Happy Thanksgiving to all my U S of A colleagues!!
Insomnia -- ya gotta love it sometimes....I guess. Anyway, on one of my
insomniac rolls last night from 12:30 'til about 3:00 am (could it be that a
wedding in 10 days might be a contributory factor???)started reading "Down Came
the Rain" by Brooke Shields which is an autobiographical account of her
struggle with infertility, getting pregnant, and her subsequent issues with
postpartum depression.
I think it is a must read for any of us that work with mothers and babies.
Her poignant descriptions of *her perceptions* of how she was treated in the
hospital and her feelings after the baby was born were heartbreaking. I've
not quite finished the entire book, but along with everything else,
breastfeeding was quite a struggle. Several things hit me -- apparently she took
breastfeeding classes in Los Angeles, but delivered in NYC. Her comment was,
"apparently, as with rap music, there's an East Coast and a West Coast version
[of latching on], and there's always a battle brewing between the two. This
nurse [lactation specialist] said to disregard how it was done on the West
Coast and pay attention to her instructions....the pressure was on to get this
stuff [colostrum] into Rowan as quickly as possible or else, I was told, it
would dry up. The nurse kept referring to the process of the liquid coming in
as letdown. It was an appropriate term for the frustrating process. No
matter how my baby got angled, I couldn't seem to position her mouth correctly. I
felt like she would be the one who was "let down" if I didn't figure out how
to perform this presumably natural process."
I wonder if there is a Midwest version.....
But seriously, while few of us are going to have folks who have classes on
one coast delivering on another coast, this comment is not a good thing. Why
are we so disparate in our teaching that it is coming across as a battle
between California and New York?
I would have hoped that the book would portray lactation consultants (and
nurses) as empathetic and helpful, but either (a) they weren't, or (b) in
Brooke's overwhelming fatigue and depression (which hit almost immediately -- and
when you read the account of the delivery, you will understand why), her
perceptions were way off. Whichever, it is important that we recognize that not
all mothers are going to sail through a C/Section or a vaginal delivery
smoothly and instantly bond with their babies. No one suggested skin to skin, no
one pulled up a chair and just sat and held Brooke's hand while she cried out
her frustration and bewilderment. It was several weeks before anyone
(including her physician) noticed that what she was going through was not *just*
baby blues. Apparently there was no followup with the breastfeeding -- did she
have a number to call? I don't know. Brooke reports that the baby was
having meconium stools (like "licorice") on day 5 when she went home -- red flag!
red flag!! but she didn't see a pediatrician until a week or so later.
Again, hard to know what is really truth and what is perception in a
layperson's account, particularly in a book written a couple of years after the
fact. But I think we can all take some lessons in compassion, and being careful
in what we communicate about our colleagues, even if they live in a
completely different part of the world than we do.
(\__/)
(='.'=)
(")_(") Jan Barger, RN, MA, IBCLC
Wheaton IL -- Midwest!!
_Lactation Education Consultants_
(http://www.lactationeducationconsultants.com/)
_My Mother of the Bride Blog_ (http://www.motherofbridebyjan.blogspot.com/)
_Torrey's Wedding Webpage_
(http://weddings.theknot.com/pwp/view/co_main.aspx?coupleid=3216252686617334)
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