Dear Yaffa in L.A. & Judy in Israel:
   (forgive me, Judy - I believe I addressed a comment to you as Segev,not
realizing that your husband's e-mail address is Segev Levy, right? sorry!)

Living in '3rd' world country...or whatever we are called, I must make it
very clear that there are no electric breastpumps in the almost 1 million
pop.capital city of Merida, nor are they used extensively in this country.
It is hands-on for most folks.

Nor do we use supplementers (feeding devices with tubes taped to the
breasts) although when I explained to one of the pediatricians at a gov't
hosp. what they were like, his eyes lit up....and we got all excited about
how if I brought one back of the U.S. this summer we could try to
'jury-rig' (invent) one from other materials, etc. since purchasing these
types of items are beyond local $$$ capacity.

Re:gloves
Cost again is what comes into consideration in a developing country. At the
best private hosps. here in Merida I daily see the nurses setting out the
'sterilized' *used* rubber gloves for re-use. I realize that these
practices must give those of you who work in the well(over?)-equipped U.S.
environment the shivers...but this is the economic reality in other
countries.

A good friend ,who is a MSN and Phd.in Ed. at Loyola Univ.School of Nursing
in Chicago,who goes each year to Belize to assist their nursing school,
tells me tales of catheter tubes being re-used, etc.etc.  In other words,
ideal conditions of sterilization and  throw-away supplies are not the
reality outside of the U.S./Canada, etc.

Judy, you said you wanted to hear from me, well - after my previous silly
posting about the t-shirts, I'm singing a very different tune, aren't I.
As I read all your wonderful and technically oriented postings (which I
learn tons from) I realize how much I am out in the boonies as far as
complex situations go...and yet how luckily close I am, to 'back to nature'
breastfeeding practices. We never got technical here - so many of your
concerns seem confusing to me. And yet I need to know it all.

Forgive me for perhaps sounding a bit disoriented... Rather, it's that I
realize that I am just scratching the surface as I learn about BF and LC
expertise

The beauty of LactNet is that we all come from varying backgrounds.

love,

Roberta