Carol,

    I agree with your frustration when HCP's tell moms in the hospital to
"just keep trying" without referring them to an LC who can actually give
them some assistance in what techniques may actually work to help the baby
latch!  I recently did a consult where the mother had very flat nipples and
the baby had only successfully latched once in the hospital.  She had never
been shown how to actually form a "nipple" with the sandwich technique or
how to help the baby get more breast in his mouth with the asymmetric latch.
She had only been reassured that "babies don't need much in the first 3 days
anyway, so just keep trying."  Mom was now engorged to the point where
latching on a "normal" nipple would be very difficult and baby was so
frustrated that he would only scream at every attempt.  A nipple shield with
expressed milk introduced into his mouth at the same time was the only thing
that would get this baby to accept the breast and transfer milk. If mom had
learned how to actually help baby latch in the hospital, we might have been
able to avoid the nipple shield.  To top off my frustration, these parents
had gone to a local baby store with the intention to puchase the Medela Pump
In Style, only to be told that the store was out of that particular pump.
They came home with a Medela double mini-electric, having been told by the
store clerk that this was the same pump that was in the Pump In Style, only
without the black case!!  That illustrates the benefit of having LC's
provide pumps as well.  At least the parents are going to get the right pump
for their needs!
    Kristeen Rogers, RN, IBCLC
    Crystal Lake, IL

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