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Subject:
From:
Marty & Jeanette Panchula <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Lactation Information and Discussion <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Fri, 22 May 1998 10:18:30 -0300
Content-Type:
text/plain
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Anne,

Boy can I relate to your visitors problem!  When I first returned to Puerto
Rico, it was a culture shock to realize (I left at 19, and you had no
contact with hospitals at that age) that EVERYONE comes to visit the mom.
Grandparents, Aunts, Supervisors, co-workers, neighbors - EVERYONE.  Moms
have visiting hours from 1 to 8 PM, and there is very little time during
those hours that there is not family nearby.

I started my job, 4 years ago, trying to ask some of these people to leave
- but that only caused problems with the moms who wanted to visit with
their families.  Yes, some were glad we kicked them out, but many were not.
 Our culture is very family oriented.

Then, remembering the saying "a woman loses her brain with her placenta and
grows one back in 6 weeks", I realized that 1- very little of my teaching
was 'staying' in her head.  2- All these people will be near her when she
goes home and will be giving their own opinions.

So - I now give "bedside conferences and myth-destroying teaching" at the
bedside with the family there.  Then I tell the mom I want to help her get
the baby on the breast and ask her who will be staying to watch and learn.
Usually the husband and her mother or sister stays, and the others leave
with smiles and farewells - and saying they wished they had known this
before.

Of course sometimes baby is not in the mood to wait, and then I just have
to start with "I need to help mom get the baby on, who will be her
helpers?"   the visitors seem to have a clear understanding of who will or
will not be helpers and seem to sort themselves out.  This does cause quite
a bit of congestion in the hallways, but the rooms at least are more
livable.

I have had moms just tell me they're not ready for teaching, that they have
visitors now.  I then politely explain that my hours are very short on the
hall (10 hours per week), so she can make an appointment with me after
discharge if she would like a consult...


Jeanette Panchula, BSW, RN, IBCLC, LLLL
[log in to unmask]
Project Director - Proyecto Lacta - Puerto Rico
http://netdial.caribe.net/~prlacta/
Lactancia Materna '98 - La Mejor Inversion

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