In regards to Jennifer's situation with the premie learning to breastfeed
effectively at the breast, no one has yet mentioned a very helpful video.

A Premie Needs His Mother: First Steps to Breastfeeding Your Premature Baby.
Two companion videotapes produced by Jane Morton, MD.  2002. Also available
in DVD.   To order, go to www.breastmilksolutions.com or
www.drjanemorton.com     Or call 1 ­888-JMORTON
La leche League sells it as well in their catalog or on their web site at
www.lalecheleague.org.

Here's a description:

Part 1: 35 minutes, intended for mothers who are about to or have just
delivered a premie 
 
Part 2: 21 minutes, intended for viewing as soon as the baby is ready to be
held

These videos were filmed at Stanford University Hospital in Palo Alto, CA.
The staff offers knowledgeable support to new parents of premature babies.
The importance of breast milk for premature babies is emphasized.  Several
babies are followed through the early stages of care and are shown growing
from fragile premies to thriving older infants, toddlers and preschoolers.
A first grader who started life as a 3 lb premie is reading chapter books
and riding a two wheeler bike.  Staff members include both male and female
physicians, lactation consultants and nutritionists.  There is a range of
ethnicities in staff and patients.   The mothers include a teenage mother,
working mothers, and mothers of twins.

Among the points emphasized is the specificity of a mother¹s milk for her
individual baby¹s needs, the importance of breastfeeding for immune system
and intellectual development, the long term positive impact on the child¹s
health, and the physical and emotional benefits of breastfeeding for the
mother herself.  

Sequences are devoted to pumping, hand expressing milk and dealing with
drops in milk supply.  A wonderful, caring and reassuring lactation
consultant explains how to pump most effectively.

Part 2 discusses the history of kangaroo mother care, with a lovely sequence
on how it was first developed in Bogota, Colombia.  The benefits of
skin-to-skin holding on milk supply are made clear.  Specific techniques to
help a baby learn to latch and obtain milk from the breast are reviewed, and
the small steps as the baby learns over time are emphasized.  Both hospital
and home care are included.  Fathers are also shown participating actively
in providing kangaroo care and household help.  One of my favorite parts
shows parents of premie twins in Columbia.  Mom has one baby skin-to-skin as
she hangs clothes out on the line to dry.  Dad is vacuuming inside the house
with the other baby skin-to-skin.  They are shown eating at a table full of
people, each parent with a baby skin-to-skin.

This is a very helpful set of two videos.  They would be useful in any
setting where premature infants are cared for.  They are appropriate for
viewing by new parents, and also, I feel,  as role modeling for staff
members who work with these families.  The difficulties of nursing a premie
are not glossed over, but the positive comments of parents who have been
through it are encouraging and motivating.  The narrator speaks rather
quickly, so it is difficult to grasp all the content in one viewing.  It is
really worth seeing many times.

This video received a highly favorable review in the Journal of Human
Lactation, Vol. 18, no. 3, August 2002, p. 290.

I've watched these videos a number of times with parents of premies.  I've
taken it to their homes and watched it with them.  I've also shown it to the
NICU staffs in two local hospitals.

I'd love to see every NICU own a copy so that both staff and parents like
the ones Jennifer is dealing with could watch it repeatedly.  It provides a
role model for good care.  It is expensive at $125 for a single copy
(cheaper in bulk), but I think it is worth it.

Someone recently asked on Lactnet for a video on nursing twins.  This video
set has a lovely sequence with a mother of twins expressing how much
breastfeeding meant to her when her babies were tiny prematures.  She shows
how she positions them to feed as older babies.  Since many twins are
premature, this set might fill the need.  There is lots that applies to
multiples here.

(I don't have any personal or business connection with this video.)

Anne Altshuler, RN, MS, IBCLC and LLL leader in Madison, WI
email: [log in to unmask]

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