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Subject:
From:
Cathy Bargar <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Lactation Information and Discussion <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Wed, 26 May 1999 17:36:06 -0400
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Heather, what a great thing for your young ped to say! This kind of straight
talk from a *doctor*, at a time when they are probably already good and
scared for themselves and their child, can make a HUGE difference. I saw it
when apparently there were a couple of new neonatologists at the tertiary
care unit in a near-by town where women at high-risk deliver, where the
nearest NICU is. Women I had worked with throughout their pregnancies at WIC
and who were bound and determined that BFing was *not* for them would come
back after these very premature deliveries looking for a breast pump,
because the doctor at the NICU told them that their babies needed their
milk! Straight, simple, no tap-dancing around about "benefits" and
"options", just "your baby needs your milk now". What is the mom going to
say - "no, I just don't feel like expressing my milk, even though it may
mean my baby's survival"?!

And you know, of all the babies I worked with at WIC with very low birth
weights and very premature births, not a single one who was getting breast
milk EVER developed NEC (necrotizing enterocolitis)!

Now if only they could all be like that...And (my current campaign), if only
free or low-cost medical-grade pumps were as readily available to these
low-income mothers whose babies need their milk as they are to the women who
can afford to pay the rental fees, we would see significantly improved
outcomes for these tiny little ones. They are starting life so far behind
already, by being so early and tiny and born into poverty - don't they need
every single *cell* of advantage they can get?

Cathy Bargar, RN, IBCLC Ithaca NY

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