I lurk here a lot, because I enjoy reading what you ladies have to say. As a low income mother myself, however, I feel that some of your efforts are aimed at the wrong things. I am not writing this to stir up trouble, but instead to maybe help some of you see into exactly what the roadblocks are for low income women, and how we can make change happen.
Many people say that breastfeeding is free... while that may be true for the middle class stay at home mom, it is far from free for your single, working, low income mom. consider this. You are pregnant, you go into say target to shop for your upcoming arrival. You know that you will be returing to work shortly after your baby is born, and that you need to have a decent pump to pump 2-3 times a day. You notice that the pump that has come highly recommended costs about 350 dollars...You realize that you will be unable to purchase a pump, that costs as much as you make in an entire week. So you talk to the WIC staff, and they state that they cant help you unless you have a preemie, and then they only provide a pump for you while your baby is in the NICU. Then you decide to check out the nursing bra selection. You notice that decent bra, is going to cost you at least 20 dollars, and you will need at least 3 of those.... so thats another 60. Nursing pads appear to be pretty expensive too, a good size box will cost you about 10 dollars. You wonder how often you will need to buy a box... once a week? Thats 40 dollars a month. Then you realize, that if you will be pumping, you will need bottles, and storage containers. You notice the container of breast cream as you are leaving the feeding section. You leave the store with some infant clothes, and a few other things, and bypass the feeding issue completly. On monday, you decide to discuss with your boss where you can pump and when once you return to work. He tells you the only place they have would be the bathroom, and that they dont have anywhere for you to store your milk or to wash your pump. He also says they cannot provide anymore breaks than you normally would get, and you quickly realize not only would this task be almost impossible with a high quality pump, but certainly you dont feel you would even have the time to try and pump using the manual pump you thought you might buy that was in your budget. To further the frustration, you dont know anyone who has ever successfully nursed, and the baby's father is very againsed breastfeeding.
You go back to the store the following weekend, and purchase a set of newborn bottles, a bottle brush, and some pacifiers. The total bill comes to 40 dollars, and you make the final descision to formula feed.
Here is my story, On what happend to me with my first daughter who is now 16 months old.
I was absolutly dead set on breastfeeding. I made up a birth plan which consisted of very plainly stating that my baby was not to be given any bottles, or pacifiers, was to be rooming in, and was to be placed on my chest after delivery, and that all newborn procedures should be postpond until after my baby had nursed. I had a midwife, and chose to deliver at the hospital in my area that had the lowest percentage of interventions. I ended up with an induction, epidural, the whole thing.
Come to find out, I had flat nipples. I tried for an hour to get my screaming baby to latch. No success. A nurse brought a nipple sheild, and stated that there was no lactation consultants available on weekends (I delivered on a saturday, was released 24 hours later on a sunday)
When my baby was constantly screaming, getting rashes, pooping out blood, and I got mastitis, I called WIC in hopes they had a lactation consultant that could help me. One spoke to me on the phone briefly for about 5 minutes, but said that she would not be able to see me in person. I called Le leche league, and talked to a group leader on the phone, and she stated that she wouldnt be able to help me in person either. (not unless I came to a meeting, that was 2 months away) In desperation, I took my baby to the emergency room. The emergency room diagnosed her with "constipation" and suggested I give her a bottle with caro syrup in it. I did and she threw it all up. Out of desperation once more, I took her to the pediatrician who told me to switch her to formula. There was no talk about how to help me nurse without the sheild, there was no talk about modifying my diet. I played the switching formula game for several months, and discovered that my baby was not only allergic to soy but also the "hypoallergenic" formula. My daughter spend countless days sick with ear infections, and was hospitalized for dehydration.
I am currently pregnant with my second child, due in July. The hospital I am delivering at has a high rate of cesareans, but they have a lactation consultant on call 24/7. I have also spoke with a public health nurse who breastfed all her children and will be willing to help me, actually come to my house and tell me if my baby is ok. Will it work this time? I sure hope so.
So what can YOU as lactivists do to help low income mothers initiate and continue breastfeeding?
Push for less funding on formula and juice (I get so much juice in a month, it is covering almost an entire shelf in my pantry... I could never drink that much!) and more on lactation consultants (both at WIC and in the hospital) and for help purchasing a decent pump.
No mother should be discharged from the hospital without seeing a lactation consultant, especially if she has an issue like flat nipples.
More eductation on breastfeeding for OB nurses. At least two of the nurses I had just kept pushing my daughters face into my boob, and really had very little knowledge about breastfeeding at all.
Help for struggling Le leche league groups. The group in my area only has a meeting every other month.
Breastfeeding education for men. If these mothers had the support of the baby's father, maybe that would make the difference for them.
Push for incentives for company's that employ low wage workers to be pumping friendly.
Again, I am not here to start trouble, but instead of focusing completly on what the movie stars are doing, or the formula companies, or what happens when you nurse in public (and I am sure that doing those things does help to a point) focus on getting mothers the help and support they need! This could make a huge difference, especially when such a high percentage of new mothers are in the WIC program.
Many people say that breastfeeding is free... while that may be true for the middle class stay at home mom, it is far from free for your single, working, low income mom. consider this. You are pregnant, you go into say target to shop for your upcoming arrival. You know that you will be returing to work shortly after your baby is born, and that you need to have a decent pump to pump 2-3 times a day. You notice that the pump that has come highly recommended costs about 350 dollars...You realize that you will be unable to purchase a pump, that costs as much as you make in an entire week. So you talk to the WIC staff, and they state that they cant help you unless you have a preemie, and then they only provide a pump for you while your baby is in the NICU. Then you decide to check out the nursing bra selection. You notice that decent bra, is going to cost you at least 20 dollars, and you will need at least 3 of those.... so thats another 60. Nursing pads appear to be pretty expensive too, a good size box will cost you about 10 dollars. You wonder how often you will need to buy a box... once a week? Thats 40 dollars a month. Then you realize, that if you will be pumping, you will need bottles, and storage containers. You notice the container of breast cream as you are leaving the feeding section. You leave the store with some infant clothes, and a few other things, and bypass the feeding issue completly. On monday, you decide to discuss with your boss where you can pump and when once you return to work. He tells you the only place they have would be the bathroom, and that they dont have anywhere for you to store your milk or to wash your pump. He also says they cannot provide anymore breaks than you normally would get, and you quickly realize not only would this task be almost impossible with a high quality pump, but certainly you dont feel you would even have the time to try and pump using the manual pump you thought you might buy that was in your budget. To further the frustration, you dont know anyone who has ever successfully nursed, and the baby's father is very againsed breastfeeding.
You go back to the store the following weekend, and purchase a set of newborn bottles, a bottle brush, and some pacifiers. The total bill comes to 40 dollars, and you make the final descision to formula feed.
Here is my story, On what happend to me with my first daughter who is now 16 months old.
I was absolutly dead set on breastfeeding. I made up a birth plan which consisted of very plainly stating that my baby was not to be given any bottles, or pacifiers, was to be rooming in, and was to be placed on my chest after delivery, and that all newborn procedures should be postpond until after my baby had nursed. I had a midwife, and chose to deliver at the hospital in my area that had the lowest percentage of interventions. I ended up with an induction, epidural, the whole thing.
Come to find out, I had flat nipples. I tried for an hour to get my screaming baby to latch. No success. A nurse brought a nipple sheild, and stated that there was no lactation consultants available on weekends (I delivered on a saturday, was released 24 hours later on a sunday)
When my baby was constantly screaming, getting rashes, pooping out blood, and I got mastitis, I called WIC in hopes they had a lactation consultant that could help me. One spoke to me on the phone briefly for about 5 minutes, but said that she would not be able to see me in person. I called Le leche league, and talked to a group leader on the phone, and she stated that she wouldnt be able to help me in person either. (not unless I came to a meeting, that was 2 months away) In desperation, I took my baby to the emergency room. The emergency room diagnosed her with "constipation" and suggested I give her a bottle with caro syrup in it. I did and she threw it all up. Out of desperation once more, I took her to the pediatrician who told me to switch her to formula. There was no talk about how to help me nurse without the sheild, there was no talk about modifying my diet. I played the switching formula game for several months, and discovered that my baby was not only allergic to soy but also the "hypoallergenic" formula. My daughter spend countless days sick with ear infections, and was hospitalized for dehydration.
I am currently pregnant with my second child, due in July. The hospital I am delivering at has a high rate of cesareans, but they have a lactation consultant on call 24/7. I have also spoke with a public health nurse who breastfed all her children and will be willing to help me, actually come to my house and tell me if my baby is ok. Will it work this time? I sure hope so.
So what can YOU as lactivists do to help low income mothers initiate and continue breastfeeding?
Push for less funding on formula and juice (I get so much juice in a month, it is covering almost an entire shelf in my pantry... I could never drink that much!) and more on lactation consultants (both at WIC and in the hospital) and for help purchasing a decent pump.
No mother should be discharged from the hospital without seeing a lactation consultant, especially if she has an issue like flat nipples.
More eductation on breastfeeding for OB nurses. At least two of the nurses I had just kept pushing my daughters face into my boob, and really had very little knowledge about breastfeeding at all.
Help for struggling Le leche league groups. The group in my area only has a meeting every other month.
Breastfeeding education for men. If these mothers had the support of the baby's father, maybe that would make the difference for them.
Push for incentives for company's that employ low wage workers to be pumping friendly.
Again, I am not here to start trouble, but instead of focusing completly on what the movie stars are doing, or the formula companies, or what happens when you nurse in public (and I am sure that doing those things does help to a point) focus on getting mothers the help and support they need! This could make a huge difference, especially when such a high percentage of new mothers are in the WIC program.
: On our first visit he actually said this: "At the begiining of the century 30% of babies died because formula hadn't been invented"!!!!
I'm sorry you've had such a rough time of it!
I'm a low-income mom. VERY. I was given a VERY nice double electric pump from WIC. The "storage containers" I used to store my milk were the bottles we ended up using, with a disk in the top instead of the nipple. Work HAS to provide you a private place to pump. You get a doctor's note for extra time. (My job eventually stopped paying me for them, but it was 20 minutes every 2 hours, and I already got 1 fifteen minute break, so it wasn't a *huge* deal). Use a bag with one of those "blue ice" things in them to store the milk.
