Hospital support? Or mixed message? - Page 3

[Mrs Dimples]

1. I always knew I would BF. Never considered formula as an option.

2. No one at the hospital actively discouraged, verbally, my choice to BF. However, when I wasn't sure if I was doing it right, their answer was formula. It was like they wanted me to go home ASAP and I couldn't go if the baby wasn't eating, so formula it was rather than trying to fix my BF issues. They also gave him a bottle without my consent on more than one occasion.

3. Yes, I was sent home with free formula.

4. Mesa, AZ, USA

[the_lissa]

1. When I was pregnant
2. Yes, they were helpful and supportive.
3. No I didn't receive free formula.
4. Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.

[Queen of Cups]

1. At what point did you choose to breastfeed?
I've always know I would breastfeed.

2. Was the hospital staff helpful and supportive of your decision to breastfeed?
Yes. Every single nurse that came into my room asked if I needed help with breastfeeding. The Lactation consultant stopped by twice before I left and called 2-3 times over the next couple of weeks

3. Did you receive, or were you offered, free formula when you left the hospital with your newborn infant?
There was a nice diaper bag filled with coupons. It had some formula, but the nurses suggested that I ditch the formula but take the bag!

4. What city or state do you live in? (This might help prepare women in certain areas as to what to expect during their hospital stay)
suburb of Kansas City

Now when you think back, did you receive full support of your decision to breastfeed, or did you receive a mixed message?
Yes! No one ever suggested formula or was less than ethusiastic that I was breastfeeding! Rooming in was considered standard, no one even offered the nursery as an alternative. The night nurse made a point of telling me to buzz her whenever the baby woke me up to nurse so that she wouldn't have to wake either of us an additional time to get our stats - she would just get them after we nursed. I appreciated that it was just expected that I would feed on demand and she didn't want to cause any more interuptions in our patterns than was absolutely neccessary.

[elmh23]

1. At what point did you choose to breastfeed?-- before pregnancy

2. Was the hospital staff helpful and supportive of your decision to breastfeed?-- my l&d nurse was awesome! she helped me get babe latched on when she was less than 5 minutes old! my regular nurse was ok. i think she was just really over worked (i was considered at risk because of extreme anemia, so my nurse had all the c-section moms plus me)

3. Did you receive, or were you offered, free formula when you left the hospiqtal with your newborn infant?-- nope

4. What city or state do you live in? (This might help prepare women in certain areas as to what to expect during their hospital stay)-- University of New Mexico Hospital in Albuquerque, NM


Now when you think back, did you receive full support of your decision to breastfeed, or did you receive a mixed message?-- Well, in some ways, I think it was a mixed message. They didn't let dh stay the night (we were there 3 nights!) so I didn't sleep that entire time because they also wouldn't take the baby, which meant EVERYTHING was on my shoulders and i was exhausted! i didn't sleep from saturday, when i went into labor, until wednesday night when we came home!

[Quagmire]

1. At what point did you choose to breastfeed? I did a lot of reading on all baby topics, but breastfeeding was something that quickly became my primary focus and desire. I have no idea why - my mom didn't bf me more than a couple of weeks.

2. Was the hospital staff helpful and supportive of your decision to breastfeed? As I recall the nurses who cared for me were distinctly different from those that did anything with DD and/or bfing support so most had nothing to say about it. There was one nurse who was pushing formula - I forget why not - and kept telling me I wasn't a failure if I gave formula - all this while I sobbed and DH tried the formula. Fortunately DD was smart and spit it out. I asked for the LC a few times and was told they were very busy, but would come by at least once a day. I got two visits from two different LCs and both were ok/fine. It was something I had to figure out on my own.

3. Did you receive, or were you offered, free formula when you left the hospital with your newborn infant? Yes, we took home two bags, Similac and Enfamil. The formula sat on the top shelf in the pantry as a just in case until I realized I had more milk than a dairy farm and they expired. The bags got used for day trips until they fell apart (cheap crap)

4. What city or state do you live in? New Hampshire



Looking back I don't think I heard a clear message one way or the other. My ped was good about it - we lucked out finding her in the hospital. She supports bfing, doesn't push formula (DD had jaundice and she just had us do a bili check and a follow up appt), and never gives advice about breastfeeding, but refers us to the office's on-staff LC. Certain nurses were more pushy about keeping DD in the nursery, and reading some horror posts here I realize that part of having a good experience at the hospital is keeping your baby with you at all times, since letting them out of your sight opens you up to "confusion about your instructions." With this next baby I will not be allowing nurses to make decisions about my baby without my input. Fortunately I don't have any horrendous baggage - just more awareness. I realize this is not the case for everyone when it comes to hospital births

[minkajane]

1. At what point did you choose to breastfeed?

I never really thought about it...our breasts make milk for a reason. The more I learned about the wonders of breastfeeding, the more certain I was that I was going to breastfeed.

2. Was the hospital staff helpful and supportive of your decision to breastfeed?

To a certain extent. They never really discussed pros and cons or which was better. I had a great daytime nurse who helped me pump the colostrum and syringe-fed it to DS so he wouldn't get nipple confusion when I couldn't get out of bed after the C/S to nurse him. She gave him glucose in his IV instead of a bottle when his blood sugar dropped. The day after he was born, he was having trouble latching (it took us upwards of 30 minutes to get him to latch) and she got us an SNS with about 1/2 oz of formula in it. She said it would encourage him to stay latched better if he was getting something when he nursed. It seemed to work. To my knowledge, that's the only formula he got.

The night nurse kept hassling me to give him a pacifier because he took "so long" to settle back down after I came to the nursery to nurse him, and got really pissy when I refused. As far as I know, she abided by my wishes.

When I went home, they gave me a hand pump and a syringe to feed him when he was still having trouble latching. I didn't get to see an LC until DS was a week old, by which time, we were already starting to figure things out.

3. Did you receive, or were you offered, free formula when you left the hospital with your newborn infant?

The hospital didn't give me much when I went home - just some paperwork on how often he's supposed to eat, pee, poop, etc, and an "It's a Boy!" sign. I did get an Enfamil bag in the mail, though, and three FULL-SIZE cans of formula, which got donated to the local food shelter when DS was about 4 months old. I had forgotten they were there - it never crossed my mind to use them, even when he refused to latch and I was pumping every three hours and cup-feeding him.

4. What city or state do you live in?

A the time, Wichita Falls, TX (with military docs).

Now when you think back, did you receive full support of your decision to breastfeed, or did you receive a mixed message?

They seemed so "whatever" about everything...they weren't much help with BFing, but they didn't offer a bottle once and I wasn't given any formula to take home. I felt like I was on my own whether BFing or FFing.

[Momtwice]

Chose before pregnancy.

1.First baby: message was completely anti-breastfeeding and pro-formula. Not mixed at all.

Told bf baby had to have formula in hospital and at pediatrician, given formula samples by mail (OB sold name and I got a whole case of huge cans in the mail), samples from regular pediatrician, and samples in hospital. Nurses and pediatrician in hospital repeatedly gave consistently destructive advice.

2.Second baby: mixed message.

New OB had sign up sheet from formula company for mailing list (samples) in office. Some hospital staff were supportive, some were not, samples were offered by nurse. Pediatrician in hospital was supportive, regular pediatrician, once again, was not. Switched to more supportive pediatrician.

Both in Mass. before the recent ban on formula giveaways in hospitals.

[2lilsweetfoxes]

1. At what point did you choose to breastfeed?
During early pregnancy, after much research on the pros and cons of both feeding methods.

2. Was the hospital staff helpful and supportive of your decision to breastfeed?
Very supportive. When dd had the "newborn sleepiness" period (labored without drugs), and I couldn't wake her up to eat, I was afraid, because she was so tiny and she had slept instead of eaten for 4 hours, that her blood sugar levels would plummet. I asked for a bottle of sugar water or formula to be given to her. The nurse tested her blood instead (for my benefit) and told me she was fine.

3. Did you receive, or were you offered, free formula when you left the hospital with your newborn infant? Yes and my mom gave it to her when she was a week old and I was out of the house for some reason--just as I was arriving home.

4. What city or state do you live in? (This might help prepare women in certain areas as to what to expect during their hospital stay)
I was living in Texas at the time

Now when you think back, did you receive full support of your decision to breastfeed, or did you receive a mixed message?

I got the "you can do it", but in case you fail...With my son (dc#2), they offered me a case of formula at the ped's office. I just laughed and told them: "Sure, give me a case or two of formula. Let me start giving it to him. Let my breastmilk supply plummet and Bubby prefer the bottle. Then I'll have to start buying it myself because ya'll wouldn't be giving me any more free formula. Let some woman who cannot breastfeed have it."
Thank you for sharing your experiences. Please take a moment as you read the replies and think what it must be like being a young first time mother with little family support. Is it any wonder breastfeeding rates among low income women are so low?[/QUOTE]

[Moon Faerie]

1. At what point did you choose to breastfeed?
Formula feeding never even entered my mind. I always knew I'd breastfeed.

2. Was the hospital staff helpful and supportive of your decision to breastfeed?
DS - They claimed to be, and, at the time, I thought they were pretty supportive. Now, I think they need to spend some time doing training in lactation if they truly want to be supportive. I got some pretty crappy information.
DD - They were 2000% supportive and helpful. Of course, one of my reasons in choosing the birth center was the fact that the are a baby-friendly birth center.

3. Did you receive, or were you offered, free formula when you left the hospital with your newborn infant?
DS - Not only was I sent home with a couple of cans of formula, but they also gave my ds formula without my consent.
DD - Nope. If I had planned on formula feeding, I would have had to provide my own formula, as the birth center didn't supply it at all.

4. What city or state do you live in? (This might help prepare women in certain areas as to what to expect during their hospital stay)
I gave birth both times in Knoxville, TN. DS was born at Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center, and DD was born at the Lisa Ross Birth Center.

Now when you think back, did you receive full support of your decision to breastfeed, or did you receive a mixed message?
With my ds, I would say it was a mixed message because they were giving out bad information and the actual nurses weren't able to help me with latch issues. I had to wait until the "lactation consultant" came in, which was about 13 hours after birth. After 13 hours of bad latch, I was in some serious pain. With my dd, I received full support.

[Patchfire]

1. At what point did you choose to breastfeed?

Sometime before I got pregnant. I don't remember ever really considering any other option.

2. Was the hospital staff helpful and supportive of your decision to breastfeed?

Nominally, yes. (This is w/ dd; ds was born at home, plus I had 4+ years of nursing under my belt, so to speak, with ds.) They didn't bring in bottles of formula or take dd away. By the same token, though, dd and I were extraordinarily lucky, in that she latched on right away and we didn't need any help, per se. Now, she was always a quick nurser, and even then, she would nurse between seven and nine minutes on each side. They wanted to have her nursing at least ten minutes on each side or otherwise they were 'going to have to test her blood sugar.' Soo, I lied about the next few feedings. It was astonishing how she suddenly started nursing ten and eleven minutes on each side.

3. Did you receive, or were you offered, free formula when you left the hospital with your newborn infant?

In the free diaper bag, yes. We took it home, and my parents took it to the local battered women's shelter.

4. What city or state do you live in?

Atlanta, Georgia. I was at Cobb Hospital.

Now when you think back, did you receive full support of your decision to breastfeed, or did you receive a mixed message?

I think it was definitely a mixed message. I just ignored it, though. I have a tendency to ignore people that I don't agree with.

[sapphire_chan]

Originally Posted by KatSG

Portland, OR, Emanual Hospital.

Now when you think back, did you receive full support of your decision to breastfeed, or did you receive a mixed message?

Lots of support. The hospital also offered a breastfeeding class as part of childbirth prep and it was excellent. Very focused on positioning, partners supporting with pillows and water, etc., and encouraging women to reach out of they need help, which is probably why I was so comfortable asking for help from the nurses.

Glad to hear they're being supportive. That's where me and my little brother were born. (I was c-sec, bf for 3 years, by the way.)

[witchbaby]

1. At what point did you choose to breastfeed?
during my first pregnancy (ended in miscarriage). my daughter was born 1.5 years later.

2. Was the hospital staff helpful and supportive of your decision to breastfeed?
with k: sort of. when we were having trouble getting her to latch late at night the second day, they just took her to the nursery to give her formula rather than help us out.
with m: again, sort of. within an hour of his birth, the nurse was trying to get us to give him formula because "his blood sugar was low." we refused and said we would let him nurse as much as he needed. she tried to tell us he would suffer brain damage. we told her we knew what we were doing. his wbc came back with glucose levels fine.

3. Did you receive, or were you offered, free formula when you left the hospital with your newborn infant?
with k: yes. we took it home and had a horrible night where we cracked open the formula. luckily, the next day we got a pump, then saw an lc and got her back on the breast.
with m: yes, but we refused to take it home.


4. What city or state do you live in? (This might help prepare women in certain areas as to what to expect during their hospital stay)
k was born in grand junction, colorado at st. mary's hospital.
m was born in denver, colorado at university hospital (homebirth transfer).

[suprgrl]

1. At what point did you choose to breastfeed?

I have known I would from earlier than I can remember.

2. Was the hospital staff helpful and supportive of your decision to breastfeed?

They were very supportive. The LC's were great. Being a FTM I was so worried that my milk would not come in, and it seemed like nothing was happening. My nipples also got bloody and super sore. But they kept encouraging me and telling me everything was going to be fine and that it was okay for the baby to not get much for the first few days and it was normal for him to lose some body weight. My mom and DH were also there with me, and are both very supportive, although both my mom and the nurses and LC's were very much in favor of scheduling the baby's feedings. It is still a sore spot with my mom.

3. Did you receive, or were you offered, free formula when you left the hospital with your newborn infant?

Sadly yes. One can of powdered Enfamil. However, they also gave me a breastpump. They showed me how to use it, and let me know that I could rent an electric one if I wanted. They even brought the electric one in my room to show me how it worked too! DS was in the NICU for 5 hours, and they set me up to pump to get things going since I didn't get to feed DS immediately.

4. What city or state do you live in? (This might help prepare women in certain areas as to what to expect during their hospital stay)

Lynchburg, VA : Virginia Baptist Hospital. For a hospital birth/stay they were better than I expected. Especially during L+D they were very supportive of doing things naturally (without meds) and showed concern and respect for my birth plan.

Now when you think back, did you receive full support of your decision to breastfeed, or did you receive a mixed message?

I would say full support. Yeah they gave me formula, but it was obvious to me from how they talked about it, that they really wanted to help me BF.

[Llyra]

1. At what point did you choose to breastfeed?

Before getting pregnant.

2. Was the hospital staff helpful and supportive of your decision to breastfeed?

Well, they SAID they were, and they had some policies in place that seemed to be supportive-- a rule that all healthy infants with healthy mothers should have their first feeding within 30 minutes of birth, and no artificial nipples without the mother and doctor's explicit permission. On the other hand, while the nurses were terrifically enthusiastic about me breastfeeding, the advice I received was all wrong. The LC's weren't really all that much better, and everybody was useless when I started to have problems. And the pediatrician on-call pushed very strongly for supplementation, and I know now that there wasn't any cause.

3. Did you receive, or were you offered, free formula when you left the hospital with your newborn infant?

I received a whole "formula starter pack," with ready-to-use bottles of formula and disposable (!) nipples that screwed right onto the bottles, and cans of powdered formula. It was all Enfamil. This was all on my bedside table from the moment I arrived, even before anybody started talking about supplementing.

4. What city or state do you live in? (This might help prepare women in certain areas as to what to expect during their hospital stay)

DD was born in Princeton, NJ.

Now when you think back, did you receive full support of your decision to breastfeed, or did you receive a mixed message?

Very mixed message.

[Storm Bride]

1. At what point did you choose to breastfeed?
I'd never thought about doing anything else. My mom breastfed, and bottles seemed like such a hassle. I also felt that formula had to be inferior to breastmilk.

2. Was the hospital staff helpful and supportive of your decision to breastfeed?
They were supportive with all three children, but not helpful:

DS1: I'd had a c-section, and was really messed up from the pain and the anesthetic and everything. I didn't get to try to feed my baby for about 14 hours (they gave me a sleeping pill after surgery). He didn't have a good latch, and it wasn't going well. There was no LC, to the best of my recollection. Every nurse who tried to help told me something different. They also pushed the football hold at me a lot, and I found it horribly difficult - it just doesn't work for me at all. (He nursed to about 10 months.)

DD: I had a scheduled c-section, under pressure from my OB. Never again - my breasts were empty...no milk, no colostrum, nothing. DD tried and tried, but just wasn't getting anything. She lost over a pound in 3 days. We finally did allow a formula feeding the second night, because she was just SO hungry and was tearing up my nipples in a frenzy. (She nursed to 21 months.)

DS2: Another c-section. This was the first time I had the chance to feed my baby right after surgery. He had a near-perfect latch, and contentedly fed at both breasts. When I was about to feed him the second time, about 1.5 hours later, I got a shock! DH was just putting him to the breast when a woman walked into my room. When she realized that we were about to breastfeed, she walked over, nudged dh out of the way, grabbed my breast and my baby, and started a lecture on a proper latch. It turned out that she was the LC! I basically gave her the cold shoulder and she left.

Any one of my experiences in the hospital could have easily put me off breastfeeding, if I were even slightly less stubborn than I am. Actually, they may have even broken my spirit with ds1, except that I had barely enough money to pay the rent...there was NO way I was blowing cash on formula!

3. Did you receive, or were you offered, free formula when you left the hospital with your newborn infant?
I've never been offered or given free formula.

4. What city or state do you live in?
North Vancouver, BC, Canada

Now when you think back, did you receive full support of your decision to breastfeed, or did you receive a mixed message?

I think I received full support, but a lot of the "help" I received was actually detrimental. Even with ds2, I had a nurse come in and start packing pillows around us when we were sitting in a chair. DS2 was happily nursing, and I was okay (lot of incision pain)...she caused him to unlatch and relatch, and the new latch wasn't as good. That kind of thing got really annoying.

[JesiLynne]

1. At what point did you choose to breastfeed?

My mom breastfed all 5 of her kids and I always wanted to

2. Was the hospital staff helpful and supportive of your decision to breastfeed? Kinda......They werent outwardly against it but very snotty about it.
The LC was very bitchy towards my mom. She seemed to view her as a threat when my mom introduced herself as an LC b/c she bfed 5 kids. They all seemed to have an additude that if you dont have a degree in it you cant be trusted to give anyone help.
AND ALL I HEARD WAS IF MY BABY LOSES ANY WEIGHT TO SUPPLEMENT WITH FORMULA
My aunt had a baby 2 months after I did at a diffrent hospital ( but nearby the one I gave birth at) and got the same message from them. She later wswitched to full time formula after 6 weeks
My mom gave birth to my sister in a hospital after 2 homebirths just b/c her insurance wouldnt cover homebirth and she had to LIE to the staff b/c they wouldnt let my sister leave unless she was already bfeeding.
My mom's doc ( not one employed by the hospital ) new what was really goin on and encouraged her to lie.
My mom was tired and her milk didnt even come in for another few days. My sis knew this and didnt feel like eating. I ended up lying too when ds1 was released from teh NICU b/c they refused to release him until I was bfeeding succesfully.
He was 2 weeks old and I had been pumping and they were feeding him outta bttles with 1 inch long nipples. I dont have 1 inch long nipples not matter how much I dream One nurse snuck in just to tell me to lie and say he was bfeeding all night so I could get him home and be comfortable. She was so right. DS1 was on a ton of drugs I didnt approve of and they made him groggy and disoreinted but I dint dare say no b/c they had CPS workers EVERYWHERE and made no qualms about calling them if a parent objected to a certain doctors order.
There was NO WAY ds1 was gonna nurse til I took him home and threw a way the phenobarbitol!

3. Did you receive, or were you offered, free formula when you left the hospital with your newborn infant?
I got it at my first prenatal vist I was pissed!

4. What city or state do you live in? (This might help prepare women in certain areas as to what to expect during their hospital stay
I gave birth at West Allis Memorial Hospital, Which has a huge "Women's Pavillion" that is supposed the best in Womens Healthcare ad they "Greatest Place To GIve Birth"
After everyhitng I went threw I wish I had more documentaion so I could sue the hell outta them!!!!!!!!