Hello  All-
I just wrote this article for our hospital's perinatal complex newsletter,
and thought Lactnetters wd enjoy.
Warm wishes to all from
Martha Johnson Rn IBCLC
Eugene OR

Consistency of Information: a Recipe for Success"

"Are you the baby chef?" A dad of one of our NICU babies asked me this
question recently when he stopped by the nurses' station to chat, and it
really got me thinking about what the lactation consultant's role is.  In a
way, we are like "baby chefs".   Although the moms make the food, we often
are involved in "serving" it to the babies by helping them get to breast and
feed successfully.  One of the commonest complaints I hear from patients is
"everyone tells me something different about how to feed my baby."  When I
first started working as a LC(lactation consultant), I thought this was a
problem of "too many cooks", and that the rest of the team should stand back
and let the lactation consultants deal with breastfeeding.  Years later, I
am realizing that it is great to have everyone "cooking", because it means
we all take ownership of breastfeeding.  Now we need to get everyone cooking
from the same cookbook, and better yet, from the same recipe!

An important part of what we do as LCs involves reading the medical
literature and sharing current information with patients, staff, and
physicians.  Frequently we are in the position of presenting information to
families that they have not heard before, for example, that the use of a
pacifier can interfere with their baby's ability to learn breastfeeding.  Or
that even one feeding of formula can change the baby's gut flora for up to a
month, thus making him/her more vulnerable to infections of all kinds, plus
exposing baby to an increased risk of cow's milk allergy.  With this info, I
like to tell parents that feeding their hungry 2 day old a bottle of formula
is kind of like caving in to the toddler who is crying for candy at the
grocery checkstand: what the child wants isn't necessarily what is best for
him.   As health workers, it is our job to make sure parents have received
research-based information when they make choices that can affect their
child's health.  The idea here is not to make families feel guilty, nor to
browbeat everyone into breastfeeding.   Once a family has gotten the
information and made their choice, we give everyone the same warm and loving
support, no matter what their decision.

As LCs, we are well aware that the decisions families make around infant
feeding are complex, and are tied to cultural and emotional factors  beyond
our control.  LCs are here not to make everyone breastfeed, nor to make
everyone do it "our way", but to inform and support staff as well as
families.   If you feel unfamiliar with some of the info we present to
families, you are in good company!  Research on infant feeding has expanded
exponentially in the past 5-10 years.  I have made many revisions in what I
tell parents, and continue to do so as I learn more.   If you would like to
know the rationale or the research behind our thinking at any time, feel
free to pull your LC over and ask for an update.  Teaching staff is an honor
and a great pleasure, because I know it helps move us closer to "the same
recipe".   Hungry to know more?  Let's get cooking!

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