i saw a client in the hospital recently. without going into the gory details,
what happened was appalling and, in my mind, criminal. the misinformation that
was handed out! the poor treatment of the mother and baby. and the worst part
was, the mother was eager to believe that the staff were loving and kind and
wanted to really, really help her, so she sent me home promising to call if
there were problems.

because of her belief in their reassurances, and her lack of knowledge, she
did NOT call and the entire breastfeeding relationship was completely and
totally ruined within twenty-four hours. this was not just another mother with
a baby, but a woman who had induced lactation and had been preparing for this
birth for five months.

i had no trouble being in the hospital with her, but difficulty not openly
contradicting the misinformation given out continually by the staff. when i
returned to the ruined situation, and saw the staff LC, it was very difficult.
she was unaware of many things i consider normal knowledge for someone called
an LC. i later found out through other channels that the LC is not ibclc.
based on other experiences at other hospitals, though, i would say that that
is not the only problem, however.

what to do about this? well, i guess for one thing i will never be able to let
someone stay unattended at the hospital. what should i charge for twenty-four
guarding? i would say that what barbara said about ethical issues is indeed
the most important thing.  we need solutions to these problems. right now
thinking of this particular case, i would say that specific guidelines about
when and how to supplement are crucial, and that a lot of people need to think
about their professional role and use of ABM.  someone who has no problem
pouring abm into a healthy baby without fixing all the other problems, who
openly derides a mother who chooses to use donor milk and to persevere with
breastfeeding, and who is willing to emotionally blackmail a mother with false
information and threats has no business being a nurse or in the lactation
business, either one.

so you can tell i am not really over it yet, huh.

carol brussel IBCLC
wondering if the intermountain bf rates are so high "in spite of" not "because
of"

ps. yes and before people flame me again, i am completely aware of the
difficulties in working in hospital situations; i see that people who begin to
read lactnet begin to have a different level of awareness about the
profession, and that they are really fighting a battle to change things in
their situations. i am most unhappy with those who have some sort of
credentials, and yet, as barbara said, "haven't bothered to read the code of
ethics." and haven't figured out yet how they apply to their situation.