Diane,
I am horrified in the days of all the Mother-Friendly and Baby Friendly
initiatives. Of course we must keep in mind that a 95% epidural enlarges this
mans pocketbook tremendously so he has a personal interest in this rate. I
know this because our own chief of anesthesia approached myself and a few of
the other childbirth ed. instructors to find our what we were teaching in
those classes regarding epidural because he had seen a drop in epidural rates.
Interesting, eh???
I will forward some of the articles I have at work regarding anesthesia and
breastfeeding. A great video is the self attachment video showing the
differences between unmedicated babies and medicated babies and their approach
to the breast and ability to self attach. It is short but powerful.
I would definitely alert your CBE instructors and pass along the research to
them so that they can incorporate the truth about epidurals to their clients.
It is still an informed choice but at least the clients will have researched
information to make thier choice from.
Good Luck and I will be in touch.
Sharon Galvin, RN, IBCLC,
Lowell, Mass.
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