It's a pity this woman feels invalidated by new research.  Some thoughts:
    It isn't up to the mother to initiate breastfeeding in the first hour.  
For crying out loud, she just had a baby!  It is up to the caregivers to 
facilitate breastfeeding by getting out of the way and making sure baby and 
mother get that early skin time.  Relax, babies and mothers who don't get 
this early skin to skin and early breastfeed can go on to become champion 
nursers! It's just that research tells us, this seems to lead to more 
success for more mothers and babies more of the time.
    Likewise with sleep, when babies sleep close to their mothers they get 
more milk, more  milk is good! It is up to the caregivers and the experts to 
disseminate this info (it's not rocket science really) and up to the mother 
to choose the sleeping arrangements that work best for her family.
    What's all this about guilt? We are the best mothers we can be at the 
time.  We make our choices in the context of our own particular 
circumstances and we also make them in the context of the information we 
have,  both are always in flux I've noticed, evolving I hope.

New info need not invalidate us, only more fully inform the choices the next 
crop of mothers makes.At least that's what I think right now.
Kristen Panzer IBCLC

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