Heather wrote: >Our experience here is that generally, the mothers do breastfeed, but not 100 per cent successfully. They almost all start off bf, but according to my trainee, and my own conversations and observations, they start to pump very soon and give bottles of EBM, and then top up with formula very soon. Long-term unrestricted bf is very unusual - and the tendency is that the larger the family, the less time the baby gets on excl. bf....and the bf experience tends to worsen with the number of children because of this, not because of the age of the mother. Heather, one of the reasons for the early introduction of bottles is a concern about modesty. An orthodox Jewish woman avoids showing anything besides her hands and face in public, wearing long skirts and either covering her hair or wearing a wig. Even though it is perfectly possible to nurse a baby without showing anything, most will avoid even the possibility of exposing themselves by only nursing in private and/or giving bottles in public. Of course, this varies both with the degree of orthodoxy and the committment the mother has to breastfeeding. I know that there are many orthodox Jewish women here on Lactnet who can speak from personal experience. Norma Ritter, IBCLC private practice in Big Flats, NY [log in to unmask] ________________________________________________________________ YOU'RE PAYING TOO MUCH FOR THE INTERNET! Juno now offers FREE Internet Access! Try it today - there's no risk! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj. *********************************************** The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html