At it again… thanks to a CLC course!
Well dear readers, I am at it again.
Charlotte and I are again treading down the path of breastfeeding. I was given a gift by a local WIC department – a scholarship for a Certified Lactation Counselor course taught by the wonderful folks at Healthy Children (www.healthychildren.cc) I got to meet Cindy Maffei-Turner and Karin Cadwell who were both gracious enough to allow me to speak on day 4 of the training regarding my trials and tribulations with Charlotte. I handed out a reference sheet that will hopefully be used by those who attended the training. I tried to put an emphasis on the lack of support I had from the professional community in hopes that maybe those who attended the training would realize that just because a woman has a baby with a cleft palate does not mean she won’t want to breastfeed that child. Another important note is that when you are dealing with a cleft mom, it is of the utmost importance that you deal with HER Situation and don’t tell her that normal approaches will work. Or just tell her to DO something like “take baths” or “be patient” these very phrases are what frustrate us. We need to be told HOW to do it as we may not have experienced breastfeeding problems in the past. We need continued support and knowledgeable support. Please don’t brush us off if you don’t know what to tell us. Find out what we need to know or refer us to someone who can help us. Fostering the breastfeeding relationship is just as important to us and we need more guidance at this time than we ever have before.
As for Charlotte and I – we are doing a LOT of skin to skin, and she’s been familarizing herself with my breasts. My two year old seems to think that the left one is Charlotte’s and the right one is hers although she’s not nursing anymore. I plan on co-bathing with her this week as well and seeing if that goes anywhere. I have not started to pump again and don’t plan to so if this is not successful, then it will be the end of it. I previously posted that Charlotte hadn’t been tube fed for 56 hours. I am pleased to report that she has not been tube fed since Oct. 28th and doing well with the Haberman. Unfortunately we think her soft palate may have re-opened which may be impairing her ability to use a normal bottle. We are having that checked on thursday.
