When I wrote about my concern for lack of infrastructure support for
breastfeeding, I certainly didn't mean in any way to slight the services of
hospt.- based LCs.  My point about them is that they are often not in
control either of the way their salaries are funded and are often at the
mercy of cost cutting practices.  I see the hospt. and priv. pract. LCs
working well together in Austin, and nothing makes me happier than knowing
there are good hospt.- based LCs getting moms off to a good start.  But
short-sighted policies established by hospts. that like to MARKET bfg
support without really providing much of it has over-whelmed most of the
hospt.- based LCs I know.  They are over-worked, and their case loads are
unreasonably large, preventing them from spending adequate teaching time
with struggling dyads.  This sometimes results in a kind of cheer-leading
for bfg that fails to identify and address red flag issues.  When the
vulnerable dyads go home, often there is no safety net.  We need both hospt.
and community based LCs, and we need for lactation to be recognized as such
a significant predictor of good health for the mother and baby that it gets
invested in.  LC services shouldn't be a hospt. service funded from retail
sales, but should be an integral part of the budget for nursing care.  The
LCs should be seeing the problem cases, teaching the staff to help the
routine initiation cases, and the LC should be recognized as a vital part of
the team, not a nicety that can be dispensed with when the economy gets
shakey.  In fact, with the incredible erosion of social support systems in
the US during this Recession, it could be argued that the preventative cost
savings accrued from bfg make bfg support the LAST service that should be
jetisoned.

Barbara Wilson-Clay, BS, IBCLC
Austin Lactation Associates
LactNews Press
www.lactnews.com

             ***********************************************

To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest)
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
All commands go to [log in to unmask]

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