Breastfeeding. Frequently asked questions

Textbooks and other publications used by paediatricians, often do not offer the information that is needed when trying to solve doubts and problems affecting breastfeeding mothers. The breastfeeding committee of the Spanish Paediatric Association holds a breastfeeding forum in its webpage (www.aeped.es/faq/lactancia-materna) where mothers and fathers of breastfed infants may look for answers to their daily questions. This has led to a comprehensive set of questions and answers which is an excellent resource for learning. It has already been used for training of paediatric residents with excellent results.

Counselling and communication skills are very useful tools for paediatricians and physicians in their daily practice. However many of us lack them. Breastfeeding counsellors use these tools applied to human breastfeeding, but once acquired these techniques can be applied to any other situation, even in daily life.

This workshop will review these two topics. Firstly, we will go over the most frequently asked questions and problems posed by the breastfeeding mother to the clinician, based on present real cases. We will also review complaints that some mothers have of their clinicians, so as to learn how to deal with them, or even better, how to avoid them. And finally, we will practice communication and counselling skills applied to breastfeeding. All of it this will lead those attending the workshop, to a better understanding, problem solving and more effective support of breastfeeding.