I Am Very Aggravated....

[Nickarolaberry]

Mamas,

I am seriously over-the-top aggravated now. I get calls from other mamas for help on breastfeeding-related issues. This has picked up now that people in my local community know that there is someone actually in the area doing this job.

I canNOT believe the absolute and utter garbage that I hear from mamas re: what their doctors told them about bf'ing/feeding. Just some of the gems from the last FEW WEEKS (not to mention the last 3 years, since I moved to this area of the country). I am not kidding, these are all real.

Disclaimer: I am the wife and daughter of physicians (one a pediatrician of 38 years, who is very pro-bf/AP). I am NOT anti-doctor. I am, however, anti-stupid-doctor.

1) Stop bf'ing and pump for a week. We will send your milk out to a lab to be analyzed to determine if it contains the right nutrients and calories (to a mama of a 3 week old infant)

2) There is no such thing as nipple confusion. Babies like bottles better lots of times because the formula is richer.

3) Your baby will sleep longer at night if you space out his feedings more during the day so he learns not to "snack." :

4) More than five minutes on each breast will teach the baby to hang out and not "do his business". (to a mother of a newborn in the hospital)

5) You have to give babies bottles of formula right after birth before the milk comes in or else they'll starve, the colostrum is just not enough.

6) Your milk loses nutritional value after 6 months and you need to supplement/start solids right away.

7) Nursing a baby after a year is for the mother, not the baby.

8) The baby isn't gaining weight, switch to formula.

9) The baby is too fat, switch to formula.

10) Once your baby has teeth, she will bite you and you should wean her now.

11) You may not nurse during vaccinations; the baby might spit up the milk and choke.

I could go on. I am not joking or making these up either, and I have more in my logs. But these are just the ones I can think of off the top of my head.

GAH! :

[kalynnsmom]

Uggh, that is terrible!! And the sad part, is that I'm sure a lot of mamas do believe them. It's too bad that more Dr's aren't more educated on bf'ing.

[sapphire_chan]

Good doctors are truly a blessing from G-d.

[justplainbecky]

Yeesh, I can't believe that doctors would be so stupid as to give out info like that. Some people put the word of thier pediatrician right up there next to the word of God, and thats scary. They should trust thier own instinct and thier babies cues.

[Is3enough]

WOW! I can't believe that doctors can say this crap!! Are the dr's paid by formula companies?? All these are just wrong!!: The one about the colostrum not being enough really ticks me off! #1 does too!!

[nancyw]

disgusting. I have actually heard so many of these too.

the one about babies starving on colostrum during the waiting-for -milk (#5) just cracks me up. it just doesnt get more ignorant than that....
: :
(unless, of course, you look at #'s 1-4, and 6-11).

[firstkid4me]

Thank goodness they have you there Nickarolaberry!

[Nora'sMama]

OP, I love this phrase: "I am not anti-doctor, but I am anti-stupid doctor." ME TOO!!

I can't believe they wanted to have someone's BM tested in a lab...:

The solution is obvious. Required, intensive, HANDS-ON lactation training as part of the degree for all OBs AND Peds. Taught by IBCLC certified LCs and others who are true PRACTICAL experts in lactation problems.

It's so freaking depressing, the misinformation that gets spread around. I bet a good 50% of nursing relationships end either directly or indirectly due to bad information from a doctor (or a nurse, or a non-board-certified "lactation consultant" who has no clue).

My friend just had a baby and has oversupply, and the LC told her to pump before and after every feeding... Yeah, 'cause THAT'LL help, telling her breasts that they need to make EVEN MORE milk...:

GRRR...

[ndunn]

I have a question about the gaining weight thing. I heard someone say this recently and i thought WHAT? how can that be true. Could any baby not be gaining properly if breastfed on demand? Or is it possible its just a smaller baby genetics wise, not smaller because its not getting enough milk. My instinct says I'm right but I was just wondering.

[Momtwice]

4) More than five minutes on each breast will teach the baby to hang out and not "do his business". (to a mother of a newborn in the hospital)

I was told no more than 5 minutes each to prevent sore nipples. The mom who told me, was told by a nurse.

6) Your milk loses nutritional value after 6 months and you need to supplement/start solids right away.

I was told by a nurse specializing in nutrition that bf had no benefit past 6 months.

[Mama Poot]

Ugh wow....those are some bad ones! The practice I take my kids to has many different doctors, and I met the founding doctor of the practice yesterday when I took Henri in for his first checkup. He is probably 70+ years old, and had no problem examining Henri while he was nursing. He was very pleased that I was breastfeeding, and we even talked a little bit about vaccinations and he was surprisingly supportive of our decision to exclude/delay certain shots. There are good doctors out there.....but unfortunately many only meet the "stupid" ones. I've met plenty of them already

[JeDeeLenae]

I have a question about the gaining weight thing. I heard someone say this recently and i thought WHAT? how can that be true. Could any baby not be gaining properly if breastfed on demand? Or is it possible its just a smaller baby genetics wise, not smaller because its not getting enough milk. My instinct says I'm right but I was just wondering.

"Properly" is normally determined by the curve on those growth charts. My son started in a high percentile and didn't really stick with that curve. He's healthy and all, but he "wasn't gaining properly" and I "should've" switched to formula.

anti-stupid doctor sounds right to me too!

[Nora'sMama]

Originally Posted by ndunn

I have a question about the gaining weight thing. I heard someone say this recently and i thought WHAT? how can that be true. Could any baby not be gaining properly if breastfed on demand? Or is it possible its just a smaller baby genetics wise, not smaller because its not getting enough milk. My instinct says I'm right but I was just wondering.

It's possible that due to latch or supply issues, an exclusively on-demand BF baby could not gain enough weight. But this would be determined by lack of adequate diaper output and falling off the growth curve, not by a low percentile on the growth chart. If your baby is born weighing in the 5th percentile and stays in the 5th percentile, that baby is gaining appropriately. But if the baby starts in the 50th and goes to the 20th, then the 10th, and ends up in the 5th after a few months...the mama might be having supply issues in that case. But the answer is FIRST fix the supply issue, watch diaper output, if it isn't OK THEN you supplement...no need ever to switch completely to formula!

[Nickarolaberry]

Well, the nursing on demand thing and weight gain usually bears some investigation. It might be that the mama's family is genetically predisposed to be smaller.

or, it might be that despite *frequent* breastfeeding, the baby's *duration* of breastfeeding isn't enough. I had a call like this today, actually. Baby nurses a lot, but spends very little time on the breast at any one time. This is fairly normal in a newborn for the first few days but since the baby had green explosive poopies (an indication foremilk/hindmilk imbalance) I told her to try and increase the duration of nursing a bit -- start by putting the babe back to the same breast after s/he pops off and is burped -- and do breast compression there once the baby stops feed-sucking (i.e. not flutter sucking).

Or, if a mama has gone back on hormonal birth control at 4 months or so (a time I get a LOT of calls about supply), or has started solids, etc. These can affect supply even if the baby is nursing "frequently."

Anyway. These are questions doctors do not always (or even usually) ask. They just pull out that Enfamil...:

[muppet729]

At the last LLL meeting I went to, a mom who was pregnant with her second and had not been able to bf her first for longer than a month or two asked us, "So when are they (the nipples) supposed to stop bleeding? I can't imagine nursing even that long if my nipples were BLEEDING! I feel bad that she didn't get any good help at teh time- hopefully this time will be different

Also, I was told by a doctor's office (not sure if she was a nurse or what) that I should "cut back" on my dd nursing (then 14mo) because dd was having diarrea and a bit of vomiting and this lady had heard that you should cut back on dairy. She associated dairy --> milk --> breastmilk : I gave the doc heck the next time I saw him and he assured me that wasn't his policy and he didn't support it. I told him how rediculous the thought was since bm was the only thing my daughter wanted at teh time. also, if a mom hadn't been as confident as I was and had "cut back" on the bm, the kid could have prematurely weaned and all for nothing!

[hawkfeather]

Maybe you should be asking the doctors names. You could be compliling a list of BFing friendly doctors and those who are not.

You could also send information to those who are giving uot such VERY annoying "information": .

I sat on the board of directors for my local community health agency/hospital for a bit.. i can tell you that at least where I am there are doctors and staff who take such breastfeeding UN friendly doctors very seriously and work to help school them.

If your hospital has a breastfeeding drop in you could also speak to the LC and just let her know what she is up against.

I feel for ya.. been there done that and it was heart breaking.

[momileigh]

That is some amazingly ignorant stuff there.

But I do want to ask about the nursing during vaccination. My midwife won't do shots or PKU blood draws while mom is holding/nursing the baby. She says she's seen some babies go on a serious nursing strike because they associate the pain of the needle with nursing. What does anyone think of this?

[vanessab23]

Originally Posted by momileigh

That is some amazingly ignorant stuff there.

But I do want to ask about the nursing during vaccination. My midwife won't do shots or PKU blood draws while mom is holding/nursing the baby. She says she's seen some babies go on a serious nursing strike because they associate the pain of the needle with nursing. What does anyone think of this?

well, every baby is different, so it could be true. I have not seen that and I tell clients (I'm a CPM) that it is their decision-- whether to hold babe or not

and YES!!!! OBs, shoot ALL doctors and nurses should go thru an INTENSIVE lactation course. Great idea hawkfeather!

here's another my SIL heard from her ped (and believed, sadly):
she should "space out feedings during the day so that baby's belly will shrink, and therefore fill faster/more efficiently."

Uuuummm, this will make him cranky, underweight, and he'll be nursing ALL NIGHT LONG to make up for the missing calories! Aaaggg, stupid doctors!

[mika85]

So I guess there are some doctors out there who haven't updated their knowledge of breastfeeding since 1946?? Either that or a pedi would try to sabotage a mother's breastfeeding so that she would be forced to switch to formula and have to take the baby to the doctor more often! Those a-holes...its all about money.

[jeanine123]

Yep, I help out quite a lot on an online bfing support board. Some of the things these women are hearing from their health care provider makes your head spin like the gal in the "Exorcist" doesn't it? : Gah, with advice like this spewing out of the mouths of "professionals" it's a wonder that the bfing rates aren't even lower than they are now. I swear, I just don't understand how people can earn a medical degree and not be taught about basic infant nutrition.