I don't even want to get into the debate about whether a longer stay in the hospital is detrimental or helpful to the breastfeeding relationship. I do want to comment that a mother is always eligible to stay in the hospital as long as her doctor thinks it is necessary, whether or not the insurance company pays for it. The mother will have to pay the bill, of course, but that is perfectly reasonable. One of my pet peeves is people who think they have NO OPTION if the insurance company won't pay. They seem to forget, or not to realize, that they can just pay for it themselves. And yes, of course I realize that some people can't afford it. But I'm referring to theidea that some people have that they literally CANNOT have something if their insurance company won't pay for it. Like, "I can't get the medicine my doctor prescribed because it's not on my insurance company's formulary." I've seen more than a few people be flabbergasted when I told them that of course they could get it -- they take the prescription to a pharmacy, and they write a check for the cost. Sometimes medical care and medication costs are out of reach, but often they are not. And perhaps people would be willing to pay out of their own pocket -- they just don't seem to realize this is an option. Kathy Dettwyler _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp *********************************************** 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