It would be interesting to share bf rates. Barb from North Carolina said
"Our exclusive bfing rate is about 55%, and total bfing rate is
about 68%." Wow, that's great!

As some of you know, I recently started a new job in Oct 2001 at an inner
city hospital, and bf support really needs to be improved there, which I am
working hard on. I looked back to Jan 2001 and here are our rates: average
bf rate 37%, some months as low as 26% and rarely a high of 45%. I do not
know what the exclusivity rates would be becoz we have no hard data on this,
altho could do a chart audit. I would venture it is close to 0. I believe
all babies get a glucose water test feed. And most, if not all, get some
formula. The reasons for this are multifaceted. I am also trying to look at
time to first bf which probably will average about 12 hrs. Very very few bf
at birth. I am also making some calls after 4-8 wks, to see if bf goals were
met. Many times I cannot reach the mother, many have returned to work or the
phone has been disconnected. Very many have weaned quite early, often due to
(unnecessarily) jaundice, med use, and return to work.
I guess you see I have my work cut out for me.

Laurie Wheeler, IBCLC, MN, RN
New Orleans Louisiana, s.e. USA


_________________________________________________________________
Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp.

             ***********************************************
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