Some of the responses to my post on drive-through deliveries made me realize
I should clarify how  breastfeeding support is practiced where I
live(pennsylvania, usa) and made me wonder how it's done elsewhere.

I volunteer as part of a group of telephone counselors.  Our group receives
referrals  of breastfeeding dyads from several local hospitals .  We provide
telephone counseling and  hold twice-monthly support groups.   In our
geographic area,  peer counselors do NOT do face-to-face counseling or
evaluations.  We hope that our training and experience helps us recognize
situations that need more intensive intervention, and refer these out to
LC's, physicians, etc.

In a more ideal system, the tricky cases would be caught by the
hospital/nursery staff prior to discharge, or by visiting nurses just after
discharge, leaving us peer counselors to provide support and information for
the normal ups and downs of breastfeeding.  In reality,as many of you know,
dyads go home 24 to 48 hours after delivery,and see the pediatrician 2 weeks
after birth.  A lot can happen in 14 days, and often, I am the only person
with any training in infant feeding and behavior that mom is in contact with
until that 2 week visit.

(Of course, this is not nearly enough support for many breastfeeding dyads.)

Those of you who are not IBCLC's---how does post-partum  breastfeeding
support and follow-up get handled in your part of the country/world? What
responsibilities do volunteers, para-professionals and professional staff
have? What works well, and what slips through the cracks?

Always looking for what works best,

Karen Kavesh in Philadelphia.

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