My heartfelt thanks to all of you for your support and suggestions in
dealing with our OB's and thier accusations.
I wanted to give you all an update on the situation. My department
director and our patient care supervisor will be meeting with the chief of
OB on Tuesday to discuss the situation. The LC's are pointedly NOT
invited. This is our director's decision. Yes, I am angry, but there's
nothing I can do about it. At least our patient care supervisor is the
actual author of the handouts and is extremely supportive of breastfeeding.
In answer to Elise's post. I agree, timing and audience are critical. We
do not give these handouts to mothers who have chosen to bottle feed. They
are only given to mothers who are breastfeeding and have requested a
pacifier or a supplement that is not medically necessary. They are
presented as a means of giving the mother all the information before she
makes her decision and we are careful to reassure her we will support
whatever choice she makes, we just want her to make an informed choice.
Our goal is to prevent mothers from getting to the point where they are
asking at all, but it does come up. Many mothers have actually told us
they appreciate the handouts because they have something to share with
friends or family when they ask "Where's the pacifier?" or "Why don't you
just give him some formula?" Unfortunately, we have never kept track of
the feedback, so nobody can remember any specific patients.
As for shifting the burden back to them, I strongly suggested that they be
asked to bring their references, but that suggestion went nowhere fast, so
here we are on the defensive once again.
To give you all an idea of what we are up against, one physician actually
said that we "could increase the rates of shaken baby syndrome by denying
access to pacifiers." Of course, we aren't denying them at all, and the
allegation is not backed by any sort of research. In fact, as my husband,
a pediatric telephone triage nurse pointed out, the majority of the
inconsolable baby/stressed out parents calls he gets are from bottle
feeding parents coping with ear infections or GI distress,the exact
population that uses pacifiers the most. ARRRRRGH
So, we are doing our best with a crummy situation. In the meantime, would
anyone who has notes from Paula Meier's talk at the academy of
breastfeeding medicine conference be willing to fax them to me? I left her
a voice mail, but haven't heard back yet and want to at least have
something in the packet we're putting together. My fax # is (414) 805-
3960.
Thanks again to all. You can't imagine how much your support and
encouragement means. It's easy to feel isolated in a hospital environment
and it helps a lot to know you're all pulling for us. I will let you know
what happens......
Barb Fibich, RN, IBCLC
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