I too am a IBCLC working in a hospital and become quite frustrated that our
mom's are really forced to nurse on a schedule because the Newborn Nursery
Nurse makes rounds every 3 hours to check when the baby last ate and how
long did he nurse. My frustration is I want to let mom and baby have enough
time to get breastfeeding started on the baby's schedule and if he does not
nurse right away or within 12 hours, I am getting a call that baby probably
needs to be supplemented and I can give the mom the option of ssns or using
a bottle. I have talked to moms about it and told them that it was really
there decision unless the Ped orders it. The mom has told me that she would
like to wait. The next day when I get back, I find that the mom started
supplementing with a bottle or ssns. At that point, mom is losing her
confidence in nursing because she is sure that she does not have milk. My
question is how long is too long if baby does not nurse right away. It is a
real concern to the nursery nurses if baby is not nursing well by 15 hours
of age.
Janice Norris RN, IBCLC
USA

On Thu, Jun 17, 2010 at 10:44 AM, Norma Ritter <
[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Jessica wrote:
> "breastfeeding is not a measurable, exact science, but in hospital
> environments RN's are forced to make it very chartable, scheduled and
> measurable......time isn't available to spend 1 hour working with a
> breastfeeding mom, so sometimes it is more convenient to intervene with
> gadgets and rules when all mom really needs is to learn confidence and
> techniques for little stumbling blocks that may present themselves."
>
> I think that this is a fair assessment of the situation.
> Mothers who birth their babies in hospitals are subject to hospital norms.
> Unfortunately, In the USA the vast majority of hospitals are not Baby
> Friendly, and IBCLCs on staff fight an uphill battle. With the best will in
> the world, I don't see how I could condense the (average) two hour home
> visit I offer in my private practice to the ten minutes available if I was
> working in a hospital.
>
> Much of what I do as a private practice IBCLC is related to counseling.
> Mothers need to talk about their concerns,and active listening takes time.
> It is not something you can hurry along, at least, not unless you are
> willing to miss gathering important, relevant information. A mother who is
> relaxed and comfortable is more likely to share information, and this does
> take time.
>
> Ours is a helping profession. In order to best serve our clients, we need
> to
> staff our hospitals with enough IBCLCs to allow them to do their job. I
> have
> lost count of the number of mothers who have told me that the extent of
> their contact with the hospital IBCLC was a head poking around the door
> calling out, "Everything going OK? Great!" and then disappearing again. I
> am
> not blaming the staff, only the under-staffing.
>
> Which brings me to the next point.
> As Gonneke said, it is time that lactation consultants were recognised as a
> separate professsion. Compare our history to that of midwives. Like
> midwives, we started out as women helping women, in our case, many times as
> volunteers for La Leche League and other,similar organizations. As midwives
> became more organized into a recognised profession, they were, almost
> everywhere,, also required to be nurses. You had to train as a nurse before
> you could do midwife training, and this affected HOW midwives practiced. In
> fact, many people now describe certain midwives as MEDwives, because their
> practices have become so medically orientated.
>
> We are seeing exactly the same thing happen with lactation consultants. The
> new prerequisites for taking the IBCLE exam are pretty much guaranteed to
> deter lay, volunteer breastfeeding counselors from becoming IBCLCs. It will
> also pretty much ensure that there will be very few IBCLCs working outside
> of hospital situations, since the overwhelming majority will also be
> nurses.
> The flip side is that hospitals will not find many reasons to employ non-RN
> IBCLCs.
>
> So what will we lose?
>  - a whole pool of potential candidates who only want to be IBCLCs, not
> nurses.
>  - IBCLCs who see the complete course of lactation, which can last for
> years, not just the first few days that mothers spend in maternity units.
>
> I am sure that others will add to that list.
>
>
> Norma Ritter, IBCLC, RLC
> Breastfeeding Matters in the Capital Region
> www.NormaRitter.com
>
> Join us on Facebook for the latest birthing and breastfeeding news and
> views:
> http://tinyurl.com/BMCRonFB
>
>             ***********************************************
>
> Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html
> To reach list owners: [log in to unmask]
> Mail all list management commands to: [log in to unmask]
> COMMANDS:
> 1. To temporarily stop your subscription write in the body of an email: set
> lactnet nomail
> 2. To start it again: set lactnet mail
> 3. To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
> 4. To get a comprehensive list of rules and directions: get lactnet welcome
>

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

Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html
To reach list owners: [log in to unmask]
Mail all list management commands to: [log in to unmask]
COMMANDS:
1. To temporarily stop your subscription write in the body of an email: set lactnet nomail
2. To start it again: set lactnet mail
3. To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
4. To get a comprehensive list of rules and directions: get lactnet welcome