Unprofessional lactation consultants

Specialties Ob/Gyn

Published

I have patients telling me their baby's bottle nipples and pacifiers have disappeared. It turns out that the lactation consultants are very sneaky and throw them away when patients aren't looking. Is that very baby FRIENDLY? No, I don't think so. I find it extremely unprofessional.

Yes, you can educate patients about possible nipple-confusion or encourage them to exclusively breastfeed. But sometimes a baby NEEDS formula because his/her blood sugar has been too low. Sometimes the mother just simply chooses to bottlefeed; it is ultimately up to them, just as it is up to them to take a medication, etc. Throwing away things is not the way to encourage a mother to breastfeed.

I feel like I have to say something about these lactation consultants' unprofessional behavior, but I think everyone at this hospital (at least management) is gearing towards "baby-friendly" and will ignore my efforts of stopping the deceit.

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Specializes in Critical Care, Postpartum.

I now see where you're coming from when you started the other thread about your choice not to breastfeed...It seems like your unit will judge you.

I know some hospitals have the LCs visit all the moms, but my hospital is way too large for that. Our LCs are only consulted by the nurses if mom requested to see one before dc, mom is having latch difficulties, or mom had breast surgery. They are great at teaching mom and significant other and no one is judged.

If you have a Unit Practice Council, you may want to start attending to bring up these concerns.

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Specializes in NICU, PICU, PACU.

We had one really aggressive chick...she did the same thing and pretty much manhandled these poor girls. We dreaded her, luckily she only covered NICU occasionally.

When I had my last kiddo, I had been up for 48 hours (worked nights at the time and had worked, went home, stayed up a bit, water broke, back to hospital). My kiddy had a little rough start (hung up on cord, decels) and I basically had a lady partsl C/S to get her out. ??. Baby had a tight upper frenulum and was kinda sleepy. Had the worst time getting her on and staying there. I opted to supplement once that night so I could sleep, get the crotch pain under control (4th plus laceration with 2 episiotomies), and not have her sugar plummet after being stressed.

That next morning, here come the mean lactation chick, with my baby in tow, and she pretty much berated me for giving a supplement, especially being a NICU nurse! She literally handed me my baby, grabbed my boob and said, Here I need to see how she latches on. I smacked her hand, told her to leave and called the postpartum unit manager and our CNS (who was our LC at the time and head of the BF committee) told them what happened. She was written up and eventually asked to leave after other people finally manned up and confessed what they had seen her do. Thank goodness for our CNS who came and rescued me, got my kid on and eating despite the funky lip thing.

There are ones that are awful and they need to be confronted about it. There is a right way and a wrong way tongi about it. You can't force people to do what they don't want to do.

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she should have been charged with assault.

We had one really aggressive chick...she did the same thing and pretty much manhandled these poor girls. We dreaded her, luckily she only covered NICU occasionally.

When I had my last kiddo, I had been up for 48 hours (worked nights at the time and had worked, went home, stayed up a bit, water broke, back to hospital). My kiddy had a little rough start (hung up on cord, decels) and I basically had a lady partsl C/S to get her out. . Baby had a tight upper frenulum and was kinda sleepy. Had the worst time getting her on and staying there. I opted to supplement once that night so I could sleep, get the crotch pain under control (4th plus laceration with 2 episiotomies), and not have her sugar plummet after being stressed.

That next morning, here come the mean lactation chick, with my baby in tow, and she pretty much berated me for giving a supplement, especially being a NICU nurse! She literally handed me my baby, grabbed my boob and said, Here I need to see how she latches on. I smacked her hand, told her to leave and called the postpartum unit manager and our CNS (who was our LC at the time and head of the BF committee) told them what happened. She was written up and eventually asked to leave after other people finally manned up and confessed what they had seen her do. Thank goodness for our CNS who came and rescued me, got my kid on and eating despite the funky lip thing.

There are ones that are awful and they need to be confronted about it. There is a right way and a wrong way tongi about it. You can't force people to do what they don't want to do.

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Specializes in Clinical Research, Outpt Women's Health.

That is just the wrong way to go about it and incredibly unprofessional. Who the H do they think they are?

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Who pays for those items? Are they free? Are they replaced for free? If the answer is that the patient has to pay for each one of those, including the replacement, then it is stealing and should be reported as such.

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Specializes in Reproductive & Public Health.

That's just awful. What kind of certification do these lactation consultants have?!?! You have to meet moms where they are at, and that means providing education and then supporting whatever decisions they make.

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Specializes in Maternity.

As an IBCLC and RN I have to respond to this thread. The behavior of the "LC" the OP describes is unprofessional and unethical. Unfortunately, every profession has bad apples. Throwing away pacifiers and bottles against the wishes of the parents only serves to undermine what healthcare providers are trying to do in serving and assisting breastfeeding mothers. She may educate the parents but respect their wishes. I fail to understand how anyone thinks that by shaming, guilting or intimidating new mothers is going to help increase our breastfeeding numbers. If this LC is an IBCLC ( International Board Certified Lactation Consultant) you can report her behavior to IBLCE (International Board of Lactation Consultant Examiners) by contacting them at IBLCE.com.

To Cayenne I can't get my quote button to work on my IPAD but I wanted to respond to your question about certification:

Anyone can call oneself an LC. However, only LC's that have completed rigorous study and passed the certification exam are a IBCLC and considered a professional. We are bound by our own code of ethics and professional behavior. The IBCLC exam was more difficult than my nursing boards and I have to retake it every five years and must keep up with the latest evidenced based research.

I hope the OP does discuss this situation with management. The kind of behavior that she observed will not serve them well in becoming BF (Baby Friendly). It will only undermine other healthcare providers such as nurses and physicians interest in becoming BF. Instead your LC's should be walking softly and respectfully in promoting BF principles. BF is impossible to achieve without "buy in" from all of the stakeholders. It would be such a shame if this LC's behavior became an obstacle in really promoting breastfeeding.

I sincerely hope that your management does listen to your concerns. If they let that kind of behavior continue it will only undermine their desire to become a Baby Friendly Hospital.

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I don't know how to find out if they are IBCLC certified. Can you search for their names online? And it's not one LC. It's unfortunately more than one LC.

Another thing making me hesitate in telling management is that I feel like I've emailed a lot about other problems on the unit and I feel like I'm not being heard at all.

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Specializes in OB-Gyn/Primary Care/Ambulatory Leadership.

You can find out if they're an IBCLC by looking here:

IBLCE Registry | IBLCE

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