Hi, All:  This is in response to the inquiry on how to help a mom with 
spina bifida hold and position her baby for feedings.  My OT daughter 
(doctorate with honors, May 20th, 2005 just 3 days after her 24th 
birthday!) immediately suggested having the mom use a sling.  She also 
suggested an organization called "Through the Looking Glass" (she thinks 
the address is www.ttlg.org, but you can Google it and it will come right 
up).  They have a catalogue of assistive parenting devices.  I have a copy 
and it is an excellent resource.
Parents with disabilities are a group whose needs I feel are largely 
ignored.  I had the opportunity to sit in on 2 classes my daughter had to 
teach at Washington University St. Louis on helping the disabled parent.  
The class was for 1st year OT students and was quite interesting.  She gave 
the group 4 case studies to work on during the class and actually allowed 
me (after all, what does your mother know?) to go around and help answer 
questions.  I was very impressed with the cognitive thinking that already 
was taking place in such new clinicians and they were taken aback to 
discover that in the "real world" these moms are not given a whole lot of 
help.  I told them that is going to be their function in life - to help 
these moms maximize their parenting abilities!
The course professor asked if I would be interested in coming back next 
spring to lecture on this topic.  Hmmm...

Pam Hirsch, RN,BSN,CLC
Clinical Lead, Lactation Services
Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital
Barrington, IL  USA

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