So it's day 3 of my blogging challenge and I'm already 3 days behind :/. No one said habits were easy to develop....
I was honored today to be able to attend my first meeting of the Iowa Lactation Task Force. I'm not even really sure how I found out about this group- somehow came across it online last fall and had just missed their Sept meeting at that point. I saved the info and came across it as I was organizing last week and luckily was just in time for the first meeting of 2010. It was an ICN meeting with locations all across the state. The one that I attended was in Waterloo. I was a little disappointed to learn that no one else in Mason City was involved in this group so they didn't have a site set up, but I wasn't surprised. Our area really has a lack for breastfeeding support and education. I arrived a few minutes late, but from what I could gather, most (if not all) of the other women there were OB nurses and lactation consultants. This was great and all but it seemed that their focus needs to shift by bringing others into the group. I guess that's what I'm planning on doing. They kept talking about the problem with so many women going back to work and not continuing breast-feeding because of that, but no one mentioned the problem with women not even trying to begin with or thinking they are not able to. It begins with education during pregnancy, birth outcomes, support in the hospital, and most importantly after the mom gets home. I know I needed the most help when I got home and my milk came in and found the lactation nurse and pediatrician to be VERY unhelpful at this point. Luckily I had a good friend with experience who I could call. I try to set up my follow up visits with clients a few days after they get home for this very reason. Hopefully I can add even more help by starting a local La Leche League group- one of my goals for 2010. In the meantime I will continue to help in any way I know how and keep learning as much as possible. I am looking forward to being a part of this group this year and seeing how much I can get out of it!
You can learn more about the task force at http://www.iowalactation.org.
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