HI all,
I'm convinced that all moms (and dads, too) make the best decisions with the
information they had AT THE TIME.  Discovering new information later is
disconcerting, disturbing, even threatening - it's part of a grieving
reaction. "Monday-morning quarterbacking" is not unique to football coaches.
Nobody likes to consider the possibility that they did something less than
ideal.

When new information, or a different explanation is presented, please try to
stay objective and use your good brains to analyze it thoroughly.  "The worst
enemy of good technique is good luck."  Some of us got through a birth,
breastfeeding, family crisis with good luck, not good technique, despite our
best efforts to learn the "right" way to do things.

In our personal lives, we do the best we can.  However, when we are in a
position to teach principles of breastfeeding to others, we owe them no less
that the most up-to-date, best-researched, and technically accurate
information we can find - and we owe it to our audiences to LOOK  HARD for
all we can find on a topic.  It's not appropriate in any field to teach
personal preferences or trial-and-error solutions as fundamental principles.
 Teach the rule, not the exception.  Take teaching seriously, and do your
homework before you present management skills to a class.  Avoid saying "I
did...." or "I tell mothers to..."  Instead, use fundamental principles to
teach the core concepts, and as new information emerges, be prepared to
change your information.

I think the half-life of breastfeeding knowledge is about 5 years.  In the
year 2000, some of what we now "know" will be confirmed and expaned, and some
things will be thoroughly refuted.  (Remember "toughening the nipples" was
once thought to be excellent advice, and now we know it causes much harm.)
 Re-read an older book on breastfeeding if you doubt this concept.  I'm
amazed that I had so few problems with my babies given the bad positioning
taught in most books at the time (1970-75).

So, regarding thumbsucking and other topics - I encourage you all to keep an
open mind and use your analytic skills to help put new or different ideas in
the context of growth, not challenge.

Linda Smith, older and wiser as I approach 50.