I just checked the National Sexual Assault Hotline and their statistics indicate that 1 in 6 women have been sexually assaulted. I am curious about the scope of this problem. Could the people that have identified this as a problem please tell us the number of hospital assaulted women you see in a year and the total number of clients you see in a year? Rachel Wahl RN IBCLC ----------------------------------- First - we need to remember that there are many different types of assaults. I would not (personally) look at what happens in the hospitals as a sexual assault. And, in the case of rape - it isn't usually about the sex - it is about control. The assaults that happen in the hospital are physical and psychological assaults. I would suspect that the statistics of physical assault of women are higher than 1 in 6. When you add in the psychological assault I am sure the statistics are even more depressing. Rachel, I can tell you right off the top of my head that at least 50% of the women I work with, at home, have reported to me the rough handling of their breasts, their babies, etc. that has left them traumatized and/or angry. The worst cases result in babies with severe breast aversion and mothers deeply disturbed and upset. I got a call Sat afternoon from a midwife team regarding their client who was treated so badly (manhandled the baby and the mother roughly and painfully) in a local hospital (from where I hear MANY complaints regardless of the LC on staff efforts to change that) that she yelled at the nurse to leave her room NOW! Baby is now refusing the breast - screams at the sight of it. I see at least 250 -300 women/babies per year average. It varies a bit. I deal with at least 30 breast aversions a year that take anywhere from 3 days to a couple weeks to resolve. The sad fact of the matter is that there are some people out there who, regardless of the education they are getting, still insist on handling women roughly - whatever their reasons is unknown. The hospital I mentioned above - the LC (and I know her) has tried to reeducate. The only way people will change how they do things is if they want to. Jennifer is correct - MOMS DON'T REPORT! I have counseled every single mother who reported to me how she was treated to please file a complaint as that is the only way change will happen. I have asked who was it (so I can report back to the staff LC) - they don't remember the name of the person or even what she looked like - they are too tired, and too distraught over the more immediate issue of healing and trying to breastfeed that baby. By the time they may be in a place to write a letter - they have forgotten. It simply doesn't happen. We have an IBCLC in our area who is equally as appalling in how she treats mothers. I know this because I get reports from the mothers all the time and they say the same things about this person - and the Ped in her area tells mother DIRECTLY NOT to call her! He has them call me. THEY need to report and complain - I can't. Third hand info doesn't work.it needs to be the mothers. Maybe I need to develop a form for them. I have a friend who is a Ped RN, she and I discussed this issue at length Sat. She reported to me her own frustration at watching other nurses handle babies and mommies roughly - she knows there is no need for that - she knows it isn't right. She was very gentle with her patients. When she gave birth to her 5th baby at the hosp she worked at - SHE was treated as badly as the other mothers! She complained to me (as a new mommy) how roughly she was handled - it was appalling to her. She is one who will, in the future, be able to go back into that setting and start making a difference. But for most new moms that is not the case. Hope this helps. Jaye *********************************************** 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(R) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html