>  > With our maternal and child
>>health nursing system, the nurse (triple-certificate) would visit in the
>>first week home and do a weigh. (At no cost to the family).
>Not only do you do follow ups in the first week, but the nurse
>comes to the mother.


New mothers are visited in the UK, at home, and sometimes daily, by a midwife.

This goes on for at least 10 or 11 days and sometimes longer.
Midwives have a statutory clinical responsibility for mother and
child up to 28 days with an option to continue for 6 weeks. In
practice she hands over care to the health visitor at about 10-14
days.

Sounds good? Well, it can be.....but it is only good for bf if the
midwife and HV have bf as a priority and a good knowledge base of how
to support and how to spot it not working.

Just visiting and weighing is not supporting bf, and can actively undermine it.

I can assure everyone that we have mothers and babies whose bf does
not succeed , under the very noses of hcps.

Babies are readmitted to hospital,  desperately ill. I have been
involved  with a handful who were at death's door - not exagerrating
- and many more who would have been, if steps had not been taken.

No one had spotted that these babies are in crisis, and in some cases
the mothers were told everything is wonderful, what a good baby they
have, and that it's normal for babies to stop passing stools.....

So regular home visits from an hcp are not a panacea : (

Heather Welford Neil
NC bfc, Newcastle upon Tyne UK

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