This is by way of being good news/bad news.

Last Friday, I was interviewed by the local NBC tv affiliate, and the piece aired in the
*healthwatch* section of the 5o'clock news on Monday. They had taken up my suggestion about
promoting breastfeeding, not as a reponse to the Chicago Hope episode (right! yeah! we
believe you!), but as a public service. Anywaaaaaaay......

When the tv van stopped at my door, I saw right away that the reporter assigned to the
piece was conspicuous by his absence. Actually, I was quite relieved, because he is a
rather slick and smarmy young man. In his place they sent a *mere* cameraman, who turned
out to be quite charming. He came armed with a piece of paper on which had been typed the
questions he was to ask me.

When he had set up his camera in my office, he looked at the paper, and hesitantly asked if
he might just ad lib. He explained that in his opinion, the questions *were silly - had to
have been written by a guy!*  The first one, for instance, was, *What if the baby doesn't
like the taste of breastmilk?*  We both giggled over that one!

So, we just sat and chatted about breastfeeding - the things that new mothers need to know,
where to get information and help, the father's role, AAPL recommendations, etc., etc. I
thought it went pretty well. My main concern was how they would EDIT what I had said. I
really worried about that!

On Monday, I sat close to the VCR, chewing my nails. Talk about nervous! The *Healthwatch*
section opened with the regular local doc talking about how wonderful breastfeeding was.
Then they showed half a dozen shots of nursing mothers and babies, including one on the
delivery table, and one of a toddler :)) I especially liked the way nobody commented on the
toddler nursing. Then there was a shot of me talking about the benefits of bf - but they
cut me off before I could name any! I only got to say that there were many benefits.  Then
the voice over talked about how some mothers feel embarressed nursing in public, and this
was followed by me explaining how it is best to wait to introduce a bottle until the baby
has learned how to nurse....well, you can see how that was almost certainly interpreted to
suggest using a bottle in public!

Then there we shots of me talking  to a mother on the phone, then back to the doctor, who
gave a nice plug to LCs.

The thing that upset me the most was that I mentioned LLL several times, and NONE of them
appeared in the final version, although they did show a glimpse of an LLL publication,
*Breastfeeding does make a difference.*  And I know that this is silly, but I hadn't
realised quite how many freckles I have till I saw them all in living colour on a 17"
screen! And the bags under my eyes! Maybe I should have worn makeup after all...

The next day, my 17 yrs old *baby* came home from school telling me how all her friends had
seen me on tv.
 *What did they think*,  I wanted to know.
 *Oh, they said you were cute!*
CUTE? What about what I SAID?
*Oh, they know all that stuff about breastfeeding already from me!*

hugs from Norma, who is smiling in Big Flats, NY

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Norma Ritter IBCLC <[log in to unmask]>
"If not now, when? If not us, who?" R. Hillel