Yesterday I taught a 3 hour BFing class to Pre-med students at the local
university.  I have done this class for seveal years but change it every year in
order to keep it challenging for me ( as though teaching in a sling with a post
surgery shoulder isn't challenging enough).  These students are going to Med
school, nurse midwifery, and masters of public health. After a intro I ask
them to pair up and list as many advantages of bfing as they can in a 3 min
period.  I then ask for the totals _yesterday the longest list was 7. I then show
them the 101 Advantages and went through a few of those.  We then discussed
health messages stated as "advantage or benefit" vs "risks".  I asked them about
the drug campaigns and which ones they remember. The egg frying illustrating
"this is your brain on drugs" was the one they remembered. I asked them about
DARE.  No one remembered a single lesson from the entire year spent in the DARE
(Drug education preogram taught in 5th grade in America).  It is heavy on
self esteem, respect, confidence, etc.  So I asked them when they are teaching
which is better, positive or negative.  It was a lively discussion. I didn't
give an answer but encouraged them to read and develop patient education programs
with a critical eye for their demographic groups, and ask for feedback and
evaluation.  We went over some stats and then I asked them to brainstorm why
people aren't bfing.  We listed the barriers and talked about whether these are
real or perceived and how to help families overcome barriers.
I then had them break into 4 groups and gave out discussion assignments with
some research/journal info and questions to answers.  The first was about peer
counselors and the questions to answer were about why peer counselors
programs work, and how to incorporate pc programs into their chosen careers. The
second group discussed the Obesity Initiative and answered questions on how bfing
fits into the obesity issue. The third group looked at the demographics of the
CDC bfing stats and answered the questions of who is bfing, who is not, and
what groups they will be serving in their practices and what they see services
they will need to provide.  The fourth group looked at health messages -the
Benefits of Bfing handouts from the US Committee on Bfing, a WIC handout and the
handout The Risks of Artificial milk Feeding. They answered questions about
which message would "sell" in which demographic groups and why they thought
that.  We then came back together and all groups discussed their discussions.  We
ended by discussing how health messages and campaigns can be helpful or not,
how bfing fits into the overall health prevention and promotion picture, and
how they can combine bfing into thier overall education programs and actively
promote and counsel their clients.
The biggest questions were about mother/baby separation. How mothers can bf
and still work or be in school.  That led into questions about pumping and
storing and also Dad's roles.  They also asked about Medications and sick mothers.
 I gave a bibliography handout with suggested readings, websites and ordering
info for Dr Hale's and Dr Newman's books.
On Thursday I do another 3 hr class for the Maternal and Child health class
for health education majors.
These are such fun --I love the enthusiasm. I give them my business cards and
encourage them to call me when they get into their careers if I can help. I
have had many students call, even 8-10 years later.  When I was at the health
dept and the hospital I had students from these classes ask to do their
internships with me and some have gone on to get their IBCLC.
If you want to be re-energized in this profession, send a letter to the
health career schools around you offering to come in to do classes.  Sometimes they
can't pay you but they can order professional books from their educational
budgets to give you as a thank you.
Barb Whitehead, BS, IBCLC,RLC
eastern NC

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