I'm back - after a long month in PICU, and a bout with pneumonia [and if I
owe you an email - etc and you don't  hear from me by next week I HAVE lost
you somehow]

I can't help but comment on the "pushy" issue.

Some thoughts:
-You can't make everybody happy all the time.
-How you deliver information is about 75% of what determines whether
someone "accepts" the information.

My Job as a pediatrician is to educate people so they can make choices for
their children's health and wellbeing.  It is not my job to make them
"comfortable" with a choice that is not in their child's best interest.  I
cannot force someone to put their 4 year old in a booster seat, or to
refrain from smoking around their child any more than I can make someone
breastfeed their baby.

It is my job to care for their child the best I can, regardless of the
choices the parents have made.  I can [and do] continue to educate parents
about all these issues - because there is still an opportunity for them to
make better choices at a future time.

I will support the parent's efforts, but I won't help justify a choice that
is not in their children's best interest "just because it is the choice a
parent has made".

That may qualify me as "pushy" - but I've found "pushing"  leads to
"progress".

Gail   (glad to be back after 8 weeks without Lactnet)
Gail S. Hertz, MD, IBCLC
Resident,  Dept. of Pediatrics
PSGHS Children's Hospital
Hershey  PA
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