We have the same thing here.  Nurses cringe when a mom has a Birth
Plan.  While what has been said by others here (HCPS see them as
taking control from the HCP) is certainly true in many cases, I
don't think we can apply that across the board.  I know some OBs and
L&D nurses that I would call top of the line breastfeeding
supporters who have also expressed this thought.
When a mom comes in with a plan, that means she has certain
expectations which a mom without a plan may not have.  If anything
develops that does not fit the plan, she reacts more strongly and
openly than a mom without a plan.  Nurses remember that
disappointments more than they remember the cases where everything
was able to go as the parents wished.  A mom without a laid-out plan
is more likely to accept interventions, legitimate or not.
Now before you start sending flames, let me point out that I am
fully for as little intervention as possible.  I do know that
interventions occur far more often than can be justified by anything
other than the convenience of the HCP.  (I know one OB that reaches
for the vacuum if he is there more than 5-10 minutes waiting for a
mom to deliver.  Heaven forbid he has to stay away from his office
very long-and his office is less than a block away and under the
same roof as the hospital!)  There are certainly those that feel
they need to be in control of the delivery, not the parents in
control.  However, there are times when an intervention is totally
justified.  The parent with a plan that does not include the
potential for such an intervention takes it harder than one without
such a plan.  Mom may resent the staff, question her choices, resent
her partner for not holding out longer before encouraging or even
signing for the intervention, etc.
So I think some of the staff response that has been described can be
ligitimate concern about reaction of the parents if things do not
proceed as planned.  And again, staff is more likely to remember
those cases where there are deviations from the birth plan and
parents are not happy than the ones where things go as planned.

Winnie

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

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