<I cringed when I read this: >Because of what was going on inside of me, I avoided my very dear LLL >friends for 8 whole months because I didn't want to hear any >encouragement after I had made my firm decision to feed formula.> I regret that my memories made you cringe, Kathy. I was simply affirming Heather's idea that these feelings often emanate from INSIDE mothers themselves. I was claiming and reporting truthfully ("confessing") the feelings that I remember went on inside of me 30 years ago. This was in relation to some very close friends whom I had developed through LLL and Dayton CEA during the previous decade. To this day, one of them is a valued co-worker whom I claim as one of my very best friends (And I might add, I salute her as one of the very best LC's in the this state, and probably the nation!) It was just simply *my own reaction*, my own stuff that perhaps developed inside of me because of my own too zealously expressed, unrealistic, unwisely articulated standards earlier when I myself had once been working within LLL. I'm glad that your feelings were different. < No one ever made me feel bad that I was formula-feeding my son, or had only been able to breastfeed for 4 months.> No, I did not mean to convey that. I firmly believe Eleanor Roosevelt hit the nail on the head when she said "No one can make you feel inferior without your permission." Trouble is, I didn't know that at that time when I was age 41. In the long run, I have found it was a good lesson in humility that, to this day, continues to help me when I interact with mothers. (Thanks, Lord. I needed that!) Took me down a peg or two since. Without some of my personal negative memories, I wouldn't be doing what I am doing today. They have helped me to value that every mom is doing what she feels best for her child within her own personal situation. < I would hope that people don't shy away from LLL meetings just because they have made a decision to formula-feed. And of course I would hope that LLL members would never fault a mother for using formula, regardless of her reason.> My hopes too. Jean ***************** K. Jean Cotterman RNC, IBCLC Dayton, Ohio 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