>Interesting stuff.  What happens in other ('Westernised') countries where
>breastfeeding rates are high?  eg Norway?  Australia?  Are attitudes to
>parenting/ children different there?  Were they always like this?  If they have
>changed, how have they changed?

In Australia, there is a similar medicalisation to a degree, but I think it
is less than in US, possibly because we have a government run system of
Child Health Centres staffed by child health nurses, as opposed to mothers
attending paediatricians for monitoring their babies' progress. These
nurses have qualifications in midwifery and child health and are focussed
on healthy babies' development rather than disease, as our paediatricians
tend to be. Although they do not *always* give the best breastfeeding
management advice (according to our standards), in most cases they are more
knowledgeable than a lot of MDs including paediatricians. Our society also
seems to be more accepting of breastfeeding being the best. The vast
majority of mothers, at least in Western Australia, initiate breastfeeding
- it's the fallout rate that concerns us the most, as many stop very soon
after going home. In fact there seem to be quite a few who initiate
breastfeeding to avoid criticism by staff in the hospital, and who switch
to the bottle when they get home because they didn't want to breastfeed. I
don't know that attitudes have changed that much in recent years. Perhaps a
bit more acceptance of breastfeeding issues in the media.

Joy Anderson IBCLC, NMAA Breastfeeding Counsellor
Perth, Western Australia
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