I just finished working on a post on the topic of herbal remedies.  It is 60
lines long and I have surmised that short posts are generally welcomed with
more enthusiasm.  I am going to abreviate it and if my shortened version
doesn't get my ideas across well, I will send the long version.  Is that a
threat?  "You get this or you will be hit with the BIG one."

We tend to fear what we don't know, don't we?  Some peds. don't want to be
told of the hazards of abm because they don't know how to assist a mother in
breastfeeding and they don't trust those who can.  They fear what they don't
know. Those who have a lot of experience with breastfeding babies aren't so
fearful of a problem's arising.  They work with it instead of giving up, or
they refer out.

Herbal remedies were here in the US when breastfeeding was the norm, and are
in countries where breastfeeding never became "abnorm."  There IS knowledge
about which herbs are helpful to breastfeeding and which should be avoided.
There are centuries of "testing." We can find those sources and educate
ourselves. I don't want to see us, as breastfeeding professionals, play into
the hands of pharmaceutical companies by declaring that if those
knowledgable aren't med. school trained then we can't trust them.  We need
to be informed or to refer out to those who are.

Let's not say, "If I don't know about it, it must be avoided."  We can
become informed.

We musn't live by absolutes.  "Some herbs are not safe for b'feeding mothers
therefore all must be avoided."  "Some drugs are not safe for b'feeding
mothers therefore all must be avoided." All, none, never always--we have
discovered in our work that those words have no place.  (I've even been told
that they have no place on the IBCLE exam that I will be calmly facing in 26
1/2 days.)

Pharm. companies want to keep the fear of herbs heightened, but remember
that the optimal health of our populace is not on the top of their agendas.
And they aren't a reliable source of our education.

Pharmaceutical drugs and herbal remedies and other complementary medicine
can and should co-exist for the health of our people.

We can become informed.

Pat Gima, IBCLC
Milwaukee