Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all! We would like to take this opportunity to tell you how things are progressing at Baby Cafe Bakersfield.

Since our first drop-in meeting on March 7, we have logged over 100 visits from local mothers. Mothers are coming in with a very broad range of needs: some join their peers for basic mother-to-mother support and encouragement, others come with specific questions about breastfeeding, and many have come in to see an IBCLC - in fact, almost half have had IBCLC consultation or followup via the Baby Cafe. Some have received referrals for other healthcare providers, some needed intervention to save flagging milk supplies, and some have come in for serious problems such as failure to gain weight and poor breastfeeding by an infant born prematurely.

This means that in 2 months, we have provided professional, clinical, documented lactation care to nearly 50 mothers. The need for this service is deep in our community - we always "knew" that, but now we have solid proof.

At our first volunteer training, held prior to the first drop-in, 12 people were in attendance. Since opening, one additional person has been oriented to volunteering at Baby Cafe. Several trained volunteers have not been to any drop-ins at all. A small number of volunteers is providing all of the services.

2 of our trained volunteers are documenting clinical hours toward taking the IBCLC exam. Anyone who is in the process of or has completed their didactic lactation education is eligible to assist at Baby Cafe and document IBCLC-supervised clinical hours. 3 nursing students from Lancaster and 1 RN from Bakersfield have precepted Baby Cafe drop-ins as part of their training and experience. The Baby Cafe is providing another necessary service by offering this opportunity to those seeking to become lactation and birth professionals.

We have received 1 cash donation of $100 and 1 donation of a brand-new infant scale. These donations are from Dr Hitesh Shah.

Referrals to Baby Cafe are coming from Facebook, from discharge packets at local hospitals, from word-of-mouth, from our gracious host and donor of our meeting space, Planet Bambini, and from local pediatricians and OB/GYNs. Almost daily we speak to physicians about the service we are providing and most are glad to hear that it is available.

We have learned that mothers in our community need evidence-based information to take back to their healthcare providers regarding normal breastfeeding, that they are unhappy about receiving mixed messages about breastfeeding from physicians, and that they wish their employers were providing better support for their need to pump.

Clearly the Baby Cafe is a necessary resource for our community. Now we need to reinforce the resources of the Baby Cafe itself in order to ensure we can remain viable and continue helping mothers.

We need 2 things: volunteers and funding. We have reached the point in the season where the weather is severely impacting our ability to hold drop-ins. We knew the hot weather would require some alterations to our location, and application for a grant to purchase cooling equipment has been made, but that process has unfortunately been delayed. Now the temperature on Tuesday and Friday is expected to be 100 degrees.

We simply cannot hold a Baby Cafe drop-in when the temperature exceeds 90 degrees without cooling equipment. It is highly unlikely that the temperature will be 90 or less during the next 4-5 months. We have to purchase cooling equipment. Bakersfield Breastfeeds is willing to advance funds to do this, with the expectation of reimbursement,  and make sure the temporary equipment is in place before Tuesday's drop-in.

We need to be soliciting donations as soon as possible. Please brainstorm all the potential donors you know. Donations for the Baby Cafe can be made via check made payable to WarmLine, our umbrella organization. Donations are tax-deductible ( 95-3245263 )

If you have contacts who can donate funds, equipment, or even refreshments for our twice-weekly drop-ins, please arrange these donations as soon as you can.

Our need for volunteers is significant. Ideally, at every drop-in there would be multiple volunteers to ensure that mothers are greeted properly, served refreshments, that sign-in sheets are properly completed, that mother-to-mother support discussions are appropriately facilitated, and that the IBCLC is free to provide the clinical care our attendees are requiring.

The reality is that some drop-ins have been chaotic because the few committed volunteers we have are overwhelmed by the number in attendance, plus the IBCLC is strained by the multiple roles she is attempting to fulfill.

We need volunteers with all levels of commitment to this project, including people who have no formal breastfeeding training, people who do have lactation education and/or experience, and IBCLCs. We have an online calendar where volunteers can sign up for only the days they are available. We can schedule a brief orientation for any interested persons as soon as possible to facilitate expanding our volunteer base.

In conclusion, we would like to say that there are over 100 Baby Cafe drop-ins overseas, and there are an expanding number of Cafes here in the US. Many of the US Cafes, none of which are in California, are receiving funding through WIC or a hospital. Because we do not have a permanent funding source, it is ALL of our responsibility to the mothers of our community to ensure we maintain this resource through our fundraising efforts and volunteer efforts at the drop-ins.  We can think of no better way to honor mothers than to commit to being part of Baby Cafe Bakersfield.  Thank you for all that you do every day to support mothers and their families through excellent breastfeeding care!

On behalf of Baby Cafe Bakersfield, Central Valley Lactation Association, and Bakersfield Breastfeeds,

Christine Staricka, BS, IBCLC, CCE

Adrienne Guirguis, IBCLC, CCE

©2014, Bakersfield, CA