Dear Friends:
     Susan Burger has opened my day with a thought provoking post that puts
the US into an international perspective.
     I have done physician follow-up letters because they are part of IBLCEs
standards of practice and because they have been a good marketing tool. At the
same time, I haven't always liked doing it . It has galled me to send a
report to some physician who undermines breastfeeding, no matter how politic my
report is. I resent surrendering power to a stranger, especially one who didn't
refer to me. Why make the assumption that the pediatrician is the captain of
this particular mother and baby's ship? The healthcare system in the USA seems
to be quite feudal in nature.
     However, from all the great posts here on LACTNET, I can see that there
are some benefits to the follow-up letter: it illustrates our presence, it can
educate, and it can foster a collaborative relationship.
     It can also torpedo any hope of collaboration, as we have also seen in
the posts here on LACTNET.
     I have found personally that a telephone call to a pediatrician's
office, always while the mother and baby are in my office, has had the best results
for helping the dyad and establishing a respectful relationship.
     warmly,
Nikki Lee RN, MS, Mother of 2, IBCLC, CIMI, CCE, craniosacral therapy
Adjunct faculty, Union Institute and University, Maternal and Child Health:
Lactation Consulting
Supporting the WHO Code and the Mother Friendly Childbirth Initiative

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

To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest)
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
All commands go to [log in to unmask]

The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html