The reason Alaska has the highest breastfeeding rate is due to the excellent IBCLCs living there, of course!

Seriously, I don't think it is the Native population in particular that has great numbers of breastfeeders and are probably less likely, even in small communities with Elders.    There is a problem in bush communities (no road acess) with supplies and air acess at times, but mothers don't always choose their feeding method because of that.  Many of the bush communities have a high alcoholism and sexual abuse rate which would not be condusive to breastfeeding.  

I think the reason people choose to live in Alaska contributes to increased breastfeeding. Independent thinkers, more adventurous, more into the wild life and living in nature are some of the qualities of many of those who choose to live in Alaska.  There are has direct entry and nurse midwives and home birth and birth center births are normal- no one blinks an eye.  Homeschooling is very commonplace and the home schoolers can live next door to a school, so that is not the issue. Breastfeeding is very acceptable to the general population and we don't ever hear of critism of breastfeeding in public.  Almost all of the hospitals have IBCLCs on staff.  WIC has contributed to the increased rate by training lots of their staff and pump support when necessary.

My view on the subject...
Terriann Shell, Big Lake, Alaska
PS I forgot to mention the Alaska Breastfeeding Coalition who has been putting on annual conferences with excellent, top-of-the-line speakers for fifteen years.


       
____________________________________________________________________________________
Boardwalk for $500? In 2007? Ha! Play Monopoly Here and Now (it's updated for today's economy) at Yahoo! Games.
http://get.games.yahoo.com/proddesc?gamekey=monopolyherenow  

             ***********************************************

Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html
Mail all commands to [log in to unmask]
To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
To start it again: set lactnet mail (or [log in to unmask])
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet or ([log in to unmask])
To reach list owners: [log in to unmask]