Where I live, new mothers define their proficiency at breastfeeding by whether they can BF in a café. This does not mean 'discreetly' concealing the fact that they are BF. It means being so laid back that you just whip out a breast and plug it into the baby without losing a drop of your capuccino. The mothers who struggle with latch, or who are using shields, not to mention the ones who are dependent on pumping, just feel too awkward and clumsy to BF in public, so they lay low until they are good enough at it. Last week I had several contacts with a mother whose baby had lost a large amount of weight before learning to latch. She was finger feeding to get baby turned around and gaining, and gradually challenging her with a breast more and more. Last time I saw her I said jokingly she'd be ready to go to the café in just a few more days. She told me she'd already been... and then I heard about DISCREET. She'd zipped out to the ladies' room, expressed her milk quickly with the hand pump she carried in her bag, and returned to her husband and baby, and they finger fed the baby without anyone noticing. For her this was a real victory - she had enough energy to get out of the house despite the fact that she was having to pump on cue every time the baby was hungry. Also last week I met an immigrant woman who felt very uncomfortable breastfeeding when anyone else was around. Her husband had gotten her a BF cape and she was so happy! I was astounded that this tent-like piece of cloth, which is bound to attract much more attention and curious looks here than simply feeding the baby would, gave her the safety she needed to keep BF. But if she's happy, then I'm not complaining. I won't reveal where she was from, let's just say it isn't a country where women have to wear burkas or can't vote. Things are far from perfect here. But breastfeeding is still the norm, and I do so appreciate that. Women here don't breastfeed because it's the best, at least not primarily. They breastfeed because in most cases it's the easiest. I've lost track of how many mothers who have been involuntary bottle feeders previously, have given the inconvenience of bottle feeding as their strongest motivator for getting BF to succeed the next time around. Rachel Myr Kristiansand, Norway trying to restrain myself from posting any more today *********************************************** To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest) To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet All commands go to [log in to unmask] 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