Dear Group,
 I've been catching up on my posts and wanted to share my thoughts on   
several recent ones:
 To Shirley: keeping track of the breastpumps on the units is a problem.   
We finally decided on one spot to keep them.  To be sure they are clean ,   
we cover them with a pillow case after they are wiped down, and before   
they are put away.  We're starting a sign out/in book to keep track of   
what patients are currently using them. At the moment, our employee   
lactation room is on the same unit and to keep the Lactina pump there   
from " walking" we put one of the
electronic baby sensors on it.  We plan to do this with all of our pumps   
in the future (the system is currently being upgraded).  Then only   
"authorized" personel who know the codes could take them off the unit.
  I too have seen the Classic pump get better results than the Lactina,   
and I was surprised when the rep said they were the same.  Is it   
psychological because it is the first pump they used?  I don't know.  Who   
cares, as long as it works?
  Chicago Hope has been an issue here in the last week, but thankfully   
not as much as I'd feared. I had several grandparents who were trying to   
convince the new moms to supplement because of what they had seen in this   
show. I used it as a teaching opportunity to remind them that T.V. was   
not real and explain supply/demand, how to assess feeds, voids, stools,   
etc.  The  grandparents were still uneasy, but the moms didn't   
supplement.
  On the subject of smell: I've found that moms who have an object of   
clothing with the baby's smell on it really do get more milk when   
pumping.  Just today I convinced a NICU nurse to give me the blanket off   
a baby so I could take it to his mother who was in Intensive care   
herself.  She's now sleeping with it like a Teddy Bear, temporarily   
taking the place of the child we can't get her to yet.
 Welcome Back Jack!
 Thanks to Dr.s  Hale and Spangler  for a terrific conference in   
Annaplois yesterday!  You'll be happy to know I put the info. right to   
work. I got an Anesthesiologist to change a "no breastfeeding" Toradol   
order  today, and had a discussion with a N.P.  of  "breastfeeding"   
verses "breast milk" jaundice.
 If anyone is going to the Perinatal Conference in Providence, Rhode   
 Island this week please E-Mail me privately by Tues. afternoon , or look   
for me there.
  Sorry this is so long.  Everyone have a great week, you deserve it!
    Kathy in Washington D.C.