Hello! My name is Katherine Yurkovich and I am a junior nursing student
at the University of North Dakota. I am currently taking a childbearing
class and I have just finished my OB nursing clinical. I joined this
listserv a few weeks ago and have enjoyed learning about several topics
that I learned on the OB floor and several that I did not.
I am very interested in information about breastfeeding with multiple
births, especially triplets, and the role nurses play in education and
support. I realize that many mothers may chose not to breastfeed because
of multiple infants, but I feel that with the proper education and
instruction, breastfeeding could be performed effectively with multiple
infants. According to Moxley and Haddon (1999), with the increase in
multiple births, there is a greater need to provide this group of parents
with accurate information and anticipatory guidance about breastfeeding.
Parents need to understand that breastfeeding is not only nutritional, but
builds a maternal-child relationship and decreases the chances of viral
and bacterial infections for the infant. Many mothers believe that
breastfeeding is a life-line to their newborn infants and provides the
child with emotional security and nurturing (Leonard, 2002).
One study, conducted by Leonard (2000), was done on breastfeeding triplets
in a home setting. The study concluded that the mothers of triplet
infants felt that the support from health care professionals, i.e. CHN
(community health nurses), was not very helpful. Several mothers felt
that the CHN, although accessible and provided quality information, was
unable to understand what it was like to have triplets. The study, in
conclusion, suggested that not all nurses will achieve breastfeeding
expertise, but that it is important to have access to someone with the
necessary skills, i.e. lactation consultant.
Another study was done on enhancing support during the postpartum
hospitalization period for higher order multiples (Leonard, 2002). The
study found that mothers of multiple newborns felt that interactions with
multiple nurses could be stressful, because they were unaware of their
particular situation. The study stated that it is important for nurses
and lactation consultants to follow-up with new parents, because new
parents may become overwhelmed or too exhausted to contact lactation
support services after they have left the hospital if they run into
problems.
My questions are what your agency’s guidelines/policies for informing or
teaching a mother with multiple newborns how to breastfeed, how many
nurses are lactation consultants at your agency, is there a guideline for
follow-up visits/calls, and how I can be supportive of a mother, in a
hospital setting, with multiple newborns to start/continue to breastfeed.
Thank you for your time!
Katherine Yurkovich, SN
Leonard, L.G. (2002). Breastfeeding Higher Order Multiples: Enhancing
Support During the
Postpartum Hospitilization Period. J Hum Lact, 18(4). 386-391.
Leonard, L.G. (2000, May/June). Breastfeeding Triplets: The At-Home
Experience. Public Health
Nursing, 17(3), 211-221.
Moxley, S. and Haddon, L.P. (1999). Focal Point to Breastfeeding:
Teaching Breastfeeding to Parents
Expecting Multiple Births. International Journal of Childbirth
Education. 14(1), 1-9.
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