Washington Post: I am writing about your article "When Breastfeeding Fails" which I read online. I agree that mothers feel like failures or feel guilty when they don't "successfully" breastfeed. They grieve the loss of it. What you don't mention is that these same mothers WISH THEY WOULD HAVE SUCCEEDED. They just didn't have the help they needed. Maybe the ONLY solution they were offered was to "give a bottle of formula." Your article states that "part of the issue...is the difficulty getting lactation counseling once mothers leave the hospital. A study ...found that only 1 percent of the women were given breast-feeding assistance after the birth." This could be remedied by utilizing mother to mother support groups and other peer counselors, and board certified lactation consultants. While I acknowledge that some women and babies have physical reasons that make full breastfeeding impossible, I also know that most breastfeeding failures are the result of misinformation, mismanagement, lack of support, and downright sabotage of breastfeeding - from the moment of birth, if not before. Peer and professional breastfeeding helpers are very aware of how mothers feel when they cannot breastfeed or their breastfeeding relationship is cut prematurely short. They are disappointed, devastated, hurt, and angry - at the plastic surgeon who said it wouldn't affect breastfeeding, at the nurse who said to nurse only 5 minutes each side, to the neighbor who said bleeding nipples were normal, and to the doctor who said you must wean because you must take this antibiotic. And all of this is a crying shame. Laurie Wheeler, RN, MN, IBCLC Board certified lactation consultant [address, phone omitted here] ________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com *********************************************** 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