Teresa's story about her premature grandson's time in the NICU is a
cautionary tale about how thoroughly breastfeeding can be screwed up for
these babies through lack of knowledge or just plain not caring. These nurses
ignored or were unaware of (the final result is the same) every piece of
research and evidence based practice there is about kangaroo care and
breastfeeding the premature infant.  Because Teresa was a diligent advocate
for her grandson and his mother, the outcome was great. Imagine the more
common scenario where the family is not as well informed, they are under
great stress, no one is advocating for them and every piece of information
they get about breastfeeding is incorrect and inconducive to success.  You
can pretty much count on the baby going home bottle fed with a mother with no
milk. Congratulations, Teresa, for hanging in there against pretty big odds.
I guess the good thing is that maybe a few of the doctors and nurses in the
units where your grandson was learned a little about how to make
breastfeeding work for a premie...and congratulations to his mother.  It just
doesn't happen without a large commitment from mom.

Kathy Boggs, RN, IBCLC
Mountain View, CA.

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