Jennifer,

Your organization sounds great! What a wonderful concept! Why is it
non-profit? Or do I misunderstand? Is it a fee-for-service organization
that figures in only salaries and overhead?

Here is my $.02 worth:

<Understanding of and ability to teach moms Proper positioning/Latch on
techniques.>

I'd be more specific and mention the concept of off-center latch. I'll
wager oodles of people think they can look and say "Oh that latch is ok."
yet not know anything about the off-center concept. (See "Bestfeeding"
below.)

And knowing the Marmet method of fingertip expression and how to teach
the mom so she can use it to soften the areola prior to latching during
engorgement.

Two greatbooks for helpers are

"Bestfeeding:Getting It Right For You" by Renfrew, Fisher and Arms.

"Helping Mothers to Breastfeed" by Felicity Savage-King. This one was
published by the African Medical and Research Foundation in Kenya in
1992, and though a few places in the book (equipment, etc.) may seem less
sophisticated than the norm for other cultures, on the whole, the info is
excellent, and the approach of preparing the helper seems exactly what
you might be looking for.

One more thing comes to mind:

Understanding the importance of the MER in milk transfer and how to
explain it simply and teach the mother to trigger it manually if need be.
MER, according to veterinary sources, is THE most important force in milk
transfer. So many health care providers don't seem to know that, hence
the widespread use of pumps when fingertip-expression when needed in the
early days would be much more productive.

Along with that, "breast compression" advocated by Dr. Newman. But if his
book is required reading, you already know that!

Good Luck.

Jean
**********
K. Jean Cotterman RNC, IBCLC
Dayton, Ohio USA

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