Firstly, I want to thank all the wonderful listmothers for their ongoing help in running this list. Kathy Koch, Rachel Myr, Karleen Gribble, and Linda Pohl are the current team we have in addition to me.... I want to welcome Linda, as she is a new listmother, though an old friend to Lactnet. I also want to thank Karen Zeretzke and Melissa Vickers as outgoing listmothers. Without them, I never could have gone on all this time keeping Lactnet moving and grooving. They are wonderful friends and LCs and people, and LLLeaders, and I am indebted to all of these women for helping me to create and maintain this wonderful list. I think that Lactnet, since 1995, has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. It is like a drop in a giant bucket, moving with waves throughout the world, creating friendships and connections where none existed. I am now moving into a new venue peresonally... (still staying with Lactnet of course)..I am returning to hospital nursing, and IBCLCing... Relearning how to be a postpartum nurse in our local hospital, which is full of wonderful RNS and IBCLCs who do so much for our Vermont women. It's a pleasure and a privilege to work with them as I learn to come up to speed as a pp nurse/IBCLC. I still maintain my private practice here as well.... To welcome Linda, here is a little piece from her that describes where she began in breastfeeding. And, thank you all for participating in this list. I am proud and pleased to be associated with you all...as I continue to grow as a mother, a listowner, and an IBCLC. Love, Kathleen From Linda..... When I was maybe 6 or 7 years old, my sister and I were visiting my great-grandmother. She asked us to follow her into a back bedroom where my father's cousin was nursing her infant son. She said to us: "I want you girls to see this because I am afraid you may never see it again in your lifetime." That was the only child I ever saw nursing until my first son was born in 1984. When he was 16 days old, I went to my first LLL meeting and saw a child of maybe 15 months who was wearing (gasp) shoes, nursing. I was flabbergasted - I knew that your milk ran out when the baby was 6 months old. The women there had all kinds of odd idea. Some of them let their babies sleep in their beds. I had already heard that if you let them in your bed even once, you would never get them out. I stayed to the end of the meeting figuring that at least these people must have been breastfeeding experts and I was going to need that expertise since I had to go back to work at 4 weeks postpartum to my job as an engineer. Two weeks after returning to work, I went to another LLL meeting. All of a sudden that sleeping with your baby stuff sounded like a plan that might keep me sane. LLL grew on me and by the time my son was 4 months old, I wanted to help other mothers like I had been helped. I was accredited an LLLL in May 1988. I continued to study and passed the IBLCE Boards in 1993. I started a pump rental business that expanded into a full-service breastfeeding clinic with mother-to-mother support groups, lactation services and breastfeeding tools and devices. At its peak we had 4 IBCLCs and 28 staff in two locations in the Phoenix metropolitan area. I sold the business and had intended to start lecturing on an Engineer's Looks at Breast Pumps and Breastfeeding Devices. I had two paid lectures then received an offer of full-time employment. I was offered a job doing technical work around the world. My youngest child was ready to go off to college and my husband and I decided that I could not refuse the offer. I moved to India where I live now. My breastfeeding work is limited to a few local women on a volunteer basis and some -mail counseling. Grandma was wrong. I see a lot of babies nursing and hopefully that number will continue to grow. And that 16-day-old that I took to the LLL meeting, he weaned when his younger brother was 15 months old (and both were wearing shoes!) llp Linda L Pohl, IBCLC, RLC Kathleen Bruce RN IBCLC Independent consultant: Lactation Resources of Vermont, Medela, Inc. Listowner Lactnet listserv [log in to unmask] Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html Mail all commands to [log in to unmask] To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail To start it again: set lactnet mail (or [log in to unmask]) To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet or ([log in to unmask]) To reach list owners: [log in to unmask] *********************************************** Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html To reach list owners: [log in to unmask] Mail all list management commands to: [log in to unmask] COMMANDS: 1. To temporarily stop your subscription write in the body of an email: set lactnet nomail 2. To start it again: set lactnet mail 3. To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet 4. To get a comprehensive list of rules and directions: get lactnet welcome