Gayle told us what a mom "heard" an LC tell her:
> She is supposed to have started the lactation program at one of the
> local hospitals 25 years ago. Well, she told the mom that the baby needs
> to
> be one a schedule (something that Dad has been begging for) and that she
> has
> to train him to recognize what a full stomach really feels like. She let
> mom
> nurse and weighed him after he was done. He had taken 3 oz, so she had mom
> give him 1 oz of formula afterward and then got him to sleep by putting him
> in
> the crib on his tummy. The nurse says that he is to feed no more
> frequently
> than every 3 hours and that she is to supplement with 1 oz of formula after
> every nursing session.
I agree we often need to take what a mom says another LC told her to do w/ a
grain of salt, but this is a case where I think some follow up needs to be
done -- somehow, someway. If in fact, the LC demonstrated how the baby would
go to sleep by giving it an ounce of formula and then put it on it's stomach
-- well, I would wonder about what message the mother is getting. Even if
the LC told her, "Look, I'm only gonna do this one time -- this is dangerous
for your baby, it goes against everything the AAP says, but I'm going to do
it anyway because I'm here watching your baby breathe to make sure nothing
happens" the mother sees the professional putting the baby on his tummy to
sleep. What is the message the mother takes home? She sees the LC giving an
ounce of formula after the baby takes three ounces of breastmilk -- what is
the message the mother takes home? That her breastmilk is inadequate, and
the baby must be supplemented.
Mom is in "heaven" because she has "permission" to let the baby cry until the
three hour period is up and she can feed it again. And this time, perhaps
she'll give 2 ounces of formula after the breastfeed so the baby will sleep
longer. And perhaps this mom has a breastmilk storage capacity that can't
tolerate going three hours between feeds at this point without downregulating
the supply.
Laurie suggests that perhaps the mother misinterpreted everything the LC told
her. In that case, I would still suggest that if the mother misinterpreted,
then that LC didn't communicate her instructions very well. What the mom
heard the LC say was potentially dangerous -- and borders on malpractice.
So, Lactnetters, what say you? Should the LC be confronted with what the
mother is communicating she said? If I were the LC in question, I think I'd
want to know that the mom totally misunderstood everything I told her. That
has happened to me occasionally -- someone tells me something I supposedly
said -- and I can correct it then and there -- either I didn't say it at all,
or I did, and I was mistaken. In either case, I can rectify what happened.
We do know one thing that the mom misunderstood -- the first bonafide
lactation program in Northern Illinois was started in 1985. No matter how
you crunch the numbers, 1985 was not 25 years ago.
Jan Barger, RN, MA, IBCLC -- Wheaton IL
Lactation Education Consultants
www.lactationeducationconsultants.com
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