Rachel wrote:
>High-intervention birth practices go hand in hand with poor breastfeeding outcomes.

Last week I caught up with the designated lactation nurse (not IBCLC, I believe,) of one of our local hospitals while we were both attending a breastfeeding conference in Rochester, NY. (BTW, it was fantastic! Nils Bergman received a standing ovation, and the other speakers were not so bad either, LOL)

I took the opportunity to talk with her about the increasing number of mothers we have been seeing who are being discharged from that hospital pumping and cup feeding, but who have never been able to latch on the baby to actually breastfeed. She said that it was because of more babies being jaundiced earlier. Bear in mind that they are usually discharged after 48 hours! She said that once the bili hit 15 the babies were put under the lights and fed either EBM or formula by cup.

When I asked, she agreed that the vast majority of mothers were opting for epidurals and it was often harder to get these babies on the breast. So this, to me, says that what we are probably seeing here is *not enough breastfeeding jaundice.*

I am sure that none of this will come as a surprise to most of you. The question is, how do we reverse the trend of high-intervention births?
Educating the mothers is not enough. Somehow, we also need to convince OBGYNs and other birth attendents that while interventions may sometimes be convenient they also carry long-term risks.

I am not against intervetions per se. Sometimes they ARE necessary. What I question is how frequently they are used. I was talking to my niece yesterday. She is expecting her second baby in a fortnight, and she had some questions about tandem nursing. (Her milk has actually increased during the last couple of months of her pregnancy!) I took the opportunity to ask about her birth plans. Last time she had an epidural *because labour was not progressing.* She considers her OBGYN to be low-intervention because he does not regularly schedule induced births....sighhhhhhhhh.....

norma

Norma Ritter IBCLC
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