It's really hard for most people to understand why any lactation counselor
would be on a beeper or need to work almost every day of the week. But don't
you find that we are really so often working with emergencies from the mom's
point of view! (And the babies - it IS important to eat, after all!)

I find I've had better luck with mothers continuing to nurse when I give
them choices. It seems like so many different things will work in any given
situation - I've always wondered, if I did a research study would I find
that the lactation consultant's faith in any given remedy would determine
its efficacy?!

I often think the main thing we offer women is our knowledge that
breastfeeding DOES work. If we can use "a temporary solution for this
temporary problem" -- and know "we can't make it happen, but we can let it
happen" -- we do our moms and babies a big favor.

I have sometimes been surprised at moms who came back still nursing, in a
situation where I wondered if I would have given up! (Me, who nursed two
kids beyond 5 yrs). I believed in nipple confusion and then watched mothers
feed babies with an e-----nipple for a day while they pumped and the babies
did fine. I hated the thought of using nipple shields and had moms use them
with good success - and others who hated them and fed with a syringe. And
others who used fingerfeeding. Or supplementers.

Now I'll often bring a couple of gadgets into a room and say, "here's your
choices." And sometimes I use no gadgets. And sometimes I say, "Do you want
to continue to breastfeed? Or do you want to wean and go to formula?" I am
often surprised by what a mom chooses to do - but also pleasantly surprised
by the amazing number who stick with it! And over the years I have become
much more at ease in my own soul with what I can and cannot accomplish when
it comes to breastfeeding help.

Dawn Kersula the Green Mtn Mama in Brattleboro (sometimes called "Boulder
East, Andrea!)
    ...where the mountains are gold and red and orange today and the sun
shines bright from the azure sky!

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