Amy asked for tips for an interview about breastfeeding babies with
special needs.

In addition to packaging your message against possible editing, consider
how the sound bites serve the audience. Since parents of special-needs
babies are only a small subset, you can reassure them and "normalize"
their experience, while educating the broader audience, by starting from
the common ground shared by all parents.  Perhaps along the lines of:
1) Breastfeeding is important to *all* babies. But a
medically-challenged baby is more vulnerable to the added risks of
artificial feeding, and needs the normal immunological and growth-
promoting factors of breastmilk, and the warm interactions of the act of
breastfeeding.
2) No parent knows what challenges their child might hand them at any
age.  But the parent of a special-needs baby learns from the start to be
light-on-his/her-feet in understanding and responding to this rapidly
changing little individual, and the situation as it unfolds.  The
circumstances at two weeks might be very different at six weeks.
3) All mothers need information and support to learn the skill of
breastfeeding.  But especially in difficult medical situations, get
skilled, supportive breastfeeding help immediately, before the baby's
birth, if possible.  To tailor a plan to your individual circumstances,
you need a pediatrician who thinks breastfeeding is important, a support
group of other parents who understand your experiences, and a
knowledgeable lactation consultant, who has specialized knowledge of
techniques and equipment to help a challenged baby learn to breastfeed,
and to protect the milk supply while working toward that goal.
Establishing a good milk supply in the early weeks is crucial. If
someone isn't supportive, you may need to be an advocate for your child
and assemble a team of health-care professionals that will work with you
toward your goals.

You can see that I'm no help *at all* on brevity. And these could
certainly be jazzed up into better sound bites, and, as someone else
suggested, illuminated with a heart-warming story.  If this interview is
going to be chopped down to five minutes, it doesn't seem worth
discussing any individual strategies, like shields or pumps, but to
hammer on point #3, which all parents need to know -- breastfeeding is
something important that only the mother can do, and there are resources
and skilled help out there, but it may take some determination to hunt
them down.

Good luck with the opportunity.

Margaret Wills, LLLL, IBCLC

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