Laura expresses the frustrations of many of us who work in the hospital.
"Another example is our American culture that says moms & babies should
sleep
more at night. I see too many babies being fed in the nursery at "mom's
request." At a recent staff meeting I stated that I thought some of the
nursing staff at night are encouraging this. I was told by the night staff
that these mothers want the babies fed in at night, want them to have
pacifiers and will then tell the LC's what they think we want to hear the
next day. Therefore, the LC's are not blaming the mothers, but will blame
the
nursing staff when mom says, "but they made it sound OK to feed the baby in
at night." This is a continuous source of frustration."

Although too many babies are still fed in the Nursery at night in my
hospital, I got around this "Who is to blame" situation by explaining to the
staff that bottle feedings at night are not just a night-shift problem, they
are a 24-hour a day problem.  If babies are fed adequately during the day,
night feedings become less of a problem.. If babies are sleeping all day
(visitors, missing feeding cues, not disturbing a sleeping baby, swaddling,
inexperience of mom, etc.), they will be awake and want to feed all night.
Every shift needs to observe and assess breastfeeding to be sure the baby is
feeding at the breast.  Day/night confusion should be explained to the mom
whose baby will not wake for many day feedings.  She and the staff should
know the importance of breastfeeding during the night if that is the only
time the baby is truly awake and eager at the breast.  But, all the staff
need to work together, not just put the onus on the night shift.

Barb Berges BS, RN, IBCLC\
Rochester, New York

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