While I as a midwife would prefer for every woman to have the support she needs in order to give birth without having the sensations of birth deadened by anesthesia, that is not always the point. If we enter the picture after baby is born, it is relevant to know what mother and baby have been through. Only then can we make a plan that takes their experience into account. If there has been an epidural or other pharmaceutical form of analgesia, we need to make room for EVEN MORE skin-to-skin than usual. We may also need to teach mother how to express colostrum and milk if baby is not latching well. I don't think it is productive with individual women to focus on how sub-optimal the course of events was before we got there. If we believe that epidurals are not compatible with successful breastfeeding, it is hard to convince a mother with BF difficulties that it would be worth her while to use the services of someone knowledgeable about BF. We all know it is in exactly such situations that support for BF is needed more than ever. So much about birth is warped by the setting in which it takes place. Breastfeeding is a robust process and it is not destroyed by any one factor. If we take a defeatist attitude, we sell mothers and babies short. This doesn't mean we should gloss over the side effects of epidurals that impact on breastfeeding. We should be honest with women, always. It simply means we should be aware of the side effects and know how to compensate for them. Rachel Myr Kristiansand, Norway Where I have spent most of the last week trying to help my friend with her extensive BF problems, after an undisturbed labor without any pharmaceuticals whatsoever, and nearly continuous skin-to-skin contact between mother and baby for the first 3-4 days, 24 hours a day, which has not led to baby latching well as yet :-) *********************************************** 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(R) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html