Wouldn’t it be grand if you could successfully influence mothers, bosses, friends, and everyone you know to promote, support, and protect breastfeeding? What if I told you that you and other healthcare professionals can influence others in this way—and more—by adhering to six simple principles from an 80-year old book? Read more…
Some years ago, a good friend of mine had just returned from a prenatal visit. She began asking me some questions about her pregnancy and anticipated birth. At the time I was working as a labor/delivery nurse, so I felt entirely qualified to provide accurate answers. However, after hearing several Read more…
Last week, a woman who was having her second baby (by repeat cesarean surgery) asked if I would come to the hospital with her. I did. She was hoping I could help her to optimize that first hour or so when breastfeeding is so important as she had been only Read more…
While writing your breastfeeding policy, maybe you sailed through Steps 1 and 2 of the Ten Steps. But, if you’re like many of my clients, maybe you came to a grinding halt when you started writing hospital policy to implement Step 3. Maybe you’ve read my earlier blog on this step and identified what Read more…
Policy-writing is not a fun task. Most people write a policy because it is a requirement of the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative. Hospitals each tend to have a “house” format for their policies. This often includes a spot for the purpose of the policy. (If it doesn’t include this section, it Read more…
Professional development is more than just earning credits or passing tests or getting credentials. In fact, it’s more than just getting a new job. It’s finding and taking on self-made assignments that push you out of your comfort zone. You could do this alone! But you should never miss the Read more…
It’s the nature of the beast: Achieving Baby-Friendly designation requires buy-in from all of the hospital’s health care staff. Maybe you’ve already found that building physician support for Baby-Friendly is not always simple. From where I sit—teaching nurses and lactation consultants—questions arise about how to overcome resistance. Honestly, I don’t think Read more…
The World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF recently issued their new document, Protecting, promoting and supporting breastfeeding in facilities providing maternity and newborn services: The revised Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI) 2018. Are the revisions better or worse than the original 1989 document? To answer that, I started by reading this Read more…
Many of my clients tell me that they want their breastfeeding policy to conform to the requirements set forth by Baby-Friendly USA. But conforming to Baby-Friendly’s requirement, while necessary, is not sufficient. Your policy must also be functional! To be functional, a policy—about breastfeeding or anything else—must establish clear expectations for practice, Read more…
At a conference recently, I spoke with hundreds of IBCLCs. Most were nurses in hospitals, but that’s about the only generalization I can make about the diverse group. Some were young, some older. There were those from urban and rural settings. Some had been in their jobs for a few Read more…