Moving on!

From working with a very nice Dutch family with their first child to working now with a Philippini family with their second child
Beautiful little girl with a very determined mother
Sometimes it is better to provide information and then to accept that things will be done differently!
Life is a challenge and respect for people's culture and decisions is important
Lactation Consultant course tomorrow with lots of work to catch up on

Latching on?

Now working again after a quiet period
Working with a Dutch/Surinaams family
Mother was left alone to breastfeed in hospital with no instruction about how to latch on
The result being incorrect latch, ( baby sucking only on the nipple), and broken nipples
Now busy teaching correct latch on and waiting for nipples to heal
Expressing milk to increase production and temporary use of nipple shields help
Milk is coming!

big feeder!

Have just finished a week working with a Jordanian family in Den Haag
From losing weight to reaching almost 4 kilos by the end of the week the baby was a good feeder and gained lots of weight
Poor mum had to have a Catheter in for a week to give her bladder a rest but managed really well
I got to hear some Arabic and experience some
middle- eastern food Thursday was the Breastfeeding Symposium in Almere
Very interesting talk from Paediatrician regarding the unnecessary taking of blood sugar levels soon after the birth of the baby and the even more unnecessary giving of formula to correct it
More next time, have a good week!

respect

Today I finished with a family
The mother decided not to continue breast feeding but instead give expressed milk in a bottle
Respect for people's decisions is important
I give the information and education neede regarding the benefits of feeding at the breast, the decisions are taken by the parents
The baby is growing and everyone is happy
Course tomorrow looking forward to learning more

Baby explosion!

there seems to be a baby explosion right now and I have been very busy
My new family is Italian, I love Italians!
Problems with latching on but today after two days of finger feedings with a syringe baby latched on and fed well
More tomorrow, Chow

Lactation Consultant course

Today drove to my course near Amsterdam
It was pretty intensive with lots of Anatomy and Physiology,a challenge for me in Dutch!
I am learning so much wish I had known about all of this 14 years ago when I had my first child!
I can now pass it on to my mums
Looking forward to work tomorrow with a Dutch family who are really motivated to breast feed and have a 21 month old boy who knows that nipple shields are for his mum to breast feed!!!

A new beginning

Today I started studying to be a Lactation Consultant
I drove to Almere and started the one year course with 19 others including one man
People from may disciplines and backgrounds including Midwives, Dieticians, Nurses and health Professionals
The course is in Dutch but most of the books are in English
Really enjoyed it,( apart from the file on the way back) now have lots of homework for next week
Hope to learn lots in order to help women feel competent and confident about breast feeding