Hi Jeanine, We've had a couple incidents where mothers were given pretty poor information on drugs and breastfeeding, or misinterpreted the information they were given. So, we are currently working to change that. There've been a lot of steps in this path, some of them exploratory or dead ends, but some recent ones are: --Providing the radiologist with up to date info about radiology procedures and their effects on breastfeeding; she is currently updating the department's policies and procedures, so the newest facts will be incorporated. --I got the pharmacist to make me up a list of the most commonly used anesthetic/analgesic/sedative drugs and then I looked them all up in Hale and Briggs et al. Not all were there, but now I have a quick-reference list that will make it much easier to figure out whether a mother having minor surgery needs to avoid breastfeeding after she wakes up. --Something I hope to do soon is make up a handout (or several, for different circumstances) for the mothers to take home with them. A nurse anesthetist pointed out to me that a mother who's had all this explained to her and then is given those mind-boggling drugs often can't remember afterwards what she was told, and it's important to give them something in writing and check in with them later to see if all is well. One possible handout would be a list of drugs the mother has been given and the Hale info for each of them, though I'm trying to figure out a way to make that practical. At the very least she should leave the hospital with a sheet of paper that says whether breastfeeding has to be restricted at all, and if so, why, for how long, and with info on pumping etc. This part is just in the beginning planning stages. --Talking to the head of nursing and the head nurses of the ER and the OR to expand their existing pregnancy triage. They already send patients who are more than 20 weeks pregnant to the Birthing Center for evaluation. Now I've written up a policy revision that specifies they need to do the same, or at least notify the Birthing Center, if a postpartum mother (less than 8 weeks), or a breastfeeding mother (any age baby/child) or a breastfeeding baby or child is to be treated. Hopefully they will let us know in a timely fashion, so that in case of planned prolonged interruption of breastfeeding we can get the mom pumping enough milk ahead of time to avoid having to give the baby formula. --The storyboard for this month is "Protecting and Supporting Breastfeeding throughout the Hospital" and has quotes from the Dept of HHS Blueprint for Action on Breastfeeding, the CDC's NIS statistics, the AAP's policy statement, and various other calls to arms for health care providers. Visually it's a bit crowded as I was trying to squeeze in an awful lot of material :-) but it's divided into three main sections: "Breastfeeding is Best Practice" (with a bunch of supporting material about how breastfeeding supports the mother's and baby's health, plus specific sections on the importance of exclusivity and duration, to try and get people away from the idea that a couple days of formula makes no difference); "Breastfeeding is Challenged...In the United States / In Hospitals" (CDC stats, Healthy People goals, typical hospital scenarios that pose a barrier to continued exclusive breastfeeding, etc.); and "How can the Hospital Support Breastfeeding?" (Involve the Birthing Center and the Lactation Consultant, Understand Reasons for Pumping, Know Your Resources and Where to Find them...) The week after I started to really go on the warpath about this, the Birthing Center was notified of two mothers of 9 month old babies: one coming in for scheduled minor surgery w/general anesthesia, and the other admitted for ulcerative colitis. (Previous post.) So, this is having some effect. The Birthing Center nurses are fine with the plan to help these moms with pumping etc., though what they're going to do if they have two mothers in labor and one of these situations comes up, I don't quite know yet. It's just a small hospital, but I think it's going to pull together a pretty good program to make this work, in the end. I hope. I have to leave, permanently, in a month, so I'm crossing my fingers that there's enough momentum and good will to keep this going. So, if this mother wants to use any of this information to nudge her hospital, she's welcome to contact me. Elise M-G LLLL, IBCLC New Hampshire At 05:42 PM 6/1/2005, you wrote: >I called patient's nurse on 8th day to stress getting the patient a hospital >grade pump and what the complications would be if she didn't. It came within >two hours. Previously patient was using a hand pump. Lactation consultant >came once. No other support has been given. This is the 5th day of >hospitalization. Patient briefly saw baby two days ago. Now she is >experiencing a great >deal of depression and crying all day. Finally seen by a new pulmonologist >who is very grudgingly sending mom home tomorrow with directions to come in >every day for lab tests. He told her he dosen't want to see her develop >postpartum depression. > >My question concerns hospitals making accommodations for such mothers and >babies. Are there any institutions that do treat such mothers with >knowledge of >the total patient and make accommodations accordingly. She would like the >information to hopefully educate the staff and help such patients in the >future. > >Thanks > >Jeanine Barsamian in NJ >RN, IBCLC, LLLL *********************************************** To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest) To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet All commands go to [log in to unmask] The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html