In a message dated 1/21/1 2:20:15 PM, [log in to unmask] writes:

<<  that she would NEVER be able to nurse her 2nd baby due to the
fact that she had been identified as having pulmonary thrombosis/embolism.
She had several scans on Wed and was put on Heparin, and would be going home
on coumadin (warfarin) for 6 months. Needless to say, mom was devastated when
I saw her, as she had such a positive experience with nursing her firstborn.
>>

Kathy,
If this mom had been a primip, she may well have been too fearful to bf even
after you had advocated for her. It was partly her experience bf'ing her
first that made her so eager to hear your solutions. What I am saying is that
it is so very hard to undo the wrongs of so many HCP's who the mother assumes
"ought to know".
    I agree that it is foolish to expect all HCP's to know everything about
bf, however I am really grateful for the ones motivated to know a lot!. OTOH,
I rarely see an HCP, especially a ped, tell a mother (s)he doesn't know the
answers. Even those who refer for a consult feel free to tell the mother the
LC is wrong and the mother should give AIM just in case or whatever. Would
they do the same with other types of consults? Now, you could say it's just a
consult and it is ultimately up to the ped, but I disagree. Number one, it is
up to the mom and number two, how is the ped qualified to undermine the LC?
There is, as example, a very large practice in this area that expects LC's to
never refer "their patients" to chiropractors. So, I am supposed to see a
baby clamping w/ a terrible birth trauma and manage to keep secret from the
mother the fact that I know her baby will nurse much better much sooner w/ a
visit to the chiropractor? Not a chance! So, this is what happens--the ones
who go either in spite of the ped (or by their choice w/o telling the ped)
bf. The ones who don't almost always quit. Not b/c I don't try other things,
but b/c most moms aren't willing to spend the time it takes to fix such a
problem and w/ a chiropractor (or CS, of course), it's fixed very quickly.
    So, no, I certainly don't expect them to know it all. But, I also expect
them to say they don't and trust that in the domain of bf, the LC's advice
should be followed given that the mother is comfortable in doing so.
    On the issue of parenting advice. I always tell moms that I personally
take parenting advice from people whose parenting I admire. This usually
means I have observed them w/ their own children. Since I have no experience
with how the HCP's own children have been raised, I look elswehere for my
mentors. (The one exception, when my older children were little was our ped
who visibly practiced attachment parenting and sustained bf, since she worked
limited hours and brought her dd to the office). She became an LC as well.
Jennifer Tow, IBCLC, CT, USA

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