Ever heard of La Leche League meetings being held in a hospital?

[Mrs.B]

Hello Everyone,

I've lurked on this site for about 4 years and i'm finally posting something :)

Anyway, I am an RN not in practice at the moment because i stay home with my two little ones.

I am a volunteer breastfeeding counselor with La Leche League with my goal for the near future to become a certified Lactation Consultant.

My question for all of you wonderful women who work in L & D is this:

Do you know of any La Leche League groups who have their meetings in your hospital? I lead meetings once a month (they are held at a local library) but i was thinking i would approach the OB/GYN NM at the local hospital (where i used to work in Med/Surg actually) to see if they would like to "hostess" the meetings. They do have breastfeeding classes available for pregnant moms but La Leche League is more of a support group than a class per se so it wouldn't really conflict with that.

What is the best way to get an OB/GYN NM to talk to me about this? Call her, send her a letter, show up?? I have called her in the past to offer an "in service" to her nurses about what La Leche League is/does and never received a call back from her.

Thanks so much for any help you can offer!

-Deb

[Elvish, BSN, DNP, RN, NP]

If this is something you want to do (obviously it is! :) ), I'd write a professional letter stating what you want to do, and in what ways your doing this would be of benefit to her unit. Then I'd follow up with a phone call a couple weeks later.

Some things to keep in mind:

1) Many nurse managers are under pressure from administration to cut costs. The cost of light, restroom facilities, etc. for the LLL meeting might not sound be much, but for a NM making the budget who might have to choose between that and some more supplies for her unit might not be jumping at the chance.

2) Some OB units/floors are locked. If you do get permission to host your meetings there, you might have to consider how the participants will gain access to the floor, unless you're having it in a common area.

3) Hospitals are very germy places. If I found out about a support group of any kind that encouraged me to bring my kids, I might not go. I wouldn't want my kids exposed to some of the very icky bugs found in hospitals. Maybe the OB floor is fairly 'clean' but most of the time you still have to pass through some common areas where other very sick people have been before you get there.

I'm not saying these things to discourage you, just to give you something to 'chew on.' I think LLL is a great organization and y'all have much to offer BFing moms.

[Agnes Anne]

I'm a retired Leader. I led meetings in the community education room of the local hospital. It was nice, plenty of room and hte rest room was within the ed room, not down the hall and around the corner.

The OB ward did not have a room large enough for us to meet in.

[maryloufu]

The LLL here holds meetings in the hospital in the education department. It works out well for us.

[Mrs.B]

Thank you all for taking the time to help me out!

Arwen, you made me remember something...the spot where i was thinking about having the meetings isn't part of the Ob unit. It's a teaching center where they have things like CPR classes, staff education etc. also the Lamaze classes are held there. It occurs to me that in order to get permission to have meetings there, I would probably be better off contacting the hospital administration directly and perhaps CCing the NM the letter.

Also, i'm glad to hear that there are some hospitals out there that host LLL meetings and that my idea isn't completely absurd!

Thanks again :)