>Let us not lose sight of the fact that our primary >focus is not breastfeeding, but breastfeeding as an essential component of >optimal health. For me, the health issues are just the packaging that seems to sell the best to the most people. But what am I *really* hoping for? That this mother and baby won't lose one of the best relationships they'll ever experience, before it even gets started. That this baby will have the relationship with his mother that he deserves, and from which all his other relationships will grow. That this mother will have a chance to enjoy to the fullest one of the best parts of being female. That the world will be that much closer to sanity because of how these two people have learned to interact and love. That this basic human function won't be short-circuited by pain, cheapened by misunderstanding, trivialized by ignorance. When a client of mine nurses for a year, of course I praise her. It's no small thing in this country. But I also feel a little sorry for her and for her child. In my mind, she didn't quite "get it," or they'd have nursed a whole lot longer. She understood the health part, but it never quite clicked that nursing is what mothers and young children do together, that it's far more than just food or health, that it was never meant to end so early. Sure, even a day of breastfeeding is better than none, and I'll work hard to get them that day, if that's all there's to be. But I'm looking toward the day when we see nursing for a year as the *beginning* of a good nursing relationship, not the end. If I can encourage a woman to nurse for at least a few months, maybe her neighbor will be more encouraged to nurse longer. And her children longer still, until we begin to accept nursing into the toddler and preschool years and beyond as not only acceptable but normal and enviable. *Then* I'll feel as if we've done our job. If there were no health differences between breastfed babies and their unlucky peers, would I still be a lactation consultant? You bet! It would change some of what I talk about; it wouldn't change my primary focus. Diane Wiessinger, MS, IBCLC Ithaca, NY