Dear Friends:
    JOGGN 2003; Vol 12(4):486-494 is an article "Comparing the Use of
Hydrogel Dressings to Lanolin Ointment With Lactating Mothers" that was sent to me as
a promotion for an Ameda product.
    106 primalacta (first time breastfeeders) mothers were recruited within
24 hours of delivery; they "had breastfed at least once" in that time. Mothers
who had prior breastfeeding experience were excluded from the study. We don't
know how many mothers dropped out or why. The length of the study time was 12
days, with follow-up by telephone to 72 days. While participants had received
a one-hour class with an IBCLC, and "each infant was assess for proper
latch-on, sucking ability, and anatomical anomalies", we have no idea how many times
infants were feeding, if they were using pacifiers, or if they were feeding on
schedule or on cue. We don't know if they were exclusively breastfeeding
either. The control group used topical lanolin ointment; the experimental group
used the hydrogel pads.
    "By day 72, both groups reported similar pain levels....." So the product
doesn't cure anything, does it?
    I encourage folks to read this paper critically; obviously, I didn't like
it. Apparently it is being used to market a product that mothers in this
study were using for over a month! There was no assessment of reasons for nipple
pain; instead there is an assumption that nipple pain is inevitable, and this
new product can be used for a long time to deal with the pain.
    The paper says "Demand is rising for evidence-based practice, providing
patient care guided by scientific results." Seems to me that this concept is
being perverted for commerical ends, at least in this paper.
    What do you all think?
    warmly,
Nikki Lee RN, MS, Mother of 2, IBCLC, CCE
Maternal-Child Adjunct Faculty Union Institute and University
Film Reviews Editor, Journal of Human Lactation
Support the WHO Code and the Mother-Friendly Childbirth Initiative

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