I mentioned in another thread in Parenting Issues that I am reading Dr. Spock's autobiography. This is in the chapter I'm reading tonight and I thought I'd share. It is from his years in the Navy during and after WWII.
"....I wrote in Baby and Child Care that a woman could breast-feed her baby if she wanted to and the staff supported her. But I didn't know for sure, because in New York I'd had few patients who wanted to breast-feed and few nurses who were sympathetic. Private patients always stayed in the hospital twelve days at that time. That was enough to ruin almost any attempt to breast-feed, because the baby would only be brought to the mother on a rigid four-hour schedule, omitting the 2:00 a.m. feeding. Most nurses were not sympathetic with the baby or the mother, and most obstetricians were not sympathetic with the mother. I'd had patients in private practice who wanted to breast-feed, but the obstetrician would make remarks like "What do you want to do that for?"
Family Hospital and Clinic was essentially an obstetrical hospital for the large number of wives at the air station. I was the only pediatrician, and I was in charge of the nursery. It was exciting and educational to be able to set policy in the nursery. I could say that the babies were to be brought to the mothers when the babies were hungry and that all babies were to be brought to the mothers at 2:00 a.m. As a pediatrician in New York I could never make such policy decisions. For example, if a mother had a baby at some hospital in New York and told the obstetrician that she wanted me to take care of her baby, the obstetrician would often wait until mother and baby were within a day or two of going home to notify me. The best opportunity for fostering breast-feeding would have passed. And I had no authority - it wasn't my hospital. I would have to ask the head nursery nurse, "Can I put this baby on a three-hour schedule?" and she would say, "No, we only have a four-hour schedule here," or, "We don't wake the mothers at 2:00 a.m." In California I was the doctor in charge of the nursery and I could give orders. We turned out the babies about eighty percent breast-fed."
I just thought this was cool. In some ways he was really progressive!
(Cross posted to Parenting Issues)
"....I wrote in Baby and Child Care that a woman could breast-feed her baby if she wanted to and the staff supported her. But I didn't know for sure, because in New York I'd had few patients who wanted to breast-feed and few nurses who were sympathetic. Private patients always stayed in the hospital twelve days at that time. That was enough to ruin almost any attempt to breast-feed, because the baby would only be brought to the mother on a rigid four-hour schedule, omitting the 2:00 a.m. feeding. Most nurses were not sympathetic with the baby or the mother, and most obstetricians were not sympathetic with the mother. I'd had patients in private practice who wanted to breast-feed, but the obstetrician would make remarks like "What do you want to do that for?"
Family Hospital and Clinic was essentially an obstetrical hospital for the large number of wives at the air station. I was the only pediatrician, and I was in charge of the nursery. It was exciting and educational to be able to set policy in the nursery. I could say that the babies were to be brought to the mothers when the babies were hungry and that all babies were to be brought to the mothers at 2:00 a.m. As a pediatrician in New York I could never make such policy decisions. For example, if a mother had a baby at some hospital in New York and told the obstetrician that she wanted me to take care of her baby, the obstetrician would often wait until mother and baby were within a day or two of going home to notify me. The best opportunity for fostering breast-feeding would have passed. And I had no authority - it wasn't my hospital. I would have to ask the head nursery nurse, "Can I put this baby on a three-hour schedule?" and she would say, "No, we only have a four-hour schedule here," or, "We don't wake the mothers at 2:00 a.m." In California I was the doctor in charge of the nursery and I could give orders. We turned out the babies about eighty percent breast-fed."
I just thought this was cool. In some ways he was really progressive!
(Cross posted to Parenting Issues)
