Yesterday I explained in an entry that it is very good that there is a master's degree in breastfeeding, but the important thing is that professionals leave already trained in their respective careers and that the current ones are recycled. I say this (I have said it many times) and thousands of unhappy mothers say it too.
The problem is that the message does not always reach health professionals and of course, if someone does not know they do not know, hardly any change will occur. Would you like it to happen, that Did the pediatrician, nurse, midwife, gynecologist and family doctor know more about breastfeeding? Next we tell you how to get it, because everything depends on you, the parents.
Any day, in any query
You go to the pediatrician or the nurse, they ask you how about everything, what the baby eats, you explain, and he starts telling you that you have to stop breastfeeding, that he no longer feeds, or that he is "addicted" or that " It doesn't make sense anymore. " No matter how many months your baby has, it's irrelevant in the story.
Or go and ask them if it is normal that, after six months, still breastfeed at night. They tell you that at that age he is already able to sleep through the night and that if he sucks at night it is because you have become accustomed to that, that you change tit for water.
Or any other thing. In the first paragraph, many informed mothers realize that they are receiving a wrong advice. Some take it down, starting a real discussion: "Who knows more, you who have read it on the Internet or I who have been practicing my profession for so many years and have seen thousands of mothers and babies?" Others say nothing, here I get in and out here: whoever wants to know, lies in it, next day I tell you that I still breast, but very little.
In the second paragraph, the mother does not know, or doubt. Ask, and get a wrong advice based on a wrong diagnosis, babies breastfeed at night for many reasons that are far from the "you have used it."
It may also happen that you go to the doctor for anything, diagnose you and, when he is going to prescribe the remedy, you tell him that you are breastfeeding. Several things can happen, that he looks at your child and if he is older he tells you to wean him, that he does not prescribe the treatment because he considers that it will harm the baby or that he looks for the information to see if he can prescribe it. The logic is the third, but too often the other two happen.
They are just examples of things that happen any day in any medical consultation. A pretty bleak picture for mothers.
Complaining on the internet
Then the woman, mother, is outraged by the visit. Some almost crying over the anger received, when it turns out that they are not doing anything wrong, others angry at not having given the reply and others bothered to meet professionals who do not know.
They need to vent and do so by telling people around them, or online, explaining the event on social networks or in the form of a blog post. They soon receive support and comments from other "victims" that help heal the wound of the moment.
But, What's the use I often read such complaints, but I doubt that pediatricians, nurses, doctors and midwives will enter these blogs to read those stories, those reliefs. It helps the mother to release everything contained, but nothing changes. Minutes after that mother closes the door, the professional is giving the same bad advice to another mother, and then to the next.
What are the claims
I work in a Primary Care Center. I am a nurse. Many times I receive complaints from mothers about the operation of the center, or about the treatment of a pediatrician, or an administrative one, or ... and I often urge them to file a claim. "You don't like how the center works, because it claims? I can't do anything to change it, despite working here." And eye, that many times professionals get many changes, but it is the patients, the users, who have the greatest strength.
I remember a time when there was a certain tension, at the beginning of the crisis, when the first changes arrived. We all saw that the thing was not going well. We all knew that there were malfunctions that we were fixing with patches. A meeting was held to explain the memory of the center, how we were going, and the bosses were very happy because we had very few complaints, ergo we were on the right track. It was a fallacy, the real complaints were much greater and no, we were not on the right track, but apparently, the number of claims to the center was the scale to know how everything was going.
So at the level of breastfeeding I think we all think the same: many health professionals do not know and are guilty of ending many lactations. This is a serious problem, but for there to be a solution they have to know that they don't know. If nobody tells them that they are giving wrong advice, they will continue to think that what they say is right. If we do not tell you, if we do not make claims, they will continue to say the same with each mother who comes in and the next time you go to the consultation, or you lie, or they will tell you again what you have already heard.
You don't want to claim? Give thanks
Many mothers do not want to make a claim because they have a good relationship with the healthcare professional and because they think they are going to get angry and the last thing they want is to have it bad. I understand, but I repeat: if you don't know you don't know, nothing will change.
I would say it verbally, "I understand that this is not so, that ...", and even offer literature that speaks about it for the next visit. Health professionals are people, and many will have no problem listening and accepting the correction with a "I will investigate about it, and I thank you for bringing it to me, yes." Others, because they will take it worse. In that case, why not claim? You have already told him, he does not accept the possibility of being wrong, because you write a claim:
Today, this health professional has visited me and has given me advice that may cause problems for breastfeeding mothers. In my case I will not follow your recommendation, because what is suggested in this case is to do this and this. By explaining that he could be wrong, he does not accept that possibility and it feels bad to me, because I trust him a lot as a professional, since he has helped me many times with many things, and I would like to continue trusting him in all matters, including Breastfeeding.
I don't know, it's just an example. No need for disqualifications or losing your temper. It is simply leaving on paper what we think, so sincere but constructive, looking for change.
But if you don't want to make a claim, if it doesn't convince you, you can always do the opposite, a letter of gratitude, as Carlos González suggests in his book "A gift for a lifetime". Something like that:
Today I came to visit with the healthcare professional X and I want to show my gratitude because on other occasions, with other professionals, this has happened to me, this and this (and here you explain what X has actually told you). However, he has proven to be a professional involved and updated, by advising me to continue breastfeeding as recommended by WHO, up to two years, or by patiently explaining that it is normal for children to continue breastfeeding at night, or when prescribing the drug I needed to know that it is fully compatible with breastfeeding. I am very happy with your services and therefore I wanted to make clear the great work you are doing with your patients, blah blah blah.
Claims are read by the director of the center and always communicated to the professional. Thanks too. So there are two options to let them know they don't know. In the first, they both know it. In the second, the director also congratulates the professional, and it is the professional who realizes that congratulation hides a claim. He decides whether to uncover the truth or keep the lie and pick up a book to see if the mother is right.
And if not, you can also request a meeting with a superior to explain your opinion. In our center it happens often, disgruntled patients ask to speak with the director. And there you tell him that you prefer to remain anonymous, that you have a good relationship with the professional and want to keep it that way, but that he does not know about breastfeeding, that he gives you wrong advice, that you have decided to lie to him to avoid discussions and that you are not comfortable with that situation. Add to that meeting another one from another mother, a couple of thanks and a couple of complaints and you will have made clear a problem that requires solution.
Yes the professional He doesn't know he doesn't know, nothing will change.
