I want to clarify my opinion about nurse-ins. I am ethically supportive 
of moms who want to take whatever approach makes sense to them. That 
does not mean we should not be able to have a discussion about whether 
or not such a tactic is effective and it does not mean that it is 
effective. I would also think that anyone who reads this board 
regularly knows that I have been personally labeled  "radical" on a 
regular basis. I don't think going quietly about our business is 
effective or even ethical. I remember when my oldest two children were 
very little hearing Peggy O'Mara speak--she said that we all have an 
obligation to speak the truth on behalf of children. I believe she is 
correct.  I think the physical and psycho-emotional well-being of 
children is so important that all HCPs have an obligation to behave 
like radicals and activists in the service or normal physiology and 
breastfeeding. I would rather see someone err on the side of passion 
than hide under a rock in the service of the status quo, the 
institutional hierarchy or perhaps even their own jobs. Still I do not 
think nurse-ins such as this are an effective tactic and I think that 
the combined intelligence and passion of these women, who, thanks to 
the internet cannot be silenced or divided any longer can be far more 
effective when directed in other ways. Pressure needs to be placed on 
policy-makers, corporations and the health care system--repeatedly. 
Accurate information needs to be disseminated--there is so much more 
useless and even harmful information on the internet and elsewhere than 
there is accurate info. It is much easier to respond to a crisis than 
it is to be persisitent is demanding and creating change.

On another note--a Lactnetter said she felt there was a relationship 
between this issue and those of us who are opposed to another 
professional certification lower than  IBCLC. I am opposed to a lower 
certification and I am very much a radical on health care issues. I 
agree that we need more women to help other women breastfeed, but this 
is just more and more institutionalization of breastfeeding. I would 
rather see more peer counselors and an end to the medicalization of 
birth. Right now I find it apalling that women are having the depth of 
breastfeeding difficulties that they are--because of signifant birth 
trauma to mother and baby. IMO, we are trying harder and harder to put 
out fires and accepting that the fires are inevitable. Well, if that is 
the direction we are going in--we are going to need more skill, not 
less skill to get these babies to breastfeed. So, again, I would rather 
see the energy going into changing the system--not tweaking it, but 
turning it upside down.
Jennifer Tow, IBCLC, CT, USA

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