Especially to Melissa, Maureen, Linda Pohl, and Linda Smith,

        We have all experienced the situations we wouldn't wish on any other
Lactation advocate.  You know the kind I'm talking about.  Those crisis level
situations where nothing you do (even referral!) seems to help, or the
situation where baby has extremely weak suck, and although mom was so
pro-nursing at first;  but she had no idea that she would have to work sooooo
hard to help this baby.  I know that 99.5% of the time we can get mom and
baby together--beautifully!  However, there are also some moms who could make
it, but emotionally they can't get past the failure mode.  In some cases, we
have to accept what a difficult climb that is.  We all know moms who were
very successful with one, two, three, maybe even four babies prior to the one
they are dealing with--and then all of a sudden, mom is having tremendous
difficulties with this particular one.

      Many of us have heard Ruthy's story about her son.  How many Ruthy's
are there?  Many other women in her circumstances would have thrown in the
towel.  Do we condemn them?

     We all have to understand that our triumphs and loses really are the
mothers'  triumphs and loses.  I recently went through an episode with a mom
who has what we would call the perfect profile.  She went through natural
childbirth, put baby immediately to breast.  To make a long story short, baby
only latched on in my presence with intense effort.  There were no pacifiers
or bottles involved.  It was an intense experience.  Mom gave up at one
month.  This is one of those moms who may hear condemnation for ABM feeding.
   Is this okay?   Debbie Albert IBCLC