Hi all,
My 2 cents worth about change over the years...
I am an IBCLC since 2005, so compared to very many of you just a rookie. I
was one of the first IBCLCs in Spain. Since I am an MD and one of the first
lactation specialists here, I had it easy to offer breastfeeding traning
for health care professionals and I have been doing so for 15 years now.
For the first ten years very few real changes ocurred. Some people did fall
in love with breastfeeding and human lactation and became advocates and
IBCLCs... but the bulk of nurses and midwives who received the training
(who where veeery many, almost one thousand in ten years) plus the (very)
few MDs who also received training, did not make many noticeable changes in
their daily practice. It just did not seem to SINK IN. As time went by more
and more training was offered, by other IBCLCs and groups, including BFHI,
and very few changes occured. There was a lot more talk of breastfeeding, a
lot more boasting about breastfeeding support at health care facilities,
but sadly no real changes.
But for the last five, specially the last two, years, I can see a big
difference. I dont know why, maybe we have reached some type of critical
mass, or HCPs feel more pressured, or have realized they really have no
tools to help the growing number of mothers who demand breastfeeding help,
or... I dont know.
What I do know is that now I get feedback from people who are daring to try
the things we talk about; I´m starting to get news from nurses at maternity
wards helping moms and babies do skin to skin for the first 48 hours after
birth! Until discharge! And they are reporting no low blood sugars, no cold
babies, no endless crying. They are reporting calm moms. They are checking
out the value of laid back breastfeeding positions and how incredibly well
babies do with self attachment. I have been teaching this for years and
years, but for some reason NOW it´s sinking in and becoming part of how
they work.
These past few weeks I have received several messages from midwives doing
prenatal expressión of colostrum with moms who are at high risk of being
separated from their babies after birth. Midwives write to me overjoyed
with how well this works, how it empowers moms and how babies receive no
formula. Midwives are starting moms on colostrum expression if baby doesn´t
seem to be feeding well within the first four hours!! Again, I have been
teaching this for years and years, but for some reason NOW it´s sinking in
and becoming part of how they work.
Yesterday I received a whatssap from another midwife. SHe had attended a
vacuum birth with slight shoulder distocia. She put the baby on mom, and he
didn´t do the breast crawl. Midwife waited for an hour, and still no
breastcrawl (with a normal APGAR). She tells me "before your training, I
would have just thought this baby would need more time, I´d have sent the
mother to maternity, and given the baby some formula per protocol if he
didn´t feed before two hours were up. But I remembered your words: babies
are designed to survive, to eat. If they dont do it, it is because they
can´t, because SOMETHING IS WRONG." So the midwife started colostrum
extraction in the birthing ward, fed the baby and then looked him over very
carefully. He had a fractured collarbone. Nobody would have done anything
about it until the ped explored that baby a few hours later. And of course
he would have received formula.
Again, I have been teaching this for years and years, as I am sure many
many of you have, but for some reason NOW it is sinking in and becoming
part of how they work.
In a conversation with Nils Bergman this spring, he told me he was seeing
this same phenomenom. After years and years of talking about skin to skin
and neurodevelpement, he is NOW being asked to do hands-on demostrations in
several neonatal wards that are really implementing changes, really DOING
instead of talking. They are really changing what they DO, not just what
they say or what they publicize.
Do any of you notice this? Is it just in Spain? I pray not!!!
Hugs and hope,
Kika
--
Dra. Carmela Baeza
Médico de Familia
Consultora Certificada en Lactancia Materna IBCLC
www.centroraices.com
http://www.facebook.com/Consulta.Lactancia.Raices
<http://www.facebook.com/pages/Centro-de-Atenci%C3%B3n-a-la-Familia-Ra%C3%ADces/274415189309122>
Autora de "Amar con los Brazos Abiertos"
http://www.ediciones-encuentro.es/libro/amar-con-los-brazos-abiertos.html
Comprometida con el Derecho a Vivir
http://derechoavivir.org
***********************************************
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
|
