Shared this story with a colleague and she thought it would be encouraging to all:
    I am a hospital-based LC.  Got a call for a consult to the cardiology floor for a mom who was admitted with high BP and headaches and was also nursing a 4 month old son.  First I met the pt. and her husband, they smiled and said thank you for helping them with nursing problems 4 mos. ago, she had used a nipple shield for 2 months.   (Their smiles and greetings were such a great reward!!)   They had been told by a radiologist the day before to pump and dump milk for at least 24 hrs because of a dye used in a scan.  I called the radiology dept. to find out the name of the dye.  Turns out it was safe to use during lactation according to Hale, no need to pump and discard milk.  The mom said the cardiology dr. had told her that morning that she would have to stop breastfeeding for a week because of all the meds she was on for the BP and headaches, as she wept.   The parents wanted me to check out all of her meds for compatibility with breastfeeding.  Half of them were already approved by the AAP!  One dose of a med that was not compatible was given the previous day only one time. Another med was easily changed to something that was compatible with breastfeeding.
     I went out to the desk to chart and talk with the nurse.  It was about 1.00 pm but the dr. was there and the nurse introduced us.  I showed him the edition of Hale's Medications and Mother's Milk I had with me and looked up a couple of the meds to show him.  He was a little embarrassed and said he had looked up a couple of them in the PDR and it said not to use with breastfeeding.  I told him the PDR says that about most meds and that Dr. Hale's book was a great resource.  The dr. said the mom had been fine with ceasing breastfeeding for a week that morning......I gently replied that she had some time to think about it and a week seemed like a long time to her.
He adjusted the order on one of the meds so it would be breastfeeding compatible.
    I then went to talk to the parents again.  The mom was a little upset and said her tears should have been a tip off to the dr. that she was not happy about pumping and not nursing her baby for a week.  I told her and her husband that the dr. wasn't arrogant at all and was very open to adjusting her medications, he just had not been aware.  The husband is an RN himself and read the Hale info. along with me, and really appreciated the dr's willingness to work with the meds.
    I then wrote a long note in the chart, added some copied pages from Hale to the chart, and signed it with a 'Thank you for this consult' with my office and beeper #s.
     All in all a positive encounter and hopefully we LCs will be consulted with more often.  Hopefully we can continue to be helpful contributors to the health care team.
     Susan in Minnesota
     rn ibclc

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