Esther, and everyone else,

I visited the National Maternity Hospital in Dublin long before they were
certified Baby-Friendly, and they were already practicing this way.  The BF
rate was abysmal, and the hospital did an admirable job of supporting and
promoting it, so they now have much higher initiation rates than they did
then.

Even then, mothers who were artificially feeding had to prepare the feeds
themselves and of course administer them.  The hospital did not supply bed
linens or baby clothes, and the artificially fed babies of course spit up
more, and it smelled worse, and the mothers not only had to change the
linens and clothes, they had to use their own linens!  Preparing feeds
consisted of warming pre-mixed, single-portion bottles.  The hospital did
not receive free formula.  All the staff I met, had breastfed their own
children, and breastfeeding was discussed at every contact with the hospital
during pregnancy.  I followed one young mother through her stay from
admission to a few days post-partum; she was an anomaly because she was
about 19 and was breastfeeding, something none of the SEVEN other mothers in
her room were doing.  She confided to me she was the only one who hadn't
needed to change the baby's bed, and the only one who was really getting any
sleep, because her baby was so much easier to please without disrupting her
own rest.  She couldn't imagine why anyone would not breastfeed.

It may be that some mothers would choose a different hospital if they were
expected to give bottles themselves at night.  But it could be that others
would choose the hospital where breastfeeding support was prioritized rather
than using highly trained professionals to feed bottles to non-orphans all
night.  You don't need to do bottle-related teaching at night - that is the
kind of thing that adapts well to a scheduled class, while BF support needs
to be available whenever it is needed - especially on that second night!!

Rachel Myr

Kristiansand, Norway

 

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