Lactneters
I had the honor and priviledge to hear Paula Meier speak at Stony Brook
University
Hospital Breasfeeding Conference last year. To say she is an awesome
lady is an understatement.
I was very impressed with not only Paula Meier, but the moms involved
in her
Rush's Mothers' Milk Club! Many of these moms are women of low-income
and
very little education dealing with very sick babies. Their
determination and eagerness to
learn is inspiring; then to turn around to mentor and educate moms who
are now in the shoes they once occupied is a depth of strength I should
be blessed to possess half of.
These moms who choose to become peer counselors took the La Leche
League Internatinal Breastfeeding Peer Counseling course--no small
feat--a 30 hr. course!
My hat is off to Paula Meier, the NICU staff at Rush, and the moms and
dads
who come through Rush's NICU!
Empowerment, comfort, knowledge, is the message Paula and her staff
convey to the parents in their NICU.
Kathy Koncelik
PPDoula
LLLI BF Peer Support Counselor
On Tuesday, December 9, 2003, at 04:51 PM, Barbara Wilson Clay wrote:
> 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
> PLEASE NOTE NEW EMAIL ADDRESS: [log in to unmask]
>
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As always . . . .
Wishing you all the best!
--K
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