Jennifer, Your organization sounds great! What a wonderful concept! Why is it non-profit? Or do I misunderstand? Is it a fee-for-service organization that figures in only salaries and overhead? Here is my $.02 worth: <Understanding of and ability to teach moms Proper positioning/Latch on techniques.> I'd be more specific and mention the concept of off-center latch. I'll wager oodles of people think they can look and say "Oh that latch is ok." yet not know anything about the off-center concept. (See "Bestfeeding" below.) And knowing the Marmet method of fingertip expression and how to teach the mom so she can use it to soften the areola prior to latching during engorgement. Two greatbooks for helpers are "Bestfeeding:Getting It Right For You" by Renfrew, Fisher and Arms. "Helping Mothers to Breastfeed" by Felicity Savage-King. This one was published by the African Medical and Research Foundation in Kenya in 1992, and though a few places in the book (equipment, etc.) may seem less sophisticated than the norm for other cultures, on the whole, the info is excellent, and the approach of preparing the helper seems exactly what you might be looking for. One more thing comes to mind: Understanding the importance of the MER in milk transfer and how to explain it simply and teach the mother to trigger it manually if need be. MER, according to veterinary sources, is THE most important force in milk transfer. So many health care providers don't seem to know that, hence the widespread use of pumps when fingertip-expression when needed in the early days would be much more productive. Along with that, "breast compression" advocated by Dr. Newman. But if his book is required reading, you already know that! Good Luck. 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