Seriously? Comments from fellow nurses (not nursers, RN's)

[yasinsmama]

I am an RN, naturally, I work with RN's. I went to talk to my manager about a new position the other day. She hadn't seen Adam in awhile. The first thing she said is "what I want to know is, is he still sucking on the titt*e?". The way she said it didn't phase me. I said "yes, he's still sucking on the titt*e". She asked me if "anything was still coming out?". Umm, ya. I still pump every weekend when I work. He was running around her office, then he ran to me, climbed into my lap, and was scooching his butt into his nursing position. She was laughing saying "oh no, I don't want to see that". I said too bad, and I pulled out my boob and let him get a sip, that was all he wanted. She has been a nurse for about 20 years!!!!!

Today at work, we were talking about nursing and pacifiers. I said that when I get home from work (I work every weekend), I try to give DS kisses and hugs, but the first thing he says is "ZEE-ZA!!!!". He wants to nurs first, play later. She said "oh, that's a comfort thing now, there's no nutritional value for him". She's also been a nurse for about 15-20 years.

Goodness. These are nurses!

[Plaid Leopard]

My MIL was a pediatric nurse for over 30 years and asked me several times if I my toddler was still getting milk. She was surprised that I could still make milk after 1 year (then 2 years, then 3...)

um, yeah.

[yasinsmama]

[aylaanne]

I had a pediatric nurse that I work with tell me that "there's no more immune benefit after six months," and if I nursed past one year "You're doing it for you, not for them. He doesn't want to nurse anymore." I asked her if the antibodies just disappeared after six months, and how she knew my son so well since she'd never met him. Then I stopped speaking to her.

[mambera]

Originally Posted by aylaanne

I had a pediatric nurse that I work with tell me that "there's no more immune benefit after six months," ... I asked her if the antibodies just disappeared after six months

So *is* there immune benefit after six months? If you have more info on this I'd love to hear it. We're discussing this on another thread ("Immunological Research and Breastfeeding") but so far nobody has come up with any primary sources.

[caro113]

Originally Posted by aylaanne

I had a pediatric nurse that I work with tell me that "there's no more immune benefit after six months," and if I nursed past one year "You're doing it for you, not for them. He doesn't want to nurse anymore." I asked her if the antibodies just disappeared after six months, and how she knew my son so well since she'd never met him. Then I stopped speaking to her.

I think the problem with this theory is TV. Seriously. I really like to watch House, but there was an episode where he was doing a clinic and a woman came in with her baby who was probably around a year, maybe a little older, and he was he usual rude self to her about not vaccinating and when he asked about the baby's diet, she said "just mama's milk". He made the comment that exact same comment. "There's no immune benefit past six months". Yeah. Okay. Of course, I then had a friend tell me the same thing because she heard it on House and therefore it MUST be true.

[mushka3000]

I had a RN friend wave dismissively at my chest and say "You're not still doing that are you?' when my babe was only 6 months old. I laughed and said "Of course!". She screwed up her face and said something about it being gross and something else about teeth and pain.

I thought this was all very odd from a RN.

[yasinsmama]

Originally Posted by mushka3000

I had a RN friend wave dismissively at my chest and say "You're not still doing that are you?' when my babe was only 6 months old. I laughed and said "Of course!". She screwed up her face and said something about it being gross and something else about teeth and pain.

I thought this was all very odd from a RN.

I know! I'm surprised that a lot of my fellow nurses think this way!

[paulamc]

Originally Posted by yasinsmama

I know! I'm surprised that a lot of my fellow nurses think this way!

Where did you learn what you currently know about the benefits of breastfeeding beyond infancy? Did you learn it when you were studying to be a nurse, in which case it would be odd that the other nurses know so little, or did you learn about the subject independently? I'm just wondering what nurses actually learn about this subject, since so many (not ALL by any means) seem so clueless!

[Plaid Leopard]

So if a cow is milked for more than six months, does the milk lose its nutritional value?

I know the question here is about immune benefit, and not solely nutritional value. I know that the composition of human breastmilk changes as the child grows older, and even throughout the day, but what would be the evolutionary advantage of breastmilk that suddenly stops providing antibodies or immune benefit after only a few months?
I just can't get my head around the idea that suddenly there's no value there.

[LiLStar]

If there's no immune benefit past x months, then someone please explain to me why my toddler will not catch the chicken pox? I exposed her last summer and the summer before, sharing suckers and sippy cups and playing with infected kids, and NOT ONE SPOT!

[Plaid Leopard]

Originally Posted by LiLStar

If there's no immune benefit past x months, then someone please explain to me why my toddler will not catch the chicken pox? I exposed her last summer and the summer before, sharing suckers and sippy cups and playing with infected kids, and NOT ONE SPOT!

I hear ya!

None of my kids - aged 2 (still BF), 5 ( BF until age 3), 9 ( Bf for 5 1/2 years) and 11 (BF until age 4 1/2) have had chickenpox and it's not for lack of trying. We currently live in the UK, and lived for almost 6 years in Germany before coming here. The chicken pox vaccine is not routinely given in either country, so there is wild cp around for the catching.

In fact, only my first dc is vaxed, but none of my kids have caught any "VPD" - not even measles, which is also around in both the UK and Germany. They are rarely sick at all. Our diet isn't great. We eat organic/unprocessed/whole grain food as much as possible but we also eat a lot of sugar.

I have to think the EBF has something to do with their overall good health.

[dogretro]

My SIL is a post-partum nurse at a hospital & she takes care of lots and lots of babies and moms. She has no kids and thinks that c-sections, epidurals, formula, and circumcisions are all the best things ever, so there ya go!

She is usually nice, but when I told her that dd was going to be exclusively breastfed, she said those were the worst babies in the nursery b/c they cried a lot b/c they were always hungry. Well, haha, my baby ate just fine and barely even cried in the hospital!

[mambera]

nak

Originally Posted by Plaid Leopard

I know that the composition of human breastmilk changes as the child grows older, and even throughout the day, but what would be the evolutionary advantage of breastmilk that suddenly stops providing antibodies or immune benefit after only a few months?
I just can't get my head around the idea that suddenly there's no value there.

1) It's unclear how much value there is bc the necessary studies haven't been done (v v few seem to go past a year)

2) It makes sense that the additional Abs become relatively less important as the child's own immune system matures - a gradual process, obviously; who said it was sudden?

3) I would wonder whether closure of the gut doesn't significantly reduce the benefit of ingested Abs

4) there is, in fact, a significant drop in Ab and leukocyte content of milk after a few months

[aylaanne]

Originally Posted by dogretro

My SIL is a post-partum nurse at a hospital & she takes care of lots and lots of babies and moms. She has no kids and thinks that c-sections, epidurals, formula, and circumcisions are all the best things ever, so there ya go!

She is usually nice, but when I told her that dd was going to be exclusively breastfed, she said those were the worst babies in the nursery b/c they cried a lot b/c they were always hungry.

I bolded the important part, there. Babies belong with their mothers, not in the nursery. A breastfed baby who is with her food source(mom) will not cry.

[Viola]

I, like others, have heard that the concentration of immunities increase in concentration in breastmilk as the baby gets older. Now whether the child has the same response to them is a different matter, I'd imagine not, but really, people don't just breastfeed because of the issues of immunity. There are benefits to it nutritionally, emotionally and healthwise beyond immunities. And health benefits to the mother.

[lifeguard]

I have a friend who is an rn & when her dd wanted to "nurse all day" she stopped bfing 'cause "it makes no difference anyway". For the record her dd is one of the most chronically sick baby I've ever known - ALWAYS has a cold. Poor girl.

[mum2row]

When I was in school studying to be an RN an RN instructor told me I needed to wean my 7month old because it was taking up too much of my time. Well needless to say I didn't wean pumped until dd was a year and breastfed dd for 2 years.

[anj_rn]

I am a nurse too. I really did not learn anything in nursing school about breast feeding other than the AAp guidelines, and how to help a mom with latch. We were also instructed not to judge if a mom wanted to FF. NICU and Pedi nurses in PEDI specialty hospitals are more likely to get continuing education on the importance of BF, but notinh on BF after one year other than it is OK if the mom wants to. The only people I have found who jump up and down as cheerleaders are Pedi dieticians, who focus more on absorption of nutrients than antibodies.

When nurses and docs tell me there is no benefit, I ask them to show me the research to prove it. I have yet to be shown any credible research. Even if they had it, the psychological well being of my child is good enough for me.

[purplepaperclip]

Originally Posted by aylaanne

I bolded the important part, there. Babies belong with their mothers, not in the nursery. A breastfed baby who is with her food source(mom) will not cry.

I agree with your that babies belong with their mothers, but if you really think a baby won't cry, I'd like to introduce you to my daughter. She would have changed your mind real quick.