Have any others in the US noticed a difference in their work experience
since the TV show?  Particularly those of you in private practice?

Before the program I was meeting myself on the freeway. (I do only home
visits.) I was painfully busy--new clients every day.  But since the
program I have had only 2 calls from new clients, one of which was a baby
who wasn't transferring milk.  We talked and mom was hesitant to arrange a
consult that day.  When I called back she had weaned to abm because "baby
is so satisfied."

Now, I know from experience that this work is erratic and I have had slumps
before, but the timing was so close.  The same thing happened in '95 after
the WSJ article and TV Magazine shows. At that time, the pharmacy where I
get my breastpumps had a sizable drop in rentals too.  It took over 6
months for things to *begin* to creep back to normal.

There may not be much change in initiation rates in hospitals, but my work
is after problems begin to show up at home.  I'm thinking that with the
program's "hammering home" the message that breastfeeding is a risk to
baby, a new mother is more vulnerable to suggestions that it is self
serving for her to continue to breastfeed when things aren't going well.
She is no longer proud of the excellent care she is giving her baby.

But, you know, it wasn't the parents with the new baby that were sitting on
the couch watching TV on a Wednesday night.  It was the grandparents--and
those crisis scenes, the ridiculous angst of the physicians, and the deep
fears and unhappy baby hit them very hard.  It is then difficult for them
to be supportive of the new parents' venturing into that great unknown of
breastfeeding. And they, too, aren't proud to tell their peers that their
grandchild is being breastfed.  Their peers watched the program too.

I'll be interested to see if any others of you have had a similar
experience.  Our TV station didn't use the VNR but they did have a good
spot in the news following, including a LLLL, an MD, and a mother in a
NICU.  I thought that it was good.

Patricia Gima, IBCLC
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Upper Midwest USA, where she has plenty of time to
read and respond to Lactnet these days. :(


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