I work in many venues -- one of them is a big hospital in Philadelphia that
actually has excellent IBCLC care.  One day last week I saw 23 moms in 8
hours.  What a horrid day.  EVERY pair had some kind of hard issue going
on.  Babies not latching; Moms not having confidence/milk/sleep/confidence;
Babies in NICU and pump regimens being started.  LOTS of talky talky
teaching, very little BF, Moms all looking shell-shocked.

So I was rather dreading my work day yesterday -- thinking it would be
another hard day.

What a gift it was.  Yes, the Moms had no confidence/milk/sleep/confidence
... but this time the Lactation Gods were with me.  Several Moms were
plopped into laid-back ... and the babies did a video-worthy job of using
their refleexes and innate skills to bob over and latch on.  No pain; lots
of suckling.  These Moms glowed with the "hormonal complexion" we heard
Suzanne Colson talk about at ILCA 2010.   I loved one very quiet mom: with
the aid of the interpreter phone (which always makes me wonder what the heck
the poor translator is envisioning) she proudly told me, "This is my third
child.  I breastfed my other two.  No formula ever."  The 16-year-old who
was down as a bottle-feeder said she wanted to "try BF" -- and her baby did
too, since he popped right on, went to work, and she grinned right up at
me.  Another Mom had had every lactation roadblock and pothole on the menu
with No. 1 -- he never did latch; she pumped for four months. This brand new
No. 2 latched on in the delivery room ... and had been off-and-on six times
in her ten hours of life.  More hormonal complexion.  More smiles.

We do hard work -- we argue about hard politics -- but in the end, working
with moms and babies is truly rewarding, isn't it?

-- 
Liz Brooks JD IBCLC FILCA
Wyndmoor, PA, USA

             ***********************************************

Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html
To reach list owners: [log in to unmask]
Mail all list management commands to: [log in to unmask]
COMMANDS:
1. To temporarily stop your subscription write in the body of an email: set lactnet nomail
2. To start it again: set lactnet mail
3. To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
4. To get a comprehensive list of rules and directions: get lactnet welcome