Hurray for Dr. Wagner and her colleagues! I do hope that their work will be a
stepping stone to greater breastfeeding education and support at the hospital
where they work.
I am unfortunately all too familiar with this hospital -- a 60-bed children's
hospital, where one pump ("hospital grade") is all that is available to the
mothers of the children in the hospital. Granted, not all the children are
small and in need of breastmilk, but still... The NICU and PICU each have 8
beds or so, plus another 20 or so beds on general peds plus pediatric
cardiology, pediatric oncology, etc.... A hospital where the dietician on
staff tries to tell mothers that their babies can't be allergic to the human
milk fortifier (which contains cow's milk whey) because "human milk contains
whey, too!" Never mind that the source of the whey is what matters.
A hospital where the mothers of babies in the PICU/NICU are given the bags
sent by the ABM companies. A hospital where the doctors wear name tags given
to them by the ABM companies. There is no LC on staff, of course (as of
several weeks ago).
Giving credit where credit is due, I recently had a chance to talk with two
nurses who work in the NICU at this facility. These two wonderful nurses are
very supportive of breastfeeding and very knowledgeable about the mechanics,
etc. But even they didn't know to whom to refer mothers for difficulties and
support.
Ok, this might not be a lot compared to what many of you have to deal with.
For the record, there is much breastfeeding support available in the community.
Four LLL Leaders, two IBCLCs in private practice, a fantastic WIC Peer
Counselor program, and several very supportive MDs. There is great
cooperation amongst all these bf advocates. We try hard to blanket the
medical community with the lists of people who can be called for bf info and
support. Dr. Wagner and her colleagues have been so very supportive of
breastfeeding, as well, and I don't want anyone thinking that I am railing
against them!
(I am speaking from close personal experience with breastfeeding a compromised
baby in this facility. My own daughter spent 16 days there as a relative
new-born, and a friend's daughter spent seven weeks there as a newborn. Lots
of hours in waiting rooms and in the hospital itself can really open one's eyes
to what is going on and what isn't going on.)
I guess that I will be making a trip down to this hospital (yet again) to get
bf support and info. numbers into as many hands as possible!
Beth Hilleke [log in to unmask]
2425 Spring Garden St. Charleston, SC 29414-5535 803-556-6131
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