Loretta writes: The problem is: we are writing policy. The very first paragraph comes directly from other sources that say something about supporting Bfing,etc. The head Ob-Gyn is adament about adding a paragraph stating " moms will not be forced to breastfeed. They are not to be made to feel guilty for formula feeding. They will not be coerced into breastfeeding." I am livid!!! Never do we force, or make guilty. We educate! Some of the other comm. members tried to re-word his paragraph after my uproar, and came up with "a mothers decision regarding the feeding of her infant will be fully supported." I fully understand your frustration. How would the dept. head respond to a statement like, "Breastfeeding mothers will not be forced to give bottles. They are not to be made to feel like they are causing more work for the staff by breastfeeding. They will not be made to feel they are going against the grain be breastfeeding. They will not be coerced into supplementing or giving up breastfeeding." or, "Bottle feeding moms will not be forced to use formula. They are not to be made to feel guilty for using regular store-bought cows' milk. They will not be coerced into using formula." Of course, the 10 steps do basically say that, but I wonder if that person would feel those statements are too strong. It's such a common misconception that Baby-Friendly forces moms to breastfeed. Nothing could be further from the truth. What is really does is to "level the playing field" and get rid of all the attitudes, information, etc. that made breastfeeding an "extra credit", lifestyle choice rather than a health choice. To draw on the satirical approach in that excellent post recently about sample packs, How about a statement like: "Heart (or pulmonary) patients will not be forced to avoid smoking. They will not be made to feel guilty about smoking. They will not be coerced into not smoking." Or perhaps our nurseries should have a policy stating, "Parents will not be forced into using a car seat. They will not be made to feel guilty for not using a car seat. They will not be coerced into using a car seat.", or better yet, "Bottle feeding moms will not be forced to use formula. They are not to be made to feel guilty for using regular store-bought cows' milk. They will not be coerced into using formula." It all goes back to a failure to recognize that there are real health issues involved in infant feeding choices. The attitudes the dept. head voiced show that he/she really doesn't believe the evidence that breastfeeding is a healthy choice and choosing to formula feed is a less than healthy choice. Until that point sinks in, I don't see any changing of these attitudes. Winnie *********************************************** 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