Hi Jane,

I forget what your practice setting is but sounds like it could be a
busy maternity ward???

You said "The question is:  WHO is going to pay WHOM to make these
calls?  That is what it boils down to.  There is no free.
Unfortunately. I am working at 110% speed, giving every single minute
I can to moms.  I don't have the time to make these calls."

Jane,  I know, there is often just not enough LC to go around.  Does
your county have a WIC program? I am proud to say that our hospital
Breastfeeding Program (which consists of me working 3x/wk and my
partner working 2x/wk) work very well with our county's WIC program.
We run a followup clinic and make calls as needed. But we have many
moms who live several counties away or don't have transportation.

As a hospital employee I cannot contact WIC to tell them a mom has
delivered due to privacy issues. But I do give the mom her county WIC
BF counselor's name, work phone number and cell phone number, and ask
mother to contact them to let them know the baby has arrived. If mom
gives me permission, then I can call for her.

Perhaps you can establish a similar relationship. You could even have
a quickie form made up on your computer where mom fills in her name,
baby info and phone number and the form says "My baby has arrived and
I'm breastfeeding. I'd like my WIC BF counselor to check up on me."
Something like that. If the WIC program has peer counselors, they
could agree to call those moms the first few days. You could fax the
forms to WIC daily. It would only be the moms who filled it out,
giving permission. Our taxes are already paying for the WIC program.

Anyway, that is one idea on how you can give these moms some followup.
Good luck.

Laurie Wheeler RN MN IBCLC
Mississippi USA

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

Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html
To reach list owners: [log in to unmask]
Mail all list management commands to: [log in to unmask]
COMMANDS:
1. To temporarily stop your subscription write in the body of an email: set lactnet nomail
2. To start it again: set lactnet mail
3. To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
4. To get a comprehensive list of rules and directions: get lactnet welcome