To respond positively to Becky K.'s post about hospital's giving breastpumps.
 MANY hospitals do in fact dispense the manual kits at their cost exactly and
so there is no monetary incentive.  (And actually, it is a disincentive if
you consider the storage and manpower cost involved in the inventory aspect.)
 Furthermore, if I had half a penny for every mom I had talked to who gave up
on bf or had severe cracking or mastitis because they had to scramble out to
the toy store to get an ineffective pump (not having been dispensed a good
one at hospital) then I'd be a millionaire several times over.  These are
real moms with real engorgement or latch-on problems and if they don't have a
good pump when they leave the hospital (remember, only a fraction of primips
attend bf classes) then the likehood of them stumbling upon one in the
frantic first few days at home are slim to none.  Just as you would not
expect a surgery patient to leave without dressing, let us not expect our new
moms to suddenly learn to hand express or educate herself about good vs. bad
pumps when her baby can't latch on to rock hard breasts.  In a perfect world,
all new moms would attend prenatal bf classes (and follow advice to the
letter...), but alas that is, IMO, unrealistic.

Enjoying the chat immensely and thanks to all who wrote re: attaining
clinical hours,
Tammy Gharbi, [log in to unmask]