Hi Ruth,
I used to work at a regional referral nicu and also at a children's hospital
that was not associated with a birth hospital. However, I do not have any
numbers for you. What I do have is a suggestion. You said, "Our babies are
transferred and the moms come once they are discharged. This often delays
them starting to pump... "
This means the referral hospital is dropping the ball. I see this in my own
Level 2 Nsy. If the baby gets transferred to a Level 3, the staff often
forget to tell me so I can visit the mom. Luckily, I'm nosy enough to
usually catch these. What you could do would be a couple of things. The
nurse assigned to the baby could call the mother when baby was stabilized,
to tell how baby was doing and to give some info about expressing. Or call
the mother's nurse and try to get milk expression initiated. A handout could
be faxed on what to do.
Another method would be for the transport team to carry some packets of info
to get the ball rolling. They of course are focused on the baby, but could
briefly give mom info on how to get started and how valuable her milk will
be. If your hospital does any outreach to the referring hospitals, milk
expression could be included in the education provided.
When I was a nicu nurse, several of us decided to form a bf committee,
because we saw a real need for support of moms wanting to bf. In addition to
our regular patient load, we each carried a caseload of a few moms who
wanted to bf. We contacted them and kept up with them by phone and when they
visited. Often the moms were from miles away. We did this on our spare time,
if the unit was a bit slow that day, or after our shift. We kept a log on
each mom. We kept her supplied with containers and labels. It was how I got
started in the bf field.
Laurie Wheeler RN MN IBCLC
Mississippi USA

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