For many years, in Babies and more, we have emphasized the problems that many women have with breastfeeding by going to some health professionals who they don't have enough knowledge to help them. It does not happen with everyone, obviously, but there are a large number of them who do not know enough, and what is worse, they are not aware that they do not know. This means that many give medical advice and solutions that often only serve to hinder breastfeeding and sometimes end it.
But there is no excuse, because he Ministry of Health has just published the Clinical Practice Guide on breastfeeding, why the health professionals who work in Spain should be governed.
What is the health professional for nursing mothers?
There are many professionals who work today that when they studied their profession they hardly received training on breastfeeding. I as a nurse remember that it was a class of something more than an hour and a half, and doctors say it was not much longer (some say it was an hour at most). Imagine the knowledge that a person who received such short training can have about breastfeeding: none, or almost none.
Therefore, professionals who care for mothers have to be trained externally or after their career (those who studied at least a few years ago), and especially those who see them the most: doctors, pediatricians and nurses. I do not forget the midwives and gynecologists, the former being the ones that are most often considered as a reference professional, although in case of requiring any medication it must finally be a doctor who prescribes it.
So who is the health professional for nursing mothers? Actually, should be the figure of the IBCLC, which are certified lactation consultants, but for now they are not part of social security (there are nurses, doctors, pediatricians, midwives ... who are IBCLC, but their job is not such), and in the end they are all.
All have among their competencies the promotion, education and advice of breastfeeding for different reasons. The pediatrician and pediatric nurse, because they are the ones who see the baby, and they should worry about their feeding. The midwife, because she visits the mother in the postpartum and must ensure proper breastfeeding. The attending physician because if the sick woman, should treat her like a nursing mother, prescribing the medicines that are compatible with breastfeeding. And the gynecologist, in case there is a problem at chest level.
Now there is no excuse
Everyone must be trained, so although they have never really had an excuse, because the information is not only in the universities, but also on the street (many mothers have more breastfeeding training than many professionals), as of now they still have less . The Clinical Practice Guide on breastfeeding It is posted on the internet and is a PDF that you can download at any time, you as parents, and professionals as such.
Come on, if so far there were many mothers who came to the pediatrician, the doctor or the nurse with photocopies of studies and recommendations, now they have even more reason to do so: "Have you not read, dear professional, the guide of breastfeeding of the Ministry of Health? Because I have read it and it does not say exactly what it says. "
