Another thing along the lines of a recent post I was thinking: Physical
Therapists usually see people who have experienced some assault on their
systems, an accident, birth trauma, stroke, post-surgery, etc. They are coming in
not in an optimized, "normal" state. Some have never been there birth trauma,
physiological defect issues, ( congenital heart problems, congenital limb
deformations or lack of limb at all) some from something later in life, like
lifelong smoking that had led to amputations, or compromised cardiorespiratory
function, some an acute assault, like being burned in a fire but an otherwise
healthy person. Therapy tries to address healing, and optimization of function
to as close to normal as possible for each person. People who see PTs, and
OTs and SLTs are seeing one kind of therapist, other people see
psychotherapists, and I suppose the goals are similar, needed healing and optimization of
function.
In the case of mother-baby dyads post-partum, most of the babies I see do
not have major neurological issues, though they are likely to have been
assaulted by current US birth and post-partum practices( as have their mothers,)
which have left some neurological shadows on the baby's behavior and function.
As LCs we may do some therapeutic techniques to try to work through these
assaults, but mostly we are trying to help the mother facilitate her own baby's
competencies which have been thrown off by modern life and cultural
practices. Sometimes I do feel like a feeding therapist because the post-induction,
post-analgesia infant can have so many issues that have an impact on their
ability to feed competently. Since breastfeeding is so much more than a way of
feeding, I find the titles challenging. Lactation Consultant to me always
sounds like we are all about the science of lactation, whereas most private
practice IBCLCs I know are really looking at breastfeeding as a part of the
mother-baby relationship, the setting for first love, the source of so many
competencies both physical, physiological, immunological, psychological, and
emotional. What kind of a title would address all that? :)
Peace,
Judy
Judy LeVan Fram, PT, IBCLC, LLLL
Brooklyn, NY, USA
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