I was surprised to not see more comment about the newspaper clip Jodine
Chase sent in the other day:
Unicef is today calling for better training of midwives and health visitors
to
> support breastfeeding mothers.
>
> It has produced a set of guidelines after it discovered that many newly
> qualified health professionals lacked knowledge and skills to help with
> breastfeeding. The programme was launched at the annual conference of the
UN
> children's fund in Harrogate. Andrew Radford, Unicef's programme director,
> said that the lack of a reliable and consistent standard of breastfeeding
> education in Britain had undermined mothers' chances of feeding their
babies
> successfully.

I think that even as LCs we need to look at the lack of consistency in our
management strategies and the things we tell mothers.  I guess if I had to
say what things I think are the most misunderstood (in light of research)
I'd pick using "yeast" as a first choice explanation of chronic sore nipples
and "deep breast pain".  Also on my list would be poor management of
engorgement, sore nipples, and mastitis.  I think there is poor
understanding that milk supply is calibrated early in lactation.  Milk
supply from then on stays at about 750-850 g a day for the long haul unless
artificially stimulated, and that this vol. continues to be adequate for the
growth needs of singletons due to down-regulation of energy requirements by
the baby over time.  There is good data on how to pump for hospitalized
babies that is often not followed.  And finally (although this should be
first) is the whole issue of the way latch and positioning continues to be
taught in many institutions.  I recommend to those who have not looked at
them to go to the WHO pages on the internet:   www.who.org  and type in the
search word "breastfeeding" or a more specific search such as "breastfeeding
mastitis" for example.  There are excellent, well referenced protocols for
managing most breastfeeding related problems.  Lactnetters will recognize
the names of the authors, as they include people like Chloe Fisher, Felicity
Savage, Lisa Amir, Mike Woolridge, Marsha Walker, Evelyn Jain.
Barbara Wilson-Clay, BS, IBCLC
Austin Lactation Associates
LactNews Press
www.lactnews.com

             ***********************************************

To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest)
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
All commands go to [log in to unmask]

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