I am just asking a general question to any and all of you who work with
nursing mothers in the inpatient setting.

Several of us are trying to get all the staff to be more supportive of the
new mom and her attempts to breastfeed. We have a few nurses who are very
quick to want to intervene with a finger feed or supplement when the baby is
still learning to latch and suck properly. Then those of us doing the extra
lactation management have to backpedal to undo these well-meaning attempts
made by others who feel that "the baby NEEDS to eat."

I am aware that some hospitals have even gone to the idea that there can be
NO formula given to a breastfeeding baby without a doctor's order. Not a bad
idea.....

What does your hospital do about these issues? Do you guys have standards set
on how long to wait before intervening? How do you deal with mothers who
don't want to breastfeed overnight? How do you deal with (and/or teach)
nurses who are still stuck in the "mother needs her rest" mode?

As one of the lactation specialists, I often have patients say to me"
everyone tells me something different." What type of standardized teaching do
you give your nurses? I will be starting some informal teaching in the new
year so that I can get all our nurses at least on the same page, so to speak.

Please e-mail me privately so we don't clog up the list. Thanks in advance,
everyone.

Betsy Riedel RNC/CLC ([log in to unmask])
Central Connecticut

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