Dear Karen, I think I know what you are saying. It is similar to what happened in some LLL groups years ago, when I was having babies. This was during the height of the "natural childbirth" "back to the earth" movement. There was one group in particular that I attended several times. There was never anything overtly said condemning certain ideas, but it became very clear that not only was breastfeeding very important, but that other things were expected as well of the "ideal" family - midwifery care and homebirths, co-sleeping, vegetarian or near vegetarian meals with no white sugar or white flour, etc., nursing until the child was at least several years old (preferably longer), homeschooling, cotton clothing, ...... Even though many of these things were, in fact, part of my lifestyle, this group made even me uncomfortable at times, and definitely turned off more that one new mom to LLL. Again, noone said that you were "bad" if you didn't do these things, but the general atmosphere made it difficult to engage in conversation that was not very supportive of these ideals. Thankfully, LLL really started to clamp down on the "mixing ideas" thing and I don't think this goes on very much any more. We try very hard to support everyone where they are and try to offer exposure rather than indocrination to various ideas about feeding and parenting. It is not difficult to imagine that a "mainstream" health professional beginning to monitor this list would feel very uncomfortable after reading posts that call formula "poison" or label standard medical practices as negligence or malpractice or worse. Look at what happened when a newcomer, Dr. Andrew, proferred a few comments/questions that were a bit more mainstream - and he seems to be very supportive of breastfeeding and some of the other stuff that we talk about here. Which is not to say that comments shouldn't be made - it's the way in which they are offered. The hard part for me is to offer an alternative. This list is different from some other "professional" type lists in that we get into a lot of personal stuff here as well as the more nitty-gritty breastfeeding case history discussions. A health professional looking for information about breastfeeding will most certainly get that if he/she stays around for a while., but a lot more as well. Is this a bad thing? It depends on which perspective you are coming from. As a member of a fledgling profession that often brings much more frustration than satisfaction, it is great to hear about how everyone else is doing in the trenches. It is nice to have a place to vent when necessary and know that you all understand. It is interesting and helpful to know what really is "normal" behavior. But it is disquieting to know that health professionals at a different place than we are right now are reading these posts and forming ideas about us (lactation consultants) and about breastfeeding that will not be helpful to our cause. I am very careful in my dealings with those that are "uninformed" about breastfeeding. And although I am very tired of having to tread lightly with many physicians, I know how much damage can be done by offending the wrong persons in positions of power. Perhaps the best thing right now is to simply keep in mind while posting that our audience has become quite large. I think it is fine to voice a strong opinion, but we should read our posts several times before sending and be sure we really want a thousand plus people or more to hear what we are saying or that we are saying what we really mean. I myself have completely deep-sixed several posts that, in the light of day, really served no purpose other than to condemn or inflame. And there were a few I should have stopped, but didn't. For those who are new to our list, I hope that you do stick around and also delve into the archives for some of the most important and up-to-date info about breastfeeding that there is to be found anywhere today. And remember that all lactation consultants are unique and just like in any profession, they can range widely in ideas and personalities. What we all share is an abiding desire to learn and then educate as many as possible about breastfeeding and to give as many babies as possible the opportunity to receive the unique and very important gift of mother's milk. Warmly, Sharon Knorr, BSMT, LLLL, IBCLC in Newark, New York (near Rochester) mailto:[log in to unmask] ___________________________________________________________________ You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail. Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com/getjuno.html or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866]