I work in a clinic as a charge nurse and one of the things that I do is
to counsel every mother that walks in the door with a newborn baby that
is breastfeeding (I'm also a I.B.C.L.C.).  I also follow up with a
weight check at 1 week to give the mothers confidence.  They also get
literature and a list of support groups in the area.  I keep statistics
for quality assurance and this practice has increased the duration of
our breastfed babies, but not enough to satisfy me.  We're still getting
to many supplementing for all the wrong reasons.  It's so frustrating!
Well now I'm in school for nurse practitioner and doing clinicals where
I work.  Guess what I'm beginning to notice - that when I counsel moms
in the "practitioner student role" while and after I examine their baby,
they seem to be coming back totally breastfeeding more often without
supplementation.  This certainly supports the documented literature on
support & breastfeeding.  I know that the doctors and practitioners
where I work have certainly become more supportive to breastfeeding
mothers since I've been there and also since they've had to listen to me
counsel moms over & over again.  Imagine what a difference we could make
by targeting these health professionals.