Nina asks, referring to mothers of sick/vulnerable infants, " If
mothers have the information, will they not do what has to be done?"

I think on the whole they do....I had a convo a little while ago with
a very bf-friendly paed who works in neonatal special care. 'We tell
them their baby really needs their breastmilk, and that anything
other than breastmilk is likely to make the baby sicker'.

'His' mothers almost always provide breastmilk for their babies (most
of them had intended to formula feed).

This is seen as 'putting pressure' on mothers by some of his
colleagues. But he thinks it's important, for the sake of the baby's
well-being, to be honest with the mothers.  People like me (and many
of us on this list) also see it as something empowering and wonderful
and connecting for the mother and the baby.

Hospital staff are in a great position to explain - 'your baby
*needs* skin to skin/kangaroo care - if he doesn't get it, he will
become sicker'; 'your breastmilk is so important to your baby -
nothing we can do comes close to it. He risks other illnesses if he
doesn't get it.'

On the whole, mothers want to do the best they can for their babies,
and they want honesty.

Of course this pro-bf attitude is only good if the rest of the staff
enable the mother to do all this, and emphasise its importance
consistently.

It's not good if institutional practice is valued more highly than
supporting the mother and baby. A colleague told me that a staffer on
a NICU had reported 'they never will be able to do kangaroo care
because of the way the high dependency room is too small to fit
chairs in' - outrageous.

Heather Welford Neil
NCT bfc,tutor, UK
--
http://www.heatherwelford.co.uk

http://heatherwelford.posterous.com

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