Hi.  I was hoping to hear back from any lactation folks that work
exclusively with or closely with NICU's.  Besides being a childbirth
educator, doula, and hopefully soon to be a lactation counselor, I also have
an 11 week old baby in our regional NICU who was born at 26 6/7 weeks.  We
have a large unit that can hold something like 56 babies at any given time.
The "powers that be" have just cut back the lactation specific hours.  (They
have two NICU specific IBCLC nurses that work only with the NICU moms and
also do direct patient care as well.)  I have been asked to write a letter
in support of them and the important work that they are doing.  I wanted to
see what other units have available for lactation support.

1) Do you have NICU specific lactation consultants?  (how many, what sort of
hours do they work?)
2)What services are offered to your NICU moms? (what sort of pumping
facilities, milk storage supplies, meals, etc.)
3) How breastfeeding friendly would you say your unit is? (Ours definately
seems more "breastmilk" friendly than breastfeeding friendly.)
4) When calculating caloric intake for your babies, do you have the
resources available to do a crematocrit, or do you just use an average
caloric count for breastmilk (and what number do you use)?
5) How do you supplement the babies that need extra calories, calcium, and
phosphorus? (separate fore and hind milk?, add hmf? mix breastmilk and
formula?)
6) Do you have resources available to moms after their babies leave the
NICU?
7) On discharge, what sort of supplementation is recommended?  Are any of
your graduates exclusively breastfed after leaving the NICU?

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

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