Oh, Linda... That does not sound too good...

The situation is painful and is potentially detrimental for everyone 
involved - kids, staff, hospital itself.

Agree with Liz's suggestions BUT - that may depend on the hospital 
structure and affiliation and it just may happen (disclaimer alert - I 
am only stipulating, as no information was given to support my 
assumptions) that by hiring this particular neonatologist the hospital 
was looking into some support from MJ. Nothing unheard of :(.

Would joining ABM help? Don't know, as we are most probably dealing with 
a case of industry supported fanaticism and fundamentalism, thus the 
probability of such docs coming out the "artificial milks dark side" is 
pretty low. But never say never, we can always try "therapy" by ABM 
and/or SOBr. Said that - may be promoting ABM and SOBr to other doctors 
in the hospital will work better and more efficiently?

Meanwhile, while trying to work through the administrative channels, may 
be it can be a good idea to assess what allies do you have in the 
hospital - other neonatologists? pediatricians? GI docs? What about your 
community? Is your hospital affiliated with any University? Am I right 
assuming that you have only SCN?

What about doing grand rounds on the topic? As long as your department 
of pediatric chief will go for it... Or even having the "supplementation 
debate" with one of the many great speakers that we do have in ABM. That 
can be an interesting event BTW, I would like to a fly on the wall for 
this one ;D. Talking seriously - this is exactly the reason why we 
started to work on the ABM's speakers bureau project. And if any of your 
community docs is a member of the AAP's SOBr - they can even apply for 
the 2015 Breastfeeding Lectureship grant (the deadline is in February) 
and then bring a lecturer INTO THE COMMUNITY hopefully without 
interference of the hospital. As we speak neonatologists are literally 
lining up to participate in this project of promoting the use of human 
milk in NICUs.

Journal clubs, nursing conferences, breastfeeding coalition meetings, 
utilizing the IL AAP chapter (do you need contact info?) - all can serve 
as alternative avenues for education and promotion of the "breastfeeding 
force".

Another opportunity (in addition to the above active-aggressive 
measures) is to utilize the passive-aggressive approach as well. 
Evidence based medicine is on your side and while nobody wants anything 
negative to happen in your nursery - it can be worth it to review data 
the past several years and to compare it with the data after (if the 
worst will come to worst) the changes were made. Again, nobody want 
anything bad to happen and you will be doing everything possible to 
prevent problems, BUT - if anything will even try to go not as good as 
it should be - document, document, document.

I'd bet it will be a lot of even better suggestions on and off the list.
Keep us updated and (going along the Star Wars theme in this post ;D) 
may be LactNet force be with you!

Alla

-- 
Alla Gordina, MD, IBCLC, FAAP
General Pediatrics
Breastfeeding Medicine
Adoption and Foster Care Medicine

Global Pediatrics and Family Medicine
NJ Breastfeeding Medicine Education Initiative
NJ Chapter Breastfeeding Co-Coordinator, American Academy of Pediatrics
Satellite Symposia Sub-Committee Chair, Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine

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

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