I am reading Dr. Jack Newman's book, The Ultimate Breastfeeding Book of Answers, and he comments on the AAP's policies: "In December 1997, the AAP put out a statement which, in addition to other positive comments about breastfeeding, encouraged mothers to breastfeed exclusively to about the middle of the first year and to continue, with the addition of appropriate foods, to a year and then for as long as the mother and baby desire. No upper limit is mentioned, which was done deliberately. Even the Canadian Paediatric Society has written in its most recent infant feeding statement that mothers should breastfeed exclusively for 4 to 6 months and then continue to 2 years and beyond..." (p.412) I found Dr. Newman's take on this very interesting: he is saying that their wording was specifically chosen to help break down barriers surrounding extended breastfeeding by not placing limits or stating a maximum time for breastfeeding. Every little word counts when we are trying to reach every mother. Christine Staricka, CLE Healthy Mothers Healthy Babies Comfort Line Project, Kern County, CA *********************************************** 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