Dear all:

Just so you know that there is another type of old school pediatrician out there --- my 
playground connection who is long retired.  He saw the Atlantic article the day it came 
out and discussed it with me right after it was written.  He actually sees breastfeeding as 
the normal thing to do and considered Hanna Rosin's comments nonsense because of 
course we have evidence that its better than the alternatives. He thought the problem she 
was complaining about was not really about breastfeeding at all, but mothering.

He is a dear man who has adopted his grandchildren because unfortunately the parents 
are struggling through health problems.  I have no idea how old he is, but I think he's at 
least in his 70s.  He takes raising his grandchildren with great good humor and 
perspective and never complains the way many of the other parents do about his 
obligations even this late in life.  A few days after meeting him for the first time, he gave 
me a copy of a very early book on breastfeeding from the late 1950s.

Without knowing any of my qualifications at all, he invited me to give a talk at Cornell  
Med School merely because he knew I was trying to help mothers breastfeed and we had 
nice chats in the playground. The colleague that was in charge of getting speakers for the 
talk was equally gracious.

Now, they probably expected something different than they got, but did not get the least 
bit affronted by my provocative --- message of "challenging your assumptions" which 
included a dissection of the Tommy Thompson letter to debunk some of the formula 
industry strategies and how this has permeated the cultural thought processes about 
infant feeding.  

They seemed pleased and interested rather than taken aback by my talk.  

We also talk about how hard it is for pediatricians in New York City now.  The high costs 
of health insurance for parents and time costs for pediatricians who must provide care 
quickly and have more staff to ensure reimbursements has led to the demise of many a 
"small business" or single pediatrician practice and led to conglomerations of very large 
practices as a survival strategy.  I have seen a huge loss of the small practices in the last 
five years.  The same pediatricians are still working -- but now in groups of 10 or more.

My playground friend always practiced solo --- and like some others of his generation -- 
he looked funny and then realized it was true --- when I mentioned that I had noticed that 
some of the older pediatricians learned to talk the babies in addition to the parents.  It 
does not seem as common now.  

Susan Burger

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