Thanks for the name, Dr Nils Bergman. It was really curious for me to find the resistance from the SCN staff as it was the hospital midwives who had been at the ABA conference and brought the video back that inspired me to really pursue Kangaroo Mother Care with this little babe.
Thinking about the SCN staff. I know that they see many many babies who have real problems and fail to thrive but there is still a culture of not really supporting women informed choice and consent. I had a paed say to me " I am the babies advocate" and was furious that I refuted this saying that the babe's advocate was his mother. I saw mothers encouraged/pushed to go home at night, who wanted to stay and feed their baby. I heard younger mothers talk about the SCN Nazis. I do not tar all the midwives in SCN with the same brush but really think that the culture of SCN is changing towards something warmer and that the cultural change is really important. Some really difficulties lay in the physical environment where there are not enough room for mothers to stay with their babes. This needs to be addressed. But mostly women must be encouraged to be under the Midwives feet with their babies. Mothers must be encouraged to inform 'admin' what is lacking in space and support in the SCN to make real change possible. This is a small can of worms. I feel that SCN is the poor sister. Birthing Rooms have got bigger and prettier. SCN is neglected in many cases. We have baths and showers in Birthing Rooms but not enough facilities to have long term rooming in for the SCN mothers and babes. It is an area that need active support and change. Aside from the prem issues. For some time now (before I saw the Nils Bergman video) I have been encouraging mothers not to dress their babe for days after their babes are born but to have them skin to skin. What I have seen is breast feeding that has been really easily established and babies gaining weight from birth. The Nils Bergman video actually helped me to understand why the practise that I had instinctively moved towards works so beautifully. In peace and joy Sally Westbury -- This mailing list is sponsored by ACE Graphics. Visit <http://www.acegraphics.com.au> to subscribe or unsubscribe.
