Royce et al. - "What can we do?"
Keep on smiling! Keep on teaching (slowly, bit by bit, with a light touch
and an understanding spirit)! And "don't let the b______s grind you down!"
(I can't quite remember the exact Latin for that quote, sorry; it's so much
more elegant in Latin.)

I know it often doesn't seem like it, but we DO get through eventually; the
thing I try to remember that you may never know when you've made a big
difference by something you've said or done. I know it sounds like a weak
platitude, but I also know it's true. Does it help to think back 10 years?
10 yrs. ago I was a hospital nurse/LC, by far the most well-informed (re:
BF)staff member and by nature the most "radical" in our department, and I
didn't pay that much attention to The Code either. Mainly because I didn't
see it as having much to do with my day-to-day job. I didn't have control
over hospital policy re: ABM purchasing or their contracts with the various
companies. I did what I could with the women & babes that came through my
care, I worked to get rid of the formula samples to BF moms & towards any
other BF-friendly measures that  I could conceive of, and I never thought of
it in terms of "the Code" just cuz it didn't seem that relevant. And, as
frustrated as I got and still get with the policies of that hospital, I have
to say that tiny step by tiny step, over time a lot of things have changed
for the better.

But I think, on the daily 1:1 level, you make a lot better progress (even
when you can't see it) by keeping a non-zealot demeanour. Not to say that
you can't BE a zealot, just that blatant zealot-ish behaviour will provoke
more eyeball-rolling and "oh-there-she-goes-again" responses from
co-workers. You carry a message in yourself, and in how you work with your
partients and your peers, and you are a powerful tool, so (IMNSHO) you don't
need to carry as big a stick as you think you do. But keep at it! The old
water torture treatment...

Pollyanna (aka Cathy Bargar, RN, IBCLC - don't know why I'm feeling so
goody-two-shoes today. Must be the warm sun here in Ithaca NY!)
-----Original Message-----
From: royce anderson [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Thursday, February 11, 1999 9:55 AM
Subject: Re: MJ reply and LC warning


Laurie Wheeler says "Hope I am preaching to the choir. And as Dr. Jack
says and others re the Code. It is not about manufacturing, having,
using formula. It is about MARKETING the stuff."

I hope so, too, but I'm not so sure that's correct.  I've been at the
same hospital for 20 yrs.  We have ALWAYS marketed for them!  In fact,
in even months we hand out brand X and odd months it's brand Y!!!!  I
truly believe that very few of the mat/child nurses in our institution
could tell you about the WHO Code.  Most believe that ABM/Breastmilk are
equal and "it's (BRF) just not for everybody".  There are days when I go
home wondering why I even bother.....I am "fanatic", "nipple nazi" and
"you know how those lactation consultants are?"

What can we do?

Royce Anderson, RN, IBCLC in Oklahoma City where it looks like winter's
coming back.
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