Yes Pat, all of us in Israel will tell you that we are all fighting the same 
battles.  The lactation problems do not change: too little/too much milk, 
pain, engorgement, tongue tie, interference from a generation of grannies 
who did not breastfeed; too many C-sections and epidurals, early return to 
work, not enough quality time for lactation counselling in maternity wards 
and health clinics.
We are still fighting against promotion of formula companies who advertise 
at all the hospital conferences, the food charities who donate formula to 
needy families but refused to support our idea of creating a breastfeeding 
hot-line  - I had 70 qualified lactation counsellors prepared to volunteer 
for that but no money to create the infrastructure. We are still battling 
for national milk banks.
The bad old days of separating mothers and babies for at least 24 hours have 
gone, many mothers are demanding zero-separation and many more mothers are 
motivated to breastfeed with support from their partners.  But after 45 
years here, training and working with counsellors, I would have expected 
more progress.
Take courage and persevere for every drop of mother`s milk that a baby gets 
is white gold.
Wendy Blumfield
Haifa 

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