> Date:    Sat, 26 Oct 2002 17:54:18 -0400
> From:    "Linda J. Smith" <[log in to unmask]>
Personally, I'm
> convinced that a lot of this is related to birth practices

<Snip>

> I'm trying to get the birthing community, in general, to start looking at
> outcomes and take responsibility for the messes we're mopping up
afterward.

HEAR! HEAR!

I'm a doula (birth assistant) and I am getting tired of the feeling I get:
that if I leave my clients to go home and sleep, I'll come back to find
perfectly good breastfeeding buggered up by something.

Many, many of the births I have attended over the years have ended with me
spending huge amounts of time trying to fix the problems that could have
been fixed if the handful of mal-informed staff had left the breastfeeding
support to the people who know what they're doing. I could not count the
times I have seen staff panic over minor complications, wheel the baby off
to observation with the caveat of "Don't nurse this baby!" and then feed the
baby formula in observation. Upon discharge, some of my clients have never
breastfed, others have had one feed before I went home, and close to all of
them have had their babies given sugar water or formula.

[For anyone who isn't with me hopping up and down, the local hospital does
not accept formula donations and is trying to achieve "Baby-Friendly
Status".]

</vent>

BTW, I'm trying hard to get the time to go to Nanaimo next month when you'll
be in the area. I hope I get a chance to hear you speak!

Charlotte, Victoria, BC

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