Some of you may remember a few months ago my sister in law gave birth to a
little baby who had to be flown to a children's hospital because of
breathing problems. There was a real nightmare with regards getting my
sister in law near to her baby and initiating expressing and breastfeeding.
Anyway I wrote a letter to the nursing unit manager of the local hospital
maternity explaining what I saw as problems in the care for her information
with regards QA. Today I recieved a letter back stating that as a result of
the letter the following action has been taken.

1) The lactation educator is including education on initiation of lactation
when mother and baby are separated.
2) Staff unfamiliar with caring for a mother whose baby has been
transferred are being guided through this process by the NUM.
3) The division will be preparing a booklet for families on transferring
babies. It is anticipated that this will contain information about the
issues you raised and will promote better communication between staff and
families in oder to meet individual needs.

I am pretty happy about the response and so is my sister in law (by the way
the baby is still breastfeeding beautifully and is beautiful herself though
no longer tiny Yay!!). It seems that some good might come out of it. We
often read of bad hospital experiences on Lactnet. When there really has
been negligence, I think mums should be encouraged to write a letter to
management. Sometimes they know what is happening and don't care, sometimes
they don't know what is happening and need to be educated, sometimes they
know what is happening but require proof (ie a complaint on paper or some
other formal response) in order to put the wheels in motion to do
something. It's not just complaining about bad service, you can be part of
the solution.

Karleen Gribble
Australia
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Karleen Gribble
Australia
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