Dear Friends:
 
As a LC in private practice, I have had contact with doulas.
 
In the US, doulas evolved to fill a void; laboring women need someone just  
for them to provide comfort and solace during labor. Nurses have become unable  
to do that, for the most part, once medicine went corporate in the US in the  
late 80s-early 90s. Doulas are passionate advocates for women's ability to 
birth  and breastfeed.
 
Once in a great while, a doula has been obstructive to  lactation management. 
I've discovered via my follow-up telephone calls that  the doula has changed 
or discarded a plan created by the LC and  the mother to recover 
breastfeeding.  I have yet had a doula call me  to discuss the care plan, even when I have 
brought the doula into the discussion  in the mother's home. Collaboration is 
an essential part of care, and I am happy  to spend as much time and answer as 
many questions as the mother or the doula  has. I count on the postpartum 
doula to help implement the breastfeeding care  plan as she is there with the 
mother on a regular basis, sometimes for hours a  day. It has been a shock to 
discover that my efforts have been treated  disrespectfully. The poor mother is 
caught between two people that she has hired  to help her.
 
This situation has not happened very often; unfortunately several LCs that  I 
know have encountered it.
 
At present, I am setting up a 9-week breastfeeding basics course for  doulas. 
I am excited to hear that a large number have signed up!
 
warmly,
Nikki Lee RN, BSN, MS, Mother of 2, IBCLC, CCE, CIMI
craniosacral  therapy practitioner, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania USA
_www.myspace.com/adonicalee  


_ (http://www.myspace/adonicalee) 



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