Anyone who has been a patient in most hospts. knows how unfriendly they
typically feel to consumers.  One feels very vulnerable as a patient.  I
think it is incumbent upon health care providers, who are perceived as the
ones holding all the power in that environment, to create settings where
real health education takes place.

Paula Meier has such incredible success with her Milk Club moms at Rush in
Chicago because the program includes very comprehensive education of the
preemie moms. Paula's program doesn't condescend to these mothers; they
invest in them. The moms are brought back to the hospt. weekly for luncheons
so long as their babies are in the NICU .  At the luncheons, speakers teach
them about the needs of preemies, milk science, teach them to do
crematocrits, etc.  These are low income moms, and while some are
uneducated, they are not treated as if they are stupid. These women become
wonderful advocates for their babies.Many turn around and become peer
counselors.  This is a quite remarkable accomplishment.  Having a preemie
has been noted in th the literature (since the early 1900s) to contribute to
increased child abandonment. So here is a bunch of women who are not only
pumping and providing their milk to preemies ( who are high risk for never
getting breastmilk) but are also at risk for attachment disorders and yet
stay involved with their babies! This is the power of good health education.

 Certainly when I see a client, part of what I feel obligated to do is
explain why I think the baby can't nurse, or why there is no milk.
Sometimes these are rather complicated explanations.  When I am clear and
take the time to teach,  parents are so much more willing to be on board
with the plan (which is likely to be a pain).  Or they understand enough
about what it will take that they decide not to go forward.  That is their
choice. But choice isn't informed if information is censored or withheld out
of some sense that sharing it is too time consuming, or that some externally
imposed judgement of the parents renders them unfit to hear it.

Barbara Wilson-Clay, BS, IBCLC
Austin Lactation Associates
LactNews Press
www.lactnews.com
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