Dear colleagues: Tragedies, like the winter tsunami
and Katrina, Hugo etc., bring our passion about BF to
the surface. It also shows how in reality the efforts
to relactate or induce lactation are not in the
management plans, or in the minds of the victims.
There have been a couple of very good posts about the
emotional and mental states of victims, which think
were instructive. Thanks.

It seems to me that this is the time to identify
ourselves and our profession as being experts and 
contribute to future emergency planning.
Interestingly, there seems to be a great lack of
accurate information on the topic. And as a
profession, we need to address this. I suspect there
are conditions and situations that make relactation
the smartest thing to do, and times when it is most
difficult without good planning and support, and most
of all, knowledge of how to do it. We need more
information and experience.   

I have volunteered to go to the hurricane region, but
have not been called up. I ask myself why? Planners
don't understand the need for lactation services?
Maybe because I do not have "emergency training".
Untrained people cannot be much help. 

Relactation support in a fully functioning hospital
must be quite different from working in a shelter
where everything is filthy, including the breasts of
the woman who just waded miles through contaminated
water. And how do you rinse the breasts off when there
is no clean water? I hope you are not all wailing for
that remark, but I am sure we would need to be able to
reassure the mothers and the medical administrators
that breastfeeding in that situation is not doing
harm...introducing horrible bacteria into the mouth of
the baby. So we need evidence. We need to be well
prepared.

I am going to disaster training next week and try
again. But my point is, now, while we are full of
fire, will ILCA, LLLI, NABA, and other US
Breastfeeding organizations, IBLCE put emergency
breastfeeding service and delivery of lactation
services high on the "to do" list and begin lobbying
for our involvement in planning committees.

This would mean developing a new sub-organization, but
it may be necessary. This is an opportunity to sat to
the world "breastfeeding is a life saving, not a life
style issue".

And while there is plenty of room for discussion about
the role of government breastfeeding policy, the US
agencies, seems to me, to more receptive that ever to
BF issues. I might be wrong...but I think that now and
in the near future, it would be wise for us to contact
our local, state, national governments to demand
inclusion in the emergency planning process. We might
need to get ourselves trained in emergency policies as
well.  

This group of breastfeeding advocates knows full well
we can make ourselves heard...and we should. I would
re-iterate, however, that it would be good to really
know what we are talking about, before we start. 

As a US citizen, I make my comments about the US
governmental agencies. I realize that Lactnet is a
very international group and i mean no disrespect to
others from other nations, who may have emergency
lactation programs and may be able to offer insights
based on experience. Anne Andrianos

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