I've been thinking about the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative
(it's an effort to support breastfeeding in hospitals by training staff, fixing policies to support the nursing relationship, and stop routine use of formula and pacifiers: http://www.babyfriendlyusa.org/eng/10steps.html )
and thinking the next step is a uniform nationwide effort to do the same for keeping babies intact.
Ideally, the new policy would have two steps:
1.) educate the entire staff about why RIC is being abandoned.
2.) stop doing them, period.
Do you think that would be too big a goal?
I tried to back up and think of something sort of in-between that might be have a chance of being adopted.
Looking at the ten steps in the BFHI, here are some ideas I have for a package we could promote in hospitals:
-RIC is never offered, suggested, or discussed in a positive manner
-all staff that comes into contact with parents and babies must be trained in the care of the intact penis (and the reasons RIC is being abandoned!)
-inform all pregnant women & their partners about the benefits and management of intact babies
-in order to obtain an RIC, the parent must:
1) watch a video of one being done,
2) sign paperwork that acknowledges full responsibility if the baby has (insert details and/or photos of male and female circ-based injuries/malformities here) medical/psychological/sexual/legal issues in the future as a result of the RIC and acknowledges that it is medically contra-indicated
3) acknowledge receipt of some informational take-home materials
4) go through a waiting period (three weeks? three months?)
if the circ still takes place:
-adequate pain relief must be provided during and after the procedure (is this even possible?
)
-the absolute mildest version of the procedure must be done (there are degrees, right?)
I'm already having second thoughts about this approach- thinking through such details is making me sick.
: I don't want it to ever happen, anywhere, so I hate to think of discussing things like pain relief and such- but... an all-or-nothing approach doesn't help the little guys whose parents haven't been converted yet, right?
:
Should we just pressure hospitals (one by one) to abandon RIC? No negotiating?
Or could we skip that and work state by state to get it made illegal?
What do you all think?
Are these sorts of things already happening, and I'm just in the dark?
:
(Is there already a thread here like this? I had a hard time doing a search for the concept!) (Should such a conversation go somewhere else because of the policies of the board?)
I like the BFHI approach because it will do a lot of good in the hospitals that adopt it, but the rules aren't so extreme that nobody will go along with it. And once a nurse/OB/PT/etc is trained in the framework of the Baby Friendly policies, they carry it forward when they move on to another hospital and will either fit right in with the same established rules, or be a seed for change if the new hospital hasn't adopted the rules yet.
(it's an effort to support breastfeeding in hospitals by training staff, fixing policies to support the nursing relationship, and stop routine use of formula and pacifiers: http://www.babyfriendlyusa.org/eng/10steps.html )
and thinking the next step is a uniform nationwide effort to do the same for keeping babies intact.
Ideally, the new policy would have two steps:
1.) educate the entire staff about why RIC is being abandoned.
2.) stop doing them, period.
Do you think that would be too big a goal?
I tried to back up and think of something sort of in-between that might be have a chance of being adopted.
Looking at the ten steps in the BFHI, here are some ideas I have for a package we could promote in hospitals:
-RIC is never offered, suggested, or discussed in a positive manner
-all staff that comes into contact with parents and babies must be trained in the care of the intact penis (and the reasons RIC is being abandoned!)
-inform all pregnant women & their partners about the benefits and management of intact babies
-in order to obtain an RIC, the parent must:
1) watch a video of one being done,
2) sign paperwork that acknowledges full responsibility if the baby has (insert details and/or photos of male and female circ-based injuries/malformities here) medical/psychological/sexual/legal issues in the future as a result of the RIC and acknowledges that it is medically contra-indicated
3) acknowledge receipt of some informational take-home materials
4) go through a waiting period (three weeks? three months?)
if the circ still takes place:
-adequate pain relief must be provided during and after the procedure (is this even possible?
)-the absolute mildest version of the procedure must be done (there are degrees, right?)
I'm already having second thoughts about this approach- thinking through such details is making me sick.
: I don't want it to ever happen, anywhere, so I hate to think of discussing things like pain relief and such- but... an all-or-nothing approach doesn't help the little guys whose parents haven't been converted yet, right?:Should we just pressure hospitals (one by one) to abandon RIC? No negotiating?
Or could we skip that and work state by state to get it made illegal?
What do you all think?
Are these sorts of things already happening, and I'm just in the dark?
:(Is there already a thread here like this? I had a hard time doing a search for the concept!) (Should such a conversation go somewhere else because of the policies of the board?)
I like the BFHI approach because it will do a lot of good in the hospitals that adopt it, but the rules aren't so extreme that nobody will go along with it. And once a nurse/OB/PT/etc is trained in the framework of the Baby Friendly policies, they carry it forward when they move on to another hospital and will either fit right in with the same established rules, or be a seed for change if the new hospital hasn't adopted the rules yet.
Don't count on it happening any time in the near future, though. The BFHI was started back in the late 80's when I was a LLL leader, and today only a handful of American hospitals have achieved BFHI status. 
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