Breastfeeding handouts FOR health professionals - anyone?

[hopefulfaith]

Help me influence health care providers.

I am teaching a 4-hour class on obstetrics to an EMT-Basic class next Monday, and I need help!

I'm covering the usual National Registry topics on emergency childbirth and whatnot - what an EMT needs to know if s/he's caring for a pregnant/delivering mama, etc., but since I'm an MDC mom, I'm throwing a little spin on it. I'm also covering types of birth professionals one might meet in the prehospital setting, the inherent safety of homebirth, and drilling into their heads that above all, pregnancy/birth are normal and natural events.

I am also covering the basics of breastfeeding. Does anyone know of an already-written handout I can use for budding health professionals that highlights the benefits and basics of breastfeeding?

Can you post here or pm me if you do? I'm searching online frantically, and I'm not coming up with much that is just a "breastfeeding is good and here is why" - which is what I need. Thanks in advance if anyone can help!!!

[SophieAnn]

Dr. Newman handouts are here:
http://www.gentlemothering.ca/DRNewmanHandouts.html

Maybe the Breastfeeding Myths ones would be good? Most of the handouts seem to address a certain issue, i.e. thrush, latch, supply, etc.

[scraphappy-Red]

Wow, this sounds awesome! Great idea and great work...especially the MDC spin!

Here's just a few thoughts...

LLLI has a couple of great tear-off sheets, one in particular is geared more towards new lactation research, titled, "Facts about Breastfeeding". This has a lot of new medical research/study type stuff and might get the attention and appeal to your audience of newish MDs. The LLLI store has some other tear-off sheets that are pretty good too, "Benefits of Breastfeeding" and such.

http://www.lalecheleague.net/public/profile/270

However, on that note, there is some recent discussion about the message, "breastfeeding has benefits" and perhaps mothers should be given the message instead that "formula has risks". For that reason, we generated our own "Risk of Formula Feeding" handout to distribute at our monthly pre-natal breastfeeding class.

Actually, I just did a quick Internet search and found this fact sheet about formula risk from the Breastfeeding Task Force of Greater Los Angeles County:

http://www.breastfeedingtaskforla.org/ABMRisks.htm

Maybe these links can give you some ideas...

Good luck!

[MommyJoia]

promom.org's 101 reasons to breastfeed is awesome and can easily be printed out.

It's my favorite.

[mommaknowsbest]

Hmm..if there was a shortened version of Thomas Hales book about safe medications for mother's milk! In an emergency situation, I could see that as being super helpful.

Thanks for doing this! How about letting us know how it goes?