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Lactation Information and Discussion <[log in to unmask]>
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Wed, 23 Nov 2005 07:42:00 EST
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Happy Thanksgiving to all my U S of A colleagues!!
 
Insomnia -- ya gotta love it sometimes....I guess.  Anyway, on one of  my 
insomniac rolls last night from 12:30 'til about 3:00 am (could it be that a  
wedding in 10 days might be a contributory factor???)started reading "Down Came  
the Rain" by Brooke Shields which is an autobiographical account of her 
struggle  with infertility, getting pregnant, and her subsequent issues with 
postpartum  depression. 
 
I think it is a must read for any of us that work with mothers and  babies.  
Her poignant descriptions of *her perceptions* of how she was  treated in the 
hospital and her feelings after the baby was born were  heartbreaking.  I've 
not quite finished the entire book, but along with  everything else, 
breastfeeding was quite a struggle.  Several things hit me  -- apparently she took 
breastfeeding classes in Los Angeles, but delivered in  NYC.  Her comment was, 
"apparently, as with rap music, there's an East  Coast and a West Coast version 
[of latching on], and there's always a battle  brewing between the two.  This 
nurse [lactation specialist] said to  disregard how it was done on the West 
Coast and pay attention to her  instructions....the pressure was on to get this 
stuff [colostrum] into Rowan as  quickly as possible or else, I was told, it 
would dry up.  The nurse kept  referring to the process of the liquid coming in 
as letdown.  It was an  appropriate term for the frustrating process.  No 
matter how my baby got  angled, I couldn't seem to position her mouth correctly.  I 
felt like she  would be the one who was "let down" if I didn't figure out how 
to perform this  presumably natural process."
 
I wonder if there is a Midwest version.....
 
But seriously, while few of us are going to have folks who have classes on  
one coast delivering on another coast, this comment is not a good thing.   Why 
are we so disparate in our teaching that it is coming across as a battle  
between California and New York?  
 
I would have hoped that the book would portray lactation consultants (and  
nurses) as empathetic and helpful, but either (a) they weren't, or (b) in  
Brooke's overwhelming fatigue and depression (which hit almost immediately --  and 
when you read the account of the delivery, you will understand why), her  
perceptions were way off.  Whichever, it is important that we recognize  that not 
all mothers are going to sail through a C/Section or a vaginal delivery  
smoothly and instantly bond with their babies.  No one suggested skin to  skin, no 
one pulled up a chair and just sat and held Brooke's hand while she  cried out 
her frustration and bewilderment.  It was several weeks before  anyone 
(including her physician) noticed that what she was going through was not  *just* 
baby blues.  Apparently there was no followup with the breastfeeding  -- did she 
have a number to call?  I don't know.  Brooke reports that  the baby was 
having meconium stools (like "licorice") on day 5 when she went  home -- red flag! 
red flag!! but she didn't see a pediatrician until a week or  so later.  
 
Again, hard to know what is really truth and what is perception in a  
layperson's account, particularly in a book written a couple of years after the  
fact.  But I think we can all take some lessons in compassion, and  being careful 
in what we communicate about our colleagues, even if they live in  a 
completely different part of the world than we do.
 
 


 
(\__/)
(='.'=)
(")_(") Jan Barger, RN, MA,  IBCLC
Wheaton IL -- Midwest!!
_Lactation Education  Consultants_ 
(http://www.lactationeducationconsultants.com/)  
_My Mother of the Bride  Blog_ (http://www.motherofbridebyjan.blogspot.com/)  
_Torrey's  Wedding Webpage_ 
(http://weddings.theknot.com/pwp/view/co_main.aspx?coupleid=3216252686617334)  






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