I just about fell off of the chair....

[mnearthmomma]

I had to email this story to Hathor I just about died!

I took my next week one year old to the DR today as she has been vomitting since about 3:30am. I got concerned only when she started vomitting yellowish mucus., I figured it was just bile, but better safe than sorry was what I rationalized (She has only been to the DR once before about her excema...she was a UP/UC) SO I called up the DR and made an appointment for this afternoon. I packe dup my girls and we got there 5 minutes ahead, did the paperwork thing and then waited 40 minutes! I finally went to the counter after 6 people who arrived after we did, got seen and we waited. We got lead to a room and then waited ANOTHER 15 minutes. The nurse was a little shocked that I was still nursing and then the DR was a little shocked as well and after checking her belly and listening to her heart, he told me (hold onto your boobies mamas!!) 'Go ahead and STOP NURSING HER for TWO DAYS (!!!!!) and give her pedialite and nothing else. She is probably having a hard time digesting your milk because she is getting older (she will be one on the 14th.)' Seriously?!? I honestly just about fell over when he told me that. I nodded along agreeingly just wanting the thing to be over with so I could bundle my babes back up and get the heck out of there. I got them into the car and told my four year old after she asked why he told me to stop nursing, 'Gracie, if anyone ever tells you to stop nursing your baby, you take your baby and run run run and then you nurse her and keep nursing her and don't stop until your baby wants to stop."

In a normal situation (as going to the DR is not a normal event for any of us) I would stand up and say something right there, but I was just sooooooo taken aback!

What do you do in a situation like that?!

[doula mary]

GET A NEW Dr.!

Sorry to hear your wee one is sick....breastmilk is the best for her...even if she vomits it back up.

Mary

[velcromom]

Horrible! Unfortunately much too common. I might have done just as you did... I'm not very confrontational (but getting more and more outspoken every day about this stuff!!) but I am very research & written-word-oriented so you could bet your booty I'd be sending them a very educational packet of breastfeeding info.

I'd go to the AAP site and copy down the details that doc is in conflict with their advice and then, I'd send a complaint letter. You can send it not only to the doc, but cc it to the state board, the AAP and any medical society he is a member of.

Here is some info on writing complaint letters:

This is a link to United States Medical Boards info for each state
(including a link to the website for each) if someone wants to file a
complaint with the medical board in their state.
http://www.massmedboard.org/links/medical_boards.shtm


Sample Letter for Health Care Consumers: Making a Quality of Care Complaint
http://www.healthcarerights.org/letters/quality.html

Guidelines for writing a quality of care complaint letter
http://www.lumetra.com/uploadedFiles...r-template.pdf

Health Care Complaints Commission
Tips for writing a letter of complaint to a health professional or health
service
http://www.hccc.nsw.gov.au/html/how%20to%20comp.htm#6

Compelled to Complain: How to Effectively Issue a Medical Complaint
http://www.babyzone.com/baby_toddler...er_health/a656
(this is from BabyZone, but offers a simple outline)


And I'd write an editorial for every local paper about how confusing and unhelpful it is for moms when they go to the doctor and get advice that the doc's own professional organization doesn't even support, and include sources for moms to double check that their doc isn't giving them bad advice, too.

Can you tell I get fired up about stuff! Heck I'd probably consider starting a website like I did when I got ticked off about moms being told to cover up!!

[rmzbm]

Originally Posted by mnearthmomma

'Gracie, if anyone ever tells you to stop nursing your baby, you take your baby and run run run and then you nurse her and keep nursing her and don't stop until your baby wants to stop.

ALL new mama's could benefit from this advice!

[sapphire_chan]

I just can't grasp the logic here. Mama comes in with a sick baby. Doctor seizes opportunity to tell mother to stop giving baby nutrition.

Makes me wonder what he would have suggested if you had a one *week* old.

[Mama Poot]

CAN'T DIGEST YOUR MILK?!?!? That's one for my record books.....That is the WORST one I've heard yet. And you are right!! Run RUN!!!! RUN FAR FAR AWAY!!!!!

[BelgianSheepDog]

Why is it my doctors have never told me to cut out all food and drink except Gatorade when I've been sick?

[ColoradoMama]

I would write a very detailed letter to the doctor. What horrible advice! When ds1 was 15 months old he got sick for the first time, and it was nasty! Poor kid threw up for days. The ONLY thing he would take was breastmilk for four days. I told my doctor that he was still nursing when I talked to her on day 3 - she said, "Great - keep nursing him - as much as he wants." On day 4 I took him in because I was nervous that he was getting dehydrated. She checked him and said that he was not dehydrated because he was still nursing, and that he was lucky to still be nursing. Definitely let that doctor know he was WRONG!

[ColoradoMama]

Originally Posted by BelgianSheepDog

Why is it my doctors have never told me to cut out all food and drink except Gatorade when I've been sick?

Good point!

[jeanine123]

I'd be reporting him, either to his superiors if he works in a group practice or someone along those lines. And depending on the response I got from that I'd give serious thought to reporting him to the state's liscensing board.

[beckyand3littlemonsters]

i'd report hin deffinately and change dr, i remember my dd Caitlin once throwing up a lot after feeds and also bringing up yellow my dr just said she was probebly being sickly because she was all bunged up with flem and to just carry on breastfeeding as she probebly wouldn't be wanting to eat much when she wasn't feeling well and to give her calpol if she got a fever.
hope your lo feels better soon

[Meiri]

What would I do? When DS was 4, we left that practice from whence we'd gotten similar bogus crap masquerading as medical advice.

When DD was younger and the new doc tried to say something about breastfeeding only being important in the first year, I called her on it. We're still there; she isn't.

[MidwifeErika]

Wow. I would write a letter to the doctor. He needs to realize that his words have an impact, and it isn't always positive. This sort of advice is BAD advice and he needs to be called out on it. I wouldn't be able to think of anything to say on the spot for something like this, but that is why letter writing is great, you can throw in some links for him to look at as well. Then I would find a new doctor. If he gives out such horrible advice about this, I would have a hard time trusting him when it came to any health issue.

[GatorNNP]

Starve a fever, starve a cold, starve a baby with a tummy ache???

[paquerette]

Originally Posted by mnearthmomma

What do you do in a situation like that?!

Ask him to cite the case study, journal article, or other research which leads him to this suggested course of treatment, as it flies in the face of common knowledge about infant health and nutrition and you're curious what caused him to make such a radical leap.

Either that or "Dude, what CRACK are you SMOKING? Got your MD out of a crackerjack box, did you?"

[MiamiMami]

Oh yes! Didn't you know? After a whole year of breastmilk suddenly your daughter can't digest it:

Ugh! Please write a letter to someone about this quack.

[DWAXSMOM]

Actually, when my ds was about that age he was vomitting for about 24 hours and my VERY probreastfeeding ped told me to stop for 24 hours as well. I actually did it and it helped. It had something to do with digesting the breastmilk because it wasn't a clear fluid. I would have never stopped nursing but I did for the one day and the vomitting subsided. I had to gradually restart the nursings. If he took too much at once he threw up again. There has been many threads about this on MDC in the past. I do not think it has anything to do with breastmik not being good for them. It is about settling their tummies down. Check out the archives because there are many Mommies who found it helpful. Remember, we are talking about excessive vomitting not about a child who is sick and is not vomitting.

[bandgeek]

That's crazy. :

Good for you for taking the opportunity to educate your daughter on the situation. She's young, but it's very possible she'll remember this day forever.

[mamaverdi]

Originally Posted by DWAXSMOM

Actually, when my ds was about that age he was vomitting for about 24 hours and my VERY probreastfeeding ped told me to stop for 24 hours as well. I actually did it and it helped.

There is a difference b/w being probreastfeeding and having accurate information. This information is neither.

And this horrible advice could have killed my child. And it could be someone else's child next.

If your child is vomitting so execessively that they can't hold down breastmilk, then they need to be examined for the cause of the vomitting. If the cause is a virus, they can be given an anti-emetic instead of cutitng out breastmilk.

What most likely happened is that the virus passed, not that stopping breastfeeding helped.

Breastmilk is both a clear and semi-clear fluid. There are no properties to pedialyte or apple juice or gatorade that are not better and more readily available and absorbable than in breastmilk.

And yellow is stomach acid, not bile. Bile is green. If you see bile, go STRAIGHT to the ER.

As for the OP, I'm sorry that you had to deal with this uneducated doctor.

I don't know if I would write a letter or not. I don't have a lot of time. I would unrecommend the person to everyone. AND I would ask in FYT for someone knowledgeable and friendly in your area.

[cjuniverse]

Oh mami. The Magic Year Mark strikes again.

So many threads like this, so many doctors who don't know jack about breastfeeding out there.

I hope you find a new and better doctor, and quick!