I think Dawn Martin gave you some great answers. I would say doulas need to know that bf should be UNRESTRICTED. Babies and mommies should be together and nursing since birth. The doula should know what optimal positioning and latch are so she can assist and improve if needed on the mom's "technique" (for lack of a better word). She should know what the signs of effective fdg are (you know, swallows, satiety, pees and poops)and what the signs of ineffective fdg are (you know red flags like no swallows, low number of pees, poops, and stools not changing, jaundice, nipple trauma). Then of course she needs to know who/where to refer if needed for further help than she can provide. Laurie Wheeler, IBCLC, MN, RN Violet Louisiana, s.e. USA _________________________________________________________________ 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