Carla, you wrote:
< Every
mom should know how to hand express. Every HCP working with moms and
babies should
be able to teach the technique.>
I will second that with a resounding "Amen"! And whenever possible,
hands-on teaching using the mom's breast as the model, is so very much
more effective than using a cloth model, because it involves the
kinesthetic sense to expand her understanding, including just where her
particular lactiferous sinuses are.
After reading this recommendation in my teaching tip in Consultant's
Corner in the March '99 JHL, Dianne Wiessinger asked me for some clues
to resolve the awkwardness she had found in attempting to demonstrate
hand expression on the mom herself.
This is the suggestion she found most helpful:
When you are facing the mother, the placement of your thumb and finger(s)
is the opposite of hers. (e.g., your thumb is on the underside of the
areola, while hers will be at the top.)
It helps to move around slightly behind the mother on the side of her
dominant hand and reach over her shoulder to demonstrate for the first
drop or two. This places your thumb on the upper side of her areola and
your finger(s) on the bottom, just where hers need to be.
I think this has the added advantage of seeming less like "being looked
at" from the mom's view, and might be particularly helpful for male
physicians, or at least pediatricians, if it might make both mom and HCP
more at ease. For OB's and FP's, it might seem to the mom much less
"intrusive" and personal than some of the other procedures they have
performed on the mom while facing her.
K. Jean Cotterman RNC, IBCLC
Dayton, Ohio USA
___________________________________________________________________
Get the Internet just the way you want it.
Free software, free e-mail, and free Internet access for a month!
Try Juno Web: http://dl.www.juno.com/dynoget/tagj.
***********************************************
The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html
|
