HOSPITAL GIFT PACKS One thought on hospital gift packs. Part of the reason why they are given and why the need to get something without ABM ties is that the hospitals compete with who has the best gift pack. Ever see some of the local baby publications out there with hospital ad? They talk about their great hospital rooms, classes, and "free gifts" that you get when you leave. The hospitals want something to play up so they can get that insurance $$$. My dh works at a local hospital and they worry because they only fill about 40% of their beds and laboring women are comsumers. GOOD MDS On this thread I would like to add my FP. I began seeing this doctor when I was in high school and kept him. Since he was a FP I started taking my kids to him also. He didn't start out this good I (and his wife and kids) trained him well. With kid #1 all bf babies needed cereal at 4 months for the iron. With baby #2 nothing until 6 months. She's not eating, no problem some kids don't eat solids until 9 months. (His children are the same age as mine.) When my daughter wasn't gaining (was way below the 5th percentile in weight) he said since she was healthy, happy, and following developmental milestones she was fine. The fact that she didn't double her birthweight until the age of 18 months didn't bother him at all. He was happy that my homebirth came out well, and knows I rarely give my kids antibiotics for ear infections, he knows they clear up on their own the majority of the time. He also has many patients who don't immunize, use homeopathics, and don't do the PKU after homebirths. So that is why I make sure we pick the health insurance plans that let me use him. Felicia Henry Bradley Instructor La Leche League Leader Oxnard, CA