OMG seriously? I need to stop watching TLC.

[filiadeluna]

I know, I know, watching all the baby shows on TLC is just asking to find something to be angry about. I can't help it... it's like a train wreck. I can't turn away.

Anyhow, I was watching Bringing Home Baby this morning, and this woman was having some latch issues w/her baby and baby having a lot of gas. They finally called a Lactation Consultant, and she told them to alternate with formula and breast! WTF??!!? That is NOT how you solve a latch issue. Wow. I cannot believe someone like that still has a job.

Then the mother, who originally was determined to breastfeed, states "I don't care if I can't breast feed her, as long as she's happy and healthy."

If this is how some of our breastfeeding professionals are treating BFing issues, no WONDER we're such a formula-dependent society with so many health issues that are no doubt at least partially related to the mass use of formula.

[crazymom03]

I totally agree with you!! Those shows are how many american women learn about preg/birth

[groovyem]

I saw a show where this women brought home her newborn and when they went to bed that nite she put him in his crib and walked down the hall to her own room. She couldn't understand why he kept crying but would stop when he was being held. Ummm, hello, bad parent!!!! Completely clueless!

[akind1]

It probably comes from her own parents or friends telling her that she'll spoil the baby if he/she is held so much. I get that alot (from our family) - but honestly, if the baby is crying and it is within my power to soothe him, then soothe him I will! -now if it is just a little fussy, squirmy-ness as he is trying to go to, or go back to sleep, I leave him alone and see if he will go to, or back to, sleep.

As for TLC, so many of those shows did not help me prepare for, or deal with having a new baby. (I watched them anyway, couldn't help it!) It did cement in me my ideals and commitment to my birth plan -at the time, anyway. And confirm for me that our current system of maternity care sucks for mom and baby - most of the time -

[groovyem]

akind1 - couldn't help it either, but I can't watch them anymore! It was the rare show that actually showed the way it should be. My mom has always said we should be like the primates and just strap that child to us for a year! My husband's family comes from the "let them cry it out" thinking, so I basically never leave her with him! We have such a short time in their lives where we can control everything and a child can never have too much love! Or boobie milk!

[Xavismom]

I think most of those shows are toxic and very sad to watch.

I wish there was at least one that would show some AP approaches to baby, and more natural births.

[momtoS]

I have a hard time watching these too. So much misinformation. Sad

[HappyMommy2]

I used to love those shows, now they make me so sick, sad, and disgusted. (C/S mainstream and then HBAC MDC mama)

I even asked my hubby if I could apply to the show "A baby story" when planning my homebirth.

[boobs4milk]

lc and ibclc two very different things.

[KristyDi]

The last time I got sucked in to one of those shows I wound up yelling at the tv. The mom was insisting that the baby couldn't need to nurse because it wasn't time and the dr said babies were only supposed to nurse every 3 hours. Seriously most of the show was them walking the baby around trying to get him/her to stop crying while I was yelling "Feed the baby!, Feed the baby!" at the TV.

For my mental health I try to avoid those shows now.

[Jemika]

Yes! I so agree I need to stop as well. They never tell moms, the correct strategies to try when the baby has trouble latching on, or if the baby cries that's fine s/he may want more milk. I never heard them tell a new mom breast milk is lighter(calorie wise) than formula, so the infant will nurse longer and more often. The c/s is EXTREME, have u guys ever watched Deliver Me? I had to stop watching that one

[Beauchamp]

Oh, yes. I just saw one where a young mom had engorged breasts soon after coming home. Her mom (the grandma) called the LC, who told her she had three options: nurse, pump, or relieve the pressure. So the grandma and the girl decided she should take a shower in the middle of the night to relieve the pressure. I was sitting there yelling NURSE THAT BABY!!! Geez. Of course, then you get a close-up shot of the (branded) bottle of formula in the baby's mouth.

Gah.

[annettemarie]

Moving to the Television forum.

[KaylaBeanie]

Originally Posted by Beauchamp

Oh, yes. I just saw one where a young mom had engorged breasts soon after coming home. Her mom (the grandma) called the LC, who told her she had three options: nurse, pump, or relieve the pressure. So the grandma and the girl decided she should take a shower in the middle of the night to relieve the pressure. I was sitting there yelling NURSE THAT BABY!!! Geez. Of course, then you get a close-up shot of the (branded) bottle of formula in the baby's mouth.

Gah.

I remember this

I think that Enfamil sponsors those TLC shows, because they show the brand label for it up close (same as Pamper's swaddlers), but then they blur out things like t-shirt designs. I'd guess that the parents have the option for free diapers and formula.

These shows make me so upset, but I watch them all the time anyhow. It's like self-torture. Sometimes though, you get some gems. There was a Bringing Home Baby after a home birth (they started 2 or 3 days PP) and a mama who had nursed all her previous kids into toddlerhood, had a totally natural childbirth with the new twins, cloth diapered them and nursed them. No pampers or formula on that one

[mauinokaoi]

Originally Posted by KristyDi

The last time I got sucked in to one of those shows I wound up yelling at the tv. The mom was insisting that the baby couldn't need to nurse because it wasn't time and the dr said babies were only supposed to nurse every 3 hours. Seriously most of the show was them walking the baby around trying to get him/her to stop crying while I was yelling "Feed the baby!, Feed the baby!" at the TV.

For my mental health I try to avoid those shows now.

that was me too!

[WaitingForKiddos]

Like a PP said...I've thought about asking Dh about applying for baby story or bringing home baby. I know my MW has been on a tlc show but I have no idea which one it was. Hopefully someone will see her episode and be clued in!

It's always the same...

go to hospital
mom isn't making progress
pit started
omg baby is freaking out
threats to mom, birth or else
mom births or is sectioned
baby is safe thanks to amazing doctors that saved the day
baby is circed
baby goes home
baby get a branded bottle of crap
mom wants to bf but....
mom gets advice from_____ and continues to give bottle
ffw 12 weeks and baby is on bottle

blagh.

[UberMama]

I'm so glad we don't get TLC anymore. LOL!

[Belia]

Originally Posted by groovyem

I saw a show where this women brought home her newborn and when they went to bed that nite she put him in his crib and walked down the hall to her own room. She couldn't understand why he kept crying but would stop when he was being held. Ummm, hello, bad parent!!!! Completely clueless!

When I finally brought DS home from the hospital (after a 5-day stay in the NICU) my mom was there to meet us with the pup .

So we did the whole unpack-the-baby-from-the-bucket-greet-the-dog-go-pee-ooo-and-ahhhh-over-the-baby, etc etc etc thing and DS fell asleep and I said, "Uhhhhhhh.... what now?"

Because everything for the past week had been one crisis or emergency or hurry up and wait thing after another, and it felt weird to finally be done.

And my mom said, VERY STERNLY, "Now you lay him down and do your own thing. You don't want him to get used to being carried all the time."

Stupid me did it, too.

[cappuccinosmom]

I think i stopped watching around the time I saw one that just made me sick. It wasn't even the birth so much as the treatment the poor mother was subjected to. She was overweight, and that was mentioned several times. They were gradually pushing her towards a section, you know how it goes. And suddenly there's this big, sneering nurse standing over her gleefully saying "Well, with a c-section, you're not going to get that sub you've been looking forward to." It was the most snotty, nasty, mean tone of voice I've ever heard.

I felt so bad for that mom. THey really, really harped on the weight thing and then that as the final blow. You're so fat, you can't birth right, and now you can't have that sub, not that you deserve it anyway.

[Asiago]

When I was pregnant I watched those shows -gritting my teeth usually. I felt like each show followed a script.

1) women minimally dilated, start her on Pitocin to get her contractions 'moving'

2) watch continual fetal monitor, check strip as much as humanly possible

3) baby appears in distress

4) set up OR for c-section

almost every show was the same