Kathleen, these are very **basic** positive things, but sometimes I think
the basics are the key.

1) Last week, I surfed over to the website for the Alabama Department of
Public Health.  http://www.alapubhealth.org/

I loved reading about the "Healthy Alabama 2000" goals which included 75% of
newborns being breastfed. But then I checked the "Newborn Care" pages and
was disgusted to see graphics of bottles-- LOTS of bottles-- and very little
info on breastfeeding. I wrote the webmaster, pointing out the contradiction
and expressing my concerns. I got a really quick response-- and now the
bottle graphics are gone and I can hope the bf info will be added, can't I?

2) We had a yard sale yesterday. We had lots of baby/kids clothes, toys and
gear, so we saw lots of mommies and grandmas. We talked breastfeeding quite
a bit-- heard lot of good stories and not one mention of Chicago Hope.

3) and maybe the one that matters the most, to me anyway. My 8-year-old
brought home one of those viruses. She was really sick for about 36 hours,
couldn't keep anything down, missed three days of school. Yesterday my still
nursing 2-year-old burped loudly in his carseat, and when I turned to look
-- well, you can guess I suppose. Glad we were parked at the time! That was
a first for him, and he was pretty disgusted by it. He obviously didn't feel
well the rest of the day, is a little pokey and grouchy today, but he hasn't
vomited again, and I'm not worrying about getting him to drink clear liquids
and eat small amounts-- I'm just breastfeeding him.

One mother a a time, one baby at a time-- heck, one website at a time. Our
influence CAN outweigh the worst kind of propaganda. I must believe that.
Joanne Hamilton
Foley, AL
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