Madam, - Louise Holden's article "Having the bottle to breast-feed" in your edition of May 6th quotes Maureen Fallon, National Breast-feeding Coordinator, as follows: "Everybody in Ireland - GPs, public health nurses, midwives, grandparents and new parents - is coming from a bottle-feeding culture. The expertise that a new mother needs to breast-feed is lacking at every level. When she experiences difficulties, she is handed a bottle." No truer words were spoken.
I would just like to inform readers that members of the Association of Lactation Consultants in Ireland are trying to address this issue by providing breastfeeding education courses for health professionals in their local regions.
For example, I am involved, with a number of other colleagues in providing such courses in the North-Eastern Health Board region and for the Institute of Community Health Nursing in the Dublin Region. Unfortunately, the institute has been unable to continue funding the courses for 2003 onwards.
As a result of these courses, running for several years, many midwives and public health nurses have increased their knowledge of breast-feeding management, skills and techniques. A large number of them have gone on to qualify as International Board Certified Lactation Consultants (IBCLCs) in addition to their midwifery and public health qualifications. I know of one GP who has also attained the qualification.
So, a number of health professionals are taking an active interest in providing parents with current breast-feeding information and have the skill to help breast-feeding mothers in hospital and at home, if they are given the opportunity. We would like to see more GPs, paediatricians and other health professionals do likewise.
I applaud the voluntary work already done in this area by La Leche League of Ireland and Cuidiú-ICT. But there may also be an IBCLC available in your local hospital and community.
If you have difficulty finding one, you can contact the Association of Lactation Consultants in Ireland by e-mailing ALCI@iolfree.ie. - Yours, etc.,
EILEEN O'SULLIVAN, IBCLC Lactation Training Team, Forest Hills, Rathcoole, Co Dublin.