Last night I saw a couple whose 3 day old baby was unable to latch on
due to severe engorgement.  We took care of the problem, but in talking
to them I was amazed and disgusted to hear all the terrible advice they
had gotten while in the hospital (not the one I work in!).  Some of it
was the run of the mill garbage like limiting nursing time to five
minutes per side and increasing gradually to prevent soreness, etc., but
the worst was the nurse who reprimanded the mother for continuing to
hold her baby after nursing him.  "Right back into the bassinet, dear,
or that baby will continue to want to sleep with you until he's five."
If that kind of advice is still being given out by nurses in hospitals,
we have even further to go than I thought we did.

Discouraged, but not giving up,
Lori Lerman, RN
Winchester, MA