First, thank you to everyone who sent such positive responses via e-mail re
my previous message about how to support BF in L&D.  Because so many wanted
to know about implementing this, I'll share a few tips from the school of
hard knocks.

Many wanted to know how to prevent separating mom and baby, what process
did I use?  I was just asked this yesterday at a local breastfeeding
coalition meeting.  Just keep the baby in L&D.  Expect to be called a
troublemaker (among other names)  and yes it is aggressive.  But isn't it
simple??   Just don't "give" the baby to the nursery staff!  Remember,
whose baby is this anyway?  Who's needs are being served here?

Some may prefer a kinder, gentler team-building approach. I take it upon
myself (BTW, I have approval to "trial" this process from my boss and her
boss) to complete and document the neonatal assessment myself at the
mother's bedside.  When I go to the nursery to get the scale to weigh the
baby at mom's bedside and the necessary paperwork, I often get these, "oh,
your working tonight...(it's that breastfeeding lunatic again)" comments
from the nursery staff.  I'm not at work to make friends-I'm there provide
quality care to new families.  This is the same nursery staff who were
delighted to go to the presentation on Drugs and Lactation given by the
formula company, eat their food, and take their free gifts.  Same staff
that suctions breastmilk from the baby's stomach after it has nursed in L&D
( and I've told them so beforehand).  The same staff who just gives the
baby a bottle of formula when they won't latch...ARGHHH!  I've offered my
services to formally educate the staff but no action has been taken as yet
by the manager of  the unit.  I'm just doing it one shift, one nurse at a
time now.

Our L & D is at one end of the floor and the nursery is clear at the other
end of the floor.  Using the old way, by the time I take the baby to the
nursery for it's admission and go back to L&D, I can have my neonatal
assessment completed and haven't separated mom and baby.  Presently, I
still have to go to the nursery to get the scale, but sometimes, I can do
this while mom is still in labor.

The vitamin K injection and eye drops do not have to be administered
immediately after birth.  Breastfeeding and skin-to-skin contact helps to
regulate infant temperature.  The point of this trial is to emphasize that
with a few willing participants (myself, another nurse midwife student and
another CBE), separating the baby from mom is not necessary.  Instead of
shoving a new concept down people's throats (in the typical Army fashion),
we are trying the concept out beforehand, doing a careful assessment of
what barriers we'll need to overcome before full implementation.


Maurenne Griese, RNC, BSN, CCE, CBE
Birth and Breastfeeding Resources
Manhattan, KS  USA
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