Yea for mama - boo for hospital

[ColoradoMama]

So, a mom in my daughter's parent/tot preschool class just had a baby a few weeks ago. She was telling me about it at school on Wednesday. The baby was six pounds, three ounces when he was born. Small, but not THAT small - come on. He lost seven ounces in the hospital. The hospital was all over her to give him formula because he "lost SO much weight." She kept telling them, no, no, no - I'm against formula - no! Well he was never given formula - kudos for her for standing her ground - AND he gained two pounds in the first couple of weeks. Take THAT ignorant hospital staff! We were talking about how good it was that she was an experienced mom and knew what she was talking about though because if she'd be a new mom they would have been able to intimidate her so much easier. Grrrrrr, and that is the hospital that Dr. Bradley used to practice at. Good for that mom!

[velcromom]

Kudos to her! I had to do the same thing when ds was born at 5lb 13oz and lost some weight & had some jaundice... they gave me the "brain damaged baby" talk, gave me a time limit for getting him to gain and they told me straight out that if we didn't meet their demands they were going to override my parental rights by giving him formula against my wishes.. and had me come back twice the first week to monitor his weight... which increased at a rate of nearly 2oz a day, he showed them what he really needed!LOL

it's nice to hear a success story once in a while! I wish we didn't have to fight to protect our babies when we are trying to do exactly what they need.

[CorasMama]

Good for her.

When dd was born, 4w2d early, she weighed 5lbs7oz. They put her in my arms for a few minutes. Then, while they were delivering the placenta, they told me she was having some trouble breathing (a light wheeze), and took her away to the nursery. I called after them, "no formula! No formula!" So they gave her glucose (sugar water)! They gave me some excuse about her blood sugar being low, and how my milk "wouldn't come in for a few days." I chewed them a couple new ones, especially since, had they taken 2 moments to ask me, they would have known my milk came in at the beginning of my 3rd trimester!

Good for that mama. Next time (I have problem pregnancies and will probably always have to birth in at least a hospital-attached birth center), I will have two birth partners: one for me, one to stay w/ baby and advocate for him/her. Of course, hopefully the next one will have a second parent...

[lissabob]

Originally Posted by ColoradoMama

So, a mom in my daughter's parent/tot preschool class just had a baby a few weeks ago. She was telling me about it at school on Wednesday. The baby was six pounds, three ounces when he was born. Small, but not THAT small - come on. He lost seven ounces in the hospital. The hospital was all over her to give him formula because he "lost SO much weight." She kept telling them, no, no, no - I'm against formula - no! Well he was never given formula - kudos for her for standing her ground - AND he gained two pounds in the first couple of weeks. Take THAT ignorant hospital staff! We were talking about how good it was that she was an experienced mom and knew what she was talking about though because if she'd be a new mom they would have been able to intimidate her so much easier. Grrrrrr, and that is the hospital that Dr. Bradley used to practice at. Good for that mom!

Was it there in Aurora? Maybe it's the same stupid dr's who misdiagnosed me with mumps when I had a cheek abscess instead (which, when it burst, took a big part of my bone and cheek with it. : Good for her! Although, even with experienced mamas the drs/nurses sometimes take advantage if mama isn't totally recovered within minutes of birth- I have a friend give birth recently (her 4th) and they took the babe away and gave formula etc "for low blood sugar". : She couldn't do much because she was being sewn up at the time.

[saraann]

They really pushed formula on me in the hospital a lot too, it's so crazy. If I hadn't been eucated and determined to breastfeed I know i would have given in because I was so tired and everything seems so much more confusing when you're tired. My daughter was above her birth weight at her 2 day ped check up.

[ColoradoMama]

Originally Posted by lissabob

Was it there in Aurora?

Englewood, I think. Although Aurora South has a very bad reputation for a very good reason. We'll never go back there unless it would mean death to go the extra ten minutes to the next hospital.

[mamaesq]

Wow...I had my son at a small hospital and he was jaundiced. The only thing they said to me was to nurse him more frequently. Not once did they mention formula. He also lost 10 oz. Not once did they mention formula. I love my hospital.

[hunnybumm]

DS#1 was born 8lbs 7oz (a good sized baby) and they were freeking out in the hospital because he lost almost a pound. They also made us come back the day after he was released and two days after that to have his blood drawn because he was jaundice. Thankfully I was never pressured to give formula, I made sure that as soon as I was admited to tell everyone NO formula (he did end up having sugar water 'to make sure he could swallow properly" but I didn't know better). I think it was also a good thing that I was able to pump 1oz of colosturome (sp? omg) so they had me feed him that from a cup.

With DS#2 he was born at a freestanding birth center, so of course formula was never mentioned. But they knew from the first appointment that I was BFing, and that I had a very good milk supply and tons of support (including a LC at the peds and LLL). #2 was 9lb 2oz and hardly lost any weight eventhough nursing as pretty rocky for the first 10 days.

[MommytoHHH]

Good for that mama!

My DD had to be hospitalized for jaundice. Some know-it-all nurse came in and told me that if she felt DD wasn't getting enough milk, they'd start supplementing with forumla. I called my Pediatrician crying and she sent over her own personal LC who helped me correct DD's latch a bit and told me to feed DD every 1.5 hours round the clock. I did that, and in about 18 hours, DD's bilirubin level dropped from 19 to 13. The on-call Pediatrics Dr. couldn't believe it. And DD never got a drop of formula

[sdm1024]

Good for her.

It's expected that an infant will lose up to 10% of their weight in the first few days after birth. That's why they have so much fat.