Laurie, you wrote:
<After 10 yrs of doing only this, and not really seeing any improvement
in
the hospital setting - honestly - I am seriously considering giving up. I
know that will take one more warrior out of the battle, but my mental
health
is suffering from this constant battle. In the last 5 yrs I can't really
say
I have seen any improvements in the New Orleans area.>
I have a bumper sticker attached to the inside of my bedroom door: "When
all else fails, lower your standards." It was what got me through the
difficult teen years of one of my kids who was deeply troubled and acting
out big time.
I hated to contemplate doing it because of my own pride in holding high
standards, but it was one of those situations where the harder I tried to
personally effect situations, the worse things got. 15 years has shown
that both of us were partly right, and we see a little more "eye-to-eye"
on the grandkids' upcoming teen years.
There is a little passive-agressiveness in all of us, I fear. Even
hospital personnel. Maybe ESPECIALLY nursery personnel! Maybe you will
just have to accept them as they are, warts and all, and focus your
energies on individual moms, and making small spurts of progress with
selected personnel.
I have no doubt you are too close to the scene to see it this way. And I
do respect your putting your mental health as a priority. I just hope you
find a way to maintain both, because 5 years is really a very short time
in the scheme of organizational change.
I hope you have, or will develop such relationships with one person at a
time that you can supply them with articles, teach them a new trick now
and then, and compliment them liberally to their peers for the least
little breastfeeding friendly thing they do.
I learned the hard way in my hospital years that I had created a
"Frankenstein monster" by somehow creating a "breastfeeding saviour"
reputation. It did the mothers no good on Friday night to be told I would
be in Monday morning!
Envy frequently reared it's ugly head among the staff. It began to
improve only when I began to look for likely staff people to mentor in
the art of helping breastfeeding mothers. (And as much science as there
may be in it, it definitely IS and art.) That allowed more people to buy
into owning the problems and helping make changes.
In the long run, you may build allies and disturb the "old-girl network"
in such a way by "sabotaging" it from the inside, something you can't do
from the outside looking in.
Hang in there! Vent to us as often as you like.
Jean
**********
K. Jean Cotterman RNC, IBCLC
Dayton, Ohio USA
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