Dear Friends:
 
 
 
In a message dated 3/4/2008 12:04:05 A.M. Eastern Standard Time,  
[log in to unmask] writes:

No  wonder 90% of moms intend to breastfeed, but only 50% are doing so a week 
 after childbirth.



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Mothers don't sustain breastfeeding because of hospital practices that  
interfere; this is the underlying reason for the Baby-Friendly Hospital  Initiative.
 
Routine use of technology to "manage" birth, separation of mother and baby,  
quick use of formula to supplement are all the major factors that undermine  
breastfeeding. A CLC or a CLE or an IBCLC do not have much of an impact to  
overcome these powerful negative forces. In my city, 100% of mothers go home  
from the hospital with a free formula sample, another powerful negative  force.
 
Routine use of technology in the US means at least 40% of births are  induced 
or augmented; induction always means a baby that isn't ready to be here.  
Such a baby will not act like a term infant, and may prefer to sleep instead of  
interacting with the mother. Skin to skin care is not routine in the US. 
Babies  won't show feeding cues when they are swaddled and double-wrapped and put 
in  plastic containers on wheels, even if those containers are in the mothers'  
rooms. 
 
Physiology is rarely respected in US hospitals. Babies normally  have low 
blood sugars for the first few hours after birth. Instead of  being kept skin to 
skin, and fed colostrum, they are tested for low blood sugar  and given 
formula to "treat" this natural condition. (Term healthy babies blood  sugars will 
rise after a couple of hours, even if they are not fed.)
 
Unfortunately, even staff that are knowledgeable about breastfeeding need  
more than that to give mothers enough competance and confidence to sustain  
breastfeeding when they go home. The environment that does not respect  
unmedicated, spontaneous labor can't support breastfeeding either.
 
warmly,
 
Nikki Lee RN,  MS, IBCLC, CCE, CIMI
craniosacral therapy practitioner
_www.myspace.com/adonicalee  


_ (http://www.myspace.com/adonicalee) 



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