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Subject:
From:
Elizabeth Brooks <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Lactation Information and Discussion <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Mon, 28 Jan 2013 14:26:46 -0500
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I loved the news that Sally reported of a call with WIC [public health]
administrators, and how to offer advice to BFg moms who are using
marijuana.  Some states in the USA have now decriminalized marijuana use
(although there are remains-to-be-seen legal issues because the federal
level still considers its use criminal in all states ...).

Sally wrote, "Basically - The state office told us if we thought mother's
use of
marijuana was causing weight gain issues that we should call the Doctor and if
we thought it was an issue of negligence we should contact CPS."

Love it love it love it.

This makes us look at WHAT IS HAPPENING to the mother and baby, instead of
finding some singular physical activity to demonize.  Smoking marijuana ...
drinking alcohol in pregnancy/lactation ... co-sleeping ... these are just
a sampling of activities for which mothers have been shamed and villified,
without anyone ever stopping to see how or if it MATTERS.

Mothers come to lactation with a whole host of good-and-bad
habits/traits/situations.  As healthcare providers (HCPs), we should be
offering evidence-based information and support, so the mother can make an
informed decision on her own and her child's healthcare [in consultation
with her primary HCP].

So if the IBCLC has a health concern about the baby (i.e. weight gain), the
primary HCP (the pediatrician) needs to be pulled into the loop no matter
*why* weight gain is sluggish.  Marijuana use?  Poor latch?  Insufficient
feeds due to "training" programs of one kind or another?  Underlying
illness?          Maternal physical anomalies lowering supplies?  Then --
heck yeah -- the primary HCPs for mom and/or baby need to be part of the
discussion!

What if the baby isn't gaining weight because the mother is smoking
marijuana to the point of incoherence on a daily basis?  And not feeding
her baby? Then, a call to Child Protective Services (CPS) is needed because
the mother isn't parenting her child!

In other words:  We can't make blanket statements (and care plans ...)
about marijuana use and BFg any more than we can about beer drinking and
BFg or co-sleeping and BFg. There are saf*er* ways of doing everything
(since no one can guaranty 100% safety ...), and this is what parents need
to know.

-- 
Liz Brooks JD IBCLC FILCA
Wyndmoor, PA, USA

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