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Date: | Tue, 15 Sep 1998 20:26:20 -0500 |
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Susan,
We've had similar problems with babies getting bottles at night at every
hospital I've worked at. Here, we offer rooming in, but it is the
mother's choice
and we do have a separate nursery that they can send the baby to whenever
they want. I find the problem is two fold: mothers who expect not to see
their baby until 9am , and nursing staff who either don't want to take
the time to help her breastfeed, or who really are
'anti-breast-bottle-believers'. Of course, the next day when she is
having trouble getting the baby to feed, the mother claims it was the
nurse who didn't bring her her baby, and the nurse claims the mother
refused to take him. Aaaauugh!
To counter all of this we have recently written a new breastfeeding
policy, specifically addressing "supplementaion of breastfed babies". It
states that all bottlefeeding of breastfed infants must be documented .
We are going to have an information/release form for both the mother and
her nurses to sign. It
will go over all the reasons not to supplement (ie: nipple confusion,
sore nipples, engorgement) and state that if the mother still wishes to
bottlefeed, she is releasing the hospital from any liability related to
her breastfeeding success.
Of course, infants who are supplemented for medical reasons are the
exception. They need a pediatric order and the doctor must discuss the
plan with the mother and document.
Hopefully, this new release will drive home to the mother how important
It is to nurse at night . Also, it will eliminate the 'blaming game': if
she signed it it was her idea, if she didn't the nurse is at fault.
Hope this helps! Kathy in Wash.D.C.
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