby is
getting.   Now this is what I would call a TAUGHT concern.  It would be a
good bet that most first-time parents wouldn't have a clue how much their
baby "should" be getting.  That is, not till someone starts creating doubt,
"can you be sure how much the baby is getting?" What websites like this
should be doing is educating parents that it doesn't matter a hoot to know
how many exact millilitres, but simply to know (from the baby's signs) that
s/he is getting *enough* - whatever "enough' might happen to be.
     I never read Spock when I was having my babies (1965-1969), but got his
1945/46 edition on inter-library loan a few months ago.  While he was less
than perfect on breastfeeding, he did offer Mums a range of options, rather
than the prescriptive, by-the-clock, on-the-dot, train-'em-from-birth type
of advice that was common in other books.
      I found this little gem in the 1945/46 edition.  Does anyone know
whether he kept this in subsequent editions, or was it left out?  Spock
wrote:
              The main disadvantage with bottle-feeding, to
             my mind, is that the mother can see how much
             formula is left.... You mustn't get the idea that
             your baby has to have a certain amount at
             each feeding.... If you can trust a breast-fed
              baby to take what he needs, you can trust a
              bottle-fed baby, too. (p. 80)
   I hope those of you who were working last night at least had an easy
night, and maybe even saw the fireworks.
      I know calendars are arbitrary things - if some other starting date
had been chosen for this one, we wouldn't be at the year 2000 yet, or we
could be long past 2000.  So I'm not getting excited about this particular
line across the sand.
      Best wishes,
                 Virginia
                  Virginia Thorley
                   Brisbane

             ***********************************************
The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html