Lynn writes: Both had consulted with the hospital based = LC and felt that since they had *already seen a lactation specialist*, all had = been done that could possibly be done. Needless to say, it required much *convincing* to set up a consult. To all hospital based LCs- please discourage parents from viewing you as their last chance to making breastfeeding work. Most parents that I see haven't absorbed the concept that breasts and babies change from day to = day ie. what doesn't work one day, may the next OR they have no idea that = there can be vast differences in approach/experience etc, between individual = LCs. More often than not, according to them, MY teaching is very different = from the last LC they saw! Lynn, We often don't get things totallly squared away in the hospital and always offer follow up to our mothers either at our outpatient lactation clinic or with an LC in the community. We seldom start shields in the hospital for full term infants because it is very difficult to evaluate how they are working before milk comes in. In the rare instance where one is started, mother must agree to come back for follow up. We all also have to realize that the situation we see in the first 48 hr.in the hospital is often quite different several days down the line. We are well aware of this in our hospital because as well as our in patient service, we have a very busy outpatient lactation clinic. The 7 LC's staff both in-patient and out-patient areas. When things are not going perfectly at discharge, we explain that getting breastfeeding established is process. As things change we change the plan. When mothers understand that the priority is to feed the baby in the way least detrimental to breastfeeding while protecting the milk supply, with an ultimate goal of establishing good feeding at the breast, they are wonderful partners in the process. I hope no hospital LC tells a mother that the consult they receive in the hospital is the end of the help available for breastfeeding. What mothers think they heard or want to believe, however, may be a different story. Kathy Boggs, RN, IBCLC *********************************************** To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest) To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet All commands go to [log in to unmask] The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html