Hi all, My name is Maureen Allen.  I am an IBCLC, unit-based in a large NICU
, at a hospital, that delivers 10,000+ babies per year in Boston.  About
three years ago, another nurse in the NICU and myself proposed to this
hospital that there was a huge need for unit-based LC services in the NICU.
We were, at the time, staff nurses in this NICU, being pulled constantly from
our assignments to help breastfeeding mothers.  Our breastfeeding rate at
this time was about 50%--mothers pumped, gave up quickly for the most part,
most likely due to some lack of support, and definitely, from a lack of
education and follow-up through their NICU stay.  Our positions were approved
for one FTE--a big victory, considering the climate of cost control that we
are all enduring.  We began in July 1999, under much scrutiny and
criticism(although, surprisingly, not from the NICU nurses).  Our first goals
were to get mothers pumping as soon after delivery as possible and  to
initiate double pumping as a standard of care.  Next, we began to educate the
NICU nurses, in a subtle way, about the many, many benefits of breastmilk for
preterm and ill infants.  Now, many of the nurses discuss breastfeeding with
the moms, and congratulate their pumping efforts!!!  They know that they need
to intervene quickly, when they notice decreasing supplies of milk coming
in--and sometimes even initiate the questions that we will ask about their
pumping routines.  They promote kangaroo care as an adjunct to breastfeeding
and call us, as needed, to begin initial breastfeedings.  I am very proud of
them!!!  Our breastfeeding rate hovers between 80-90%, now, largely due to
the fact that these nurses are helping us do our job, rather than fighting
us.  Many of our babies do not go home feeding totally at breast; they are
generally discharged from us far too early for their feeding efforts to be
consistent.   It is a part of the system over which I have no control.  We do
try to send these mothers out with a LC in the community for followup, weight
checks within 2-3 days of discharge, LLL numbers and always with our phone
number for any questions which may arise.  We are now trying to see if
follow-up phone calls could make a difference in the duration of
breastfeeding after discharge from the NICU.  Change is
slow..............please be patient.
So yes, I do think it's worth a phone call to the NICU nurse manager to let
her know what you perceived, and to offer your help in educating the NICU
staff as to how breastmilk and breastfeeding can really help premies and ill
infants reach their fullest potential.  Isn't that what the care given in the
NICU is all about?????
                                                     Thanks for lending your
ear(s),
                                                      Maureen Allen RN, BSN,
IBCLC

             ***********************************************
The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html