Joanna said:
LC's "We spend so many hours staring at babies that our antennae are
extremely sensitive to anything falling outside the range of normal."
The longer I'm an LC the longer I trust that instinct that tells me this
baby is not "within the range of normal"
Part of our jobs as LCs, in my estimation, is to develop a plethora of
places to refer these moms to: Physical and occupational therapists,
chiropractors, ENT, Public Health Nursing, social workers, mental health
agencies as well as their own MDs. In fact, part of the handouts I give to
those I present sessions to professionals, is a sheet with BLANKS next to La
Leche League, OT, PT, ENT, etc. As they are from many places, I give them
the homework of completing their own resource list when they get back home.
It is also very important to be careful how we describe what we see to the
parents and in our charting. If we describe the symptoms or behaviors we
see, we are providing information that will help the appropriate
specialists, rather than getting into trouble when others think we are
"diagnosing".
Whether it is the mother's behavior (just had to deal with postpartum
psychosis) or the infant's behavior (my latest one did NOT have any
problems, but I was glad that I had referred this fast-breathing baby which
was well beyond MY "range of normal".) our arrival at homes or seeing moms
early helps to identify problems way earlier than others. Our babies are
often see the MD at day 4 - 7, and then are seen again at TWO MONTHS! There
is SO MUCH happening during that time! It is often frightening to me what I
HAVE caught - and there are many times that I worry that I will have missed
something...
Jeanette Panchula, BSW, RN, PHN, IBCLC
California, USA
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