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Hospital Vent  

post #1 of 20
2/9/05 at 12:00am
Thread Starter 
My fourth boy was born on February 4th while I was in the hospital I was very pleased with the way they handled breastfeeding - there were lots of posters around about the benefits of breastfeeding and there was a tv segment on their "baby channel" about breastfeeding that was very good. The nurses all seemed pretty knowledgeable, no one tried to even suggest a pacifier or water or anything which was good. I was so pleased.

But the day I left, I'm getting wheeled out and the nurse says to me, "So, do you have some formula at home just in case you need it?" I said, "I can't see any reason why I would need it." She says, "Well in case you get sick of this (bfing I guess)" I said "I'm still nursing my toddler and Max (new baby) is latching on like a pro so no I don't need any formula." She says "Well ya know, just in case he needs it before your milk comes in - he might be hungry." With all the posters and good advice they had displayed around the hospital you would think this nurse would know better!

Just wanted to vent, I was rather pissed. I think I might write a letter to the hospital, if I didn't know better I might have thought that I actually needed formula based on this woman's stupid comments.

Kitty
post #2 of 20
2/9/05 at 12:24am
if the hospital is deemed a Baby-Friendly Hospital, definitely write to them. they need to know if one of their staff members is not on the Baby-Friendly bandwagon.

i would try and contact someone, anyways, and let them know. it doesn't help their image if they are pro-breastfeeding but their staff don't seem to be. she should definitely be keeping her personal opinion out of it when addressing the topic of breastfeeding. as a nurse, she has a definite influence on patients and had she been addressing a new mom who was unsure of herself, she could have destroyed the breastfeeding relationship.
post #3 of 20
2/9/05 at 12:29am


I'd've been sorely tempted to ask if she bothered to read all the posters or that baby channel around her.

In case of what? your breasts spontaneously combusting????

Worst case response: "do you always put your foot into your mouth with such stupidity as the families are leaving?"
post #4 of 20
2/9/05 at 4:28am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Meiri

In case of what? your breasts spontaneously combusting????

Worst case response: "do you always put your foot into your mouth with such stupidity as the families are leaving?"
post #5 of 20
2/9/05 at 7:27am
Wow -- that sends such a horrible message! "Your body is not adequate. Make sure you have a back up plan ready to make sure your baby isn't harmed." I'm glad you were able to see through it!
post #6 of 20
2/9/05 at 8:55am
Sounds like they forgot to educate someone!!! It's good that you are an experienced mom but what about the poor mama who thinks that woman is right?
post #7 of 20
2/9/05 at 9:02am
Oh I hate that! When I left the hospital after my youngest was born, I got a breastfeeding success bag from enfamil, full of formula.
post #8 of 20
2/9/05 at 11:25am
How do we know if they're a "Baby Friendly Hospital" or not? Mine was also pretty pro bf'ing but had some clueless and obnoxious nurses.
post #9 of 20
2/9/05 at 1:51pm
RE: Baby Friendly Hospitals.

There are only about 30 something actual Baby-Friendly (BFI) designated hospitals in United States. (3 in Canada)

However, there are many many more than that, that are working TOWARD their designation. The BFI is more about the process - doing the work, making the changes, changing the thinking, writing the policies, etc - than the actual product - the designation.

So just because a hospital doesn't already having a BFI disignation, don't assume that they aren't serious about becoming more breastfeeding-friendly. Several of the hospitals in my province are seriously working towards BFI - they have achieved several of the steps - and they would be really upset to hear an experience like you had. It will be several years before my local hospital achieves its designation, but in the meantime - they really do consider themselves to be "breastfeeding friendly" and would want to address a situaiton like that.

Please seriously consider that letter or phone call to relay your experience.
post #10 of 20
2/9/05 at 4:53pm
Quote:
Just wanted to vent, I was rather pissed. I think I might write a letter to the hospital, if I didn't know better I might have thought that I actually needed formula based on this woman's stupid comments.
Please do write. You, as an experienced nursing mom, knew better but how many women is this nurse sabatoging?
post #11 of 20
2/9/05 at 4:56pm
Definitely write a letter!
post #12 of 20
2/9/05 at 8:49pm
Oh I think a letter is totally in order. If they have all of that pro-bf stuff they should not be offering you formula on your way out. How annoying. If you wanted formula you could have asked for it and you didn't.

Not to mention you repetedly told her you didn't need it and she kept pushing it on you. UGH!
post #13 of 20
2/9/05 at 9:34pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by soccerchic21
Oh I think a letter is totally in order. If they have all of that pro-bf stuff they should not be offering you formula on your way out. How annoying. If you wanted formula you could have asked for it and you didn't.

Not to mention you repetedly told her you didn't need it and she kept pushing it on you. UGH!
I totally agree with this poster. When I was pregnat with my DS, I knew I was going to BF. I had only one friend with a baby, and I remembered what a difficult time she had with BFing at the begining. She never gave up, and she had a great OB who was so sympathetic to her BFing troubles she wrote her out on 4 extra weeks of post partum disability citing her life long back issues. The real reason was so they could afford the extra time to BF at home before my friend returned to work. So basically I had the idea that BFing was going to be hard, worth it, but hard work. I read everyting I could find on the subject and took the BFing class offered by my Bradley instructor.

This same couple who had a rocky nursing start told us in no uncertian terms to never turn down free formula. They said it was really expensive, and somehow, someday I was going to need to suppliment, so take all the free cans you can get. I listened to them. Well when DS was around 4 months old and I had never felt the need to reach for any formula, I wound up donating all 7 cans of it to the local food pantry my church supports.

I have to wonder, if THEY were given the wrong advice to suppliment. Even though they had tremendous support from her OB, and they visited a Lactatin Consultant twice, somewhere they got the idea they needed to suppliment.

Please write the letter. I have never discussed in detail with my friend her issues. But now that I know more about BFing than I did before I have to wonder if the fact that they did suppliment early on caused her problems.
post #14 of 20
2/9/05 at 9:54pm
What a moron. I also got a "breastfeeding success" bag at the hospital. I guess thats the breastfeeding bag because it only came with one can of formula as opposed to the usual two? I am still trying to figure that out.
post #15 of 20
2/9/05 at 10:03pm
Yes, please write. You may save a breastfeeding relationship.
post #16 of 20
2/9/05 at 10:46pm
I always try to figure out a quick comeback for this sort of crap b/c I don't think quickly on my feet. W/ the new AAP guidelines, I think that for most of the crazy stuff people say, saying "have you read the new AAP guidelines," would be a good comeback for most of it. Such as, "you're still nursing," (since the guidelines state no upper limit), "your baby sleeps where," (since the guidelines say baby should sleep in close proximity to mom), "you're baby's not on solids yet," (since they say to wait until at least 6 months), etc.

Hope this helps some.
Sus
post #17 of 20
2/11/05 at 12:35pm
Thread Starter 
Thanx everyone, I am writing the letter today. What worries me the most is that this nurse had come into my room the night before to provide me with breastfeeding advice but then found out he was my fourth so she said "Oh well I guess you probably don't need the usual advice pitch I give." (She had started giving it, just talking about the amount of extra calories needed and drinking lots of fluids, then stopped when she looked at my chart and saw he was my fourth.)

So then when she started saying that stupid stuff the next day I'm thinking "Oh crap, what kind of advice was she planning on giving me???"

My one problem is that I don't remember her name (I'm horrible at that kind of thing.) I wish I had a name to go in the letter.

Kitty
post #18 of 20
2/11/05 at 12:43pm
don't worry about the name if you don't have it.

If you were trying to "convict" a specific person, then you'd need it - but really the hospital should address this problem generally, with overall education.

I suppose if you remember the date & time, if the hospital really wants to, it may be able to figure out who it was, through your records or by figuring out who was working that day.

Janice
post #19 of 20
2/12/05 at 12:24am
ita with soccerchic :yes:


oh, and meiri???? :LOL:
post #20 of 20
2/12/05 at 1:09am
Quote:
Originally Posted by MommytoTwo
What a moron. I also got a "breastfeeding success" bag at the hospital. I guess thats the breastfeeding bag because it only came with one can of formula as opposed to the usual two? I am still trying to figure that out.
I also got one. I feel like I got one up on Enfamil because I got Two free diper bags with insulated pouches for EBM, Two changing pads, and three freezer packs to keep breastmilk cold. and the poor folks at Enfamil never got a penny from me. :LOL Their efforts to undermine my sucess are rather irritating though. I bought Breastmilk storage bags from Safeway once, and now whenever I use my Club card, whatever I buy, out pops a coupon for Enfamil.
Good for you for writing that letter. It really hurts their campaign to sucessful breastfeeding to have such an ignorant person pushing formula.
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