Tongue Tie and conflicting advice affect breastfeeding
CONFLICTING advice from midwives and tongue tie in newborns have emerged as big issues for new mothers at Sligo University Hospital.
A new study has also found that the majority of new mothers in Sligo breastfed for longer than six weeks if they felt they used the support provided by a Breastfeeding Preparation Class.
Third Year Health Sciences student Eleanor Loftus made the findings after studying 165 new mums at Sligo hospital earlier this year.
“I found that tongue tie was a big issue, it wasn’t really checked according to the mothers. Before they left the hospital they might have asked but it wasn’t necessarily checked and they had to go back and pay for it to be snipped,” Eleanor told The Sligo Champion.
“Lactation consultants are needed in Sligo University Hospital, they’re definitely needed. There were a lot of differences in attitudes among the midwives and the nurses towards breastfeeding. Some of them would leave a bottle at the end of the bed, some of them would be very supportive but they mightn’t necessarily have time, some of them just had no time, there was a lot going on,” she said.
“There were also differences between day and night staff in what they’d be telling the woman, which is kind of confusing if you’re a new mother.
“If they were all saying the same thing it would make breastfeeding more successful,” said Eleanor.
Research supervisor Margaret McLoone said: “I hear that these have been approved nationally - that every hospital would get a lactation consultant. Conflicting advice from health professionals was one of the reasons women said they needed lactation consultants.”