How does your unit support BF?

[nicubee]

Because we are establishing cue-based feeding and trying to justify the need for a nicu-dedicated LC, could you please help provide a general idea of what your facility is doing by answering:

1. Is non-nutritive/dry BF encouraged? How early?

2. Does your unit have dedicated LC(s)?

3. What approximate percentage of infants leave the nicu BF'ing?

4. What size nicu are you in and in where it is located?

I know this is not a formal benchmark or anything very scientific, but I still think it will help! Thanks!

[jrj1979]

1. We encourage BF as early and as often as possible. If the infant is NPO or intubated we will do mouth care with colostrum or BM if it is available.

2. I think we have 2-4 LC's in our hospital that spend most of their time in the NICU. However all nurses in the NICU are required to take a 16 hour breastfeeding course as well.

3. I think about 70-80% of our population is either getting breast milk or we get consent to use donor breast milk. Our patient population is very sick and breastfeeding is sometimes the only thing a mother can do for her baby because she isn't able to hold him/her etc.

4. I work in a 76 bed NICU in a Childrens Hospital in the Northeast.

[NICU_babyRN, BSN, RN]

1) We encourage NNS as early as 30wks specially if only on Nasal Canula or room air. We encourage all moms and dads to do skin-to-skin care even when intubated as long as there is no UAC.

We also provide infants with colostrum swabs as soon as we can get our hands on it although I think many nurses don't know the value of it and are resistant to the idea. I think it's just lazy!

2) We have 7 LCs that I can count right now but I know i'm forgetting at least 3-4. They are NICU dedicated but help out in Post Partum. PP has their own team too, I think another 3 LCs.

3) Probably about 85-95% of our babes get mom's milk and a few select kids have donor milk but the parents would have to pay for it. We encourage moms to pump at the bedside as much as possible.

4) I work in a level III 56bed unit in the midwest and we are soon expanding to 72 beds!

[nicubee]

Thanks to both of you. Our lactation team is very frustrated by our unit's lack of emphasis in this area. I live in the south, where BF levels are significantly below national averages. It seems that our facility's poor support for BF stems from the administration's personal beliefs/experience versus evidence. We are working hard to get approval for an LC for our unit, because right now, our LC support comes from PP, where there is already a very full caseload...