In a message dated 03/31/2000 1:44:30 AM Pacific Standard Time, [log in to unmask] writes: << When I was working with teenagers, I found that breastfeeding gave them "ownership" of their baby; this was something that only THEY could do, even if grandma was going to be taking over so mom could return to school. This aspect often appealed to them. Many, however, not having grown up with BF as the norm, could not conceive of the fact that the baby would "do that". If we could get into those high school health/child life classes, maybe we could get the word out that bf is a normal, healthy process (I know, I am looking for that ideal world again). >> Kathy, I agree that the ownership issue was a very attractive factor in attracting teen moms. I have had the pleasure and opportunity to work with the Pregnant Minors program for some of our local school districts. Some of those young moms and moms to be are amazing! They often come from horribly abusive backgrounds and we sometimes approach this breastfeeding/parenting busness as a way to not only provide their child with a better quality of life than they may have experienced, but to parent themselves through all the nuturing they give their babies. It certainly opens up a huge number of issues for possible disscussion. One of the great things is that as goes one of these young moms, so go many of the others and the BF rates of this group are higher than the county or stae averages by 2:1! Individual attention really seems to make major differences. Now all we need, is to clone all of these individuals in these programs so everyone who needs them could have access. That would be, of course, in that perfect world. Gretchen Andrews, BA, IBCLC private practice, Redlands, CA, USA *********************************************** 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