1st Edition

A Guide to Supporting Breastfeeding for the Medical Profession

Edited By Amy Brown, Wendy Jones Copyright 2020
    186 Pages 24 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    186 Pages 24 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    This book is a practical guide for medical practitioners as they navigate through breastfeeding problems that occur in day-to-day practice.

    If mothers have a breastfeeding complication they are often directed to their GP. In complex situations, medical staff will be making decisions around what treatment plan to follow and whether a mother can keep breastfeeding. In recent years there has been growing evidence that medical professionals often advise mothers to stop breastfeeding while undergoing treatment, when in reality this was not a necessary step. In a time when breastfeeding rates are decreasing, it is important that medical professionals give accurate advice and support a mother’s choice to breastfeed if the situation allows it. A Guide to Supporting Breastfeeding for the Medical Profession includes contributions from a wide range of medical professionals and each chapter is written with the practitioner in mind. Contributors include GPs, paediatricians, neonatologists, lactation specialists and midwives.

    Doctors have a vital role to play in supporting and facilitating breastfeeding, and without the appropriate knowledge they can often inadvertently sabotage it. This book will be of interest to GPs and paediatricians as well as nurse prescribers, midwives and health visitors.

    Foreword

    Sue Ashmore

    1. The Role of Primary Care and the GP in Supporting Breastfeeding

    Marie-Therese Lovis

    2. Why breastfeeding matters

    Natalie Shenker

    3. Why are breastfeeding rates in the UK so low?

    Amy Brown

    4. Contra indications to breastfeeding

    Wendy Jones

    5. Breastfeeding and Infant Sleep – what medical practitioners need to know

    Helen L. Ball

    6. Birth experience and breastfeeding

    Amy Brown and Jenny Clarke

    7. Breastfeeding complications

    Emma Pickett and Wendy Jones

    8. Pharmacokinetics of Drug Transfer into breastmilk

    Wendy Jones

    9. Compatibility of commonly used drugs in lactation

    Wendy Jones

    10. Supporting breastfeeding women with mental health issues

    Beth Chapman

    11. Tongue tie

    Sarah Oakley

    12. Colic and reflux in the breastfed baby

    Shel Banks

    13. Why provide donor human milk?

    Natalie Shenker

    14. Breastfeeding a baby with complications

    Sandi, Helen and Pippa

    15. Breastfeeding sick babies

    Vicky Thomas

    16. Infant Feeding in Emergencies: What do doctors need to know?

    Helen Gray

    17. What GPs need to know about breastmilk substitutes

    Helen Crawley

    18. Stopping breastfeeding

    Emma Pickett

    19. Where to find out more

    Foreword

    Sue Ashmore

     

    Biography

    Amy Brown is Professor of Child Public Health at Swansea University, where she has published over 100 research papers and books examining psychological, cultural and societal barriers to breastfeeding. Her research seeks to shift our perception of breastfeeding from an individual mothering issue to a wider public health challenge. 

    Wendy Jones is a pharmacist, with over 25 years of experience as a breastfeeding support worker for the Breastfeeding Network (BfN). She runs the BfN Drugs in Breastmilk Service and has presented widely to healthcare professionals, volunteers and mothers on this subject. She qualified as an independent pharmacist prescriber but is now retired.