As a visiting nurse in a maternal and childhealth program, I often visit a
mom recently home with her new baby, who *wants* to breastfeed, but hasn't
yet. I get very frustrated at the lack of support they get from our local
hospitals, most of these moms are on welfare and medicaid.
     I ask them, if they went to a party and someone brought out a plate of
homebaked chocolate chip cookies in one hand and a plate of storebought ones
in the other hand, which would they chose? Most of the time, they say the
homemade. I then point out that if the baby had the choice, don't they think
the baby would chose the homemade kind too!
    I remember hearing this someplace, but can't quite remember where. I just
love it and use it often. Thank you to whoever that was.  Now I have some
more to add to my talks on breastfeeding.
    I  used this one just the other day. I had to visit a 17 year old mom,
living with her mom and newborn in a homeless shelter. She was giving
formula, no cooking facilities but a small refrigerator. The baby was 10 days
old when I made my first visit, and had never had the breast. With some
simple instructions, and help with positioning, this baby latched on and
nursed for about 15 minutes, like he had been doing this his whole 10 days of
life. Unfortunately, when I returned a week later, it was the only time she
had nursed him. You can bet, that before I left, he was nursing again. This
time I used some of the analogies I learned here
    I have learned so much from all the wonderful contributions of
lactnetters. Thanks all!!
Warmly,
Roni Chastain, RN, LCCE, FACCE
Long Island, New York

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