Lactation after loss
Date: 3rd July 2024
Time: 10am – 11am
Where: Online
Who: Professor Nicholas Embleton
About:
NHS maternity hospitals regularly care for women who suffer a late miscarriage, stillbirth or the loss of a newborn baby (neonatal death).
All these women undergo complex patterns of grief often made worse by the onset of lactation, or concerns around how best to suppress lactation in those women who were already expressing breastmilk for their baby. This may result in additional emotional pain and distress and requires expert support.
Sadly, we know some women are not offered appropriate support or advice at this stage perhaps because healthcare professionals (HCPs) may be uncomfortable discussing lactation management, lack the knowledge and skills, or because hospital staff may expect other HCPs such as community midwives or GPs to take responsibility. Many women therefore receive inadequate support or advice despite the inevitable challenges.
Women who do receive support have traditionally only been offered advice about lactation suppression with drugs or advice about physical measures to suppress lactation. However, recently, an increasing number of women have chosen to continue or start lactation and donate their breastmilk to an NHS donor milk bank. Women who donate describe this as a “memory milk gift” and report positive benefits for their mental health and wellbeing.
However, current awareness of this option amongst staff is limited meaning women are deprived of an option that may have positive mental health impacts.
About the speaker:
Dr Nicholas Embleton MD FRCPCH is Consultant Neonatal Paediatrician, and Honorary Professor of Neonatal Medicine, Newcastle upon Tyne UK, having completed paediatric and neonatal training in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK and Vancouver, Canada. He helps lead a broad portfolio of research based in Newcastle (www.neonatalresearch.net ) that is focused in two areas: 1) neonatal nutrition including breastfeeding, and 2) baby loss.
Qualitative studies have explored the feelings and experiences of parents who suffered baby loss in a multiple pregnancy, and the staff who care for them, which led to the creation of the www.neonatalbutterflyproject.org . The project focuses on the situation where one baby is lost in a multiple pregnancy (stillbirth, miscarriage or neonatal death) and where at least one baby survives. In these projects, parents and healthcare professionals were interviewed and themes developed. These studies led to the development of clinical guidelines, a film project co-developed with parents, and to design a 4-hour online learning course aimed at healthcare professionals
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