Greetings to all my fellow lactosaurii!
I was forced to take medical disability retirement due
to my latex allergy in March, but my ex-employer was
kind enough to give me a scholarship to attend our
Pediatric Intensive Care Conference this past week.

It led to a great discussion at a lunch break.  One of
the pediatricians from out of town went with us as
well as the pediatric nurse manager & MCH director.
The pediatrician laughingly talked about a mother who
wished to be present for a circumcision so she could
breastfeed for analgesia afterwards.  She "allowed" it
& was thrilled that it worked.  She had read about
giving sugar water for pain relief & had been willing
to experiment with mother's milk.  We got into a
discussion about how a mother/infant dyad could nurse
during the circ & which positions could be used.  (We
did agree it might be easier for a mother who's
already nursed several children.) ;-)   Don't know if
she's truly open to that idea or not, but it was a
great lunch break for me.  :-)

We also discussed how the facility where I worked is
now down to only one certified lactation consultant
and it is severely impacting on our breastfeeding
families.  I got to give my suggestions for increasing
the education level of the staff:  1.  Hospital
sponsorship of interested staff to take the IBCLC
exam--at least 2 RN's have mentioned interest in
taking the exam & have attended the lactation
education course that happened 2-4 years ago, but are
fearful of spending so much money and failing.  (Also,
it ends up being a consideration since the hospital
eliminated our LC positions & do not pay any extra for
special certifications.)  They both would run
situations by me when I was still employed by the
medical center but was no longer able to go on to the
unit to work.  2.  Scholarships & education leave to
attend our local breastfeeding conference and
education courses.  Not only for the interested staff,
I'd love to see some of the "breastfeeding
knowledge-impaired" staff attend.  I spent enough
years in my old position to see a few medical
staff/nurse-osaurii change their spots.  It is
possible.

Sincerely,

Linda Madsen RN, CPN, IBCLC
(Nervous about my recertification exam coming up, but
going forward with it anyway!)







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