Availability of lactation counseling services influences breastfeeding among infants admitted to to neonatal intensive care units.

Purpose: To assess the association between the presence of international board-certified lactation consultant (IBCLC) services at a delivery hospital and the breastfeeding practices of women whose infants required neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) admission.

Design: Cross-sectional study using population-level data.

Setting: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

A comparison of breastfeeding rates in an urban birth cohort among women delivering infants at hospitals that employ and do not employ lactation consultants.

Objective: To compare rates of breastfeeding at hospital discharge between facilities that employ and do not employ International Board Certified Lactation Consultants (IBCLCs).

Methods: This study used a cross-sectional design. Data from 11,525 birth certificates of Philadelphia residents who delivered in 2003 were used.

Delayed lactogenesis II: a comparison of four cases.

Lactogenesis II is the onset of copious milk production (i.e., the milk "coming in"), which usually occurs between 30 to 40 hours postpartum.

Delayed lactogenesis II secondary to gestational ovarian theca lutein cysts in two normal singleton pregnancies.

Hyperreactio luteinalis is an unusual condition in which, during pregnancy, both ovaries are enlarged by multiple theca lutein cysts that produce a high level of testosterone. Several weeks postpartum, the cysts resolve and testosterone level returns to normal. Two case studies are presented in which mothers with gestational ovarian theca lutein cysts experienced delayed lactogenesis II.