Help! Hosp. in Japan won't LET my friend EBF!

[Rikki Jean]

Any advice? My friend is delivering at a hospital in Ushiku, and aside from a few other asinine policies, the hospital is telling her that she will not be allowed to breastfeed her baby exclusively. There is a language barrier (they're missionaries from the US, and have only been in Japan since last summer), but their understanding of the situation is that they WILL supplement, and there's nothing that she can do about it.

Any and all advice would be appreciated! I've sent her the contact info for both Tokyo LLL groups, but I don't know what other resources are available to her there, or what rights she has.

TY!

[krisnic]

I'm not from there but is there a way that she can get a translator to further understand the situation?

[wagamama]

When is she due? Is there time to change hospitals?

My DH is Japanese, and I gave birth in Japan in 2007 at a "birth center" in Yokohama. The midwives there were very supportive of bf-ing, my daughter slept in the same room with me, and at no time was she supplemented.

There is a huge network of birth centers all over Japan. I found one near my home by googling (in Japanese -- sister-in-law helped!). A local city hall office should also have a list of such centers.

Let me know if you need any other info.

[Rikki Jean]

Originally Posted by krisnic

I'm not from there but is there a way that she can get a translator to further understand the situation?

Her husband's aunt has been translating for them, but I'm not sure if she's fluent or only semi-fluent. She's an American too.

Originally Posted by wagamama

When is she due? Is there time to change hospitals?

My DH is Japanese, and I gave birth in Japan in 2007 at a "birth center" in Yokohama. The midwives there were very supportive of bf-ing, my daughter slept in the same room with me, and at no time was she supplemented.

There is a huge network of birth centers all over Japan. I found one near my home by googling (in Japanese -- sister-in-law helped!). A local city hall office should also have a list of such centers.

Let me know if you need any other info.

I don't know if there's time to make a change, or if it's something that they're even willing to do. I will definitely mention it though, and I'll let you know if I need any other info! Thank you!

[Rikki Jean]

Okay, so I just found out that they were supposed to have the baby in a birth center, but due to the health concerns that are going on, they had to switch to the hospital. So, BC is out at this point.

ETA: I forgot to mention that I x-posted this in Lactivism.

[wagamama]

I'm really curious as to why the hospital insists on supplementing.

I do know that many Japanese women have an insufficient milk supply -- maybe that is why?

Has she looked around? Could she change hospitals?

I had a back-up hospital in case of emergency. It was Hiroo Hospital in central Tokyo. They were strongly supportive of breastfeeding. Some of their other policies were not so great though -- the birth process seemed to be highly medicalized.