How do we change this thinking?

[my3peanuts]

My ds was recently diagnosed with a seizure disorder so we've had a couple tests done where they wanted ds calm or sedated. Two nurses, the pediatrician, and the EEG tech all said, "Just bring a bottle to help him calm down". We had another EEG done, everyone said the same thing. We had a couple fasting blood tests done and everyone said, "He can have formula no more than 4 hours before the test". I have not had ONE single person say "He can have BREASTMILK or formula 4 hours prior to the test" or "He can breastfeed or take a bottle to soothe him".

It's starting to drive me nuts! : I dunno, maybe I'm just touchy lately! I just wish people would not automatically assume all babies take bottles and formula! Everytime that one of them says something about it I say, "Actually he doesn't take a bottle, he's breastfed" and more often than not the person will say, "Oh good for you!"

I find it odd that everyone seemingly knows how much better breast milk is because they're praising me for it, and yet they assume initially he's not breastfed.

Anyway, it's really not something that bothers me horribly, more just that I'm curious as to why everyone thinks this way.

[hubris]

I'd probably deal with it head-on, saying something like "you know, the instructions you gave to me before we came in were very oriented to bottle-feeding parents. I hope that you will consider changing the wording of your instructions so that they are inclusive to both bottle-feeding and breastfeeding parents." I would probably follow up with a letter including an example of alternate wording.

[Claire and Boys]

Yes, this bothers me as well. I've had it a lot with my boys, from "health professionals". 2 specific examples I remember - with my first we were in hospital as he had an abscess on his neck at three months old. I commented while there that he needed to eat and the nurse was all over me saying "oh, that's not a problem, what milk does he have, I can get some, and heat it for you, etcetc" Just straight away assumed he was formula fed. Then with my youngest, I took him to be weighed, the week before he'd got over a chest infection. The midwife said something like "I'm sure he will be fine now, with all the vitamins in his formula" : :

[phreedom]

I brought my daughter in to have an ultrasound and they told me she needed to be NPO for at least 4 hours prior to the procedure. The tech has mentioned that I could nurse her or bottle feed 4 hours before. She mentioned nursing first. I thought that was pretty cool.

Then when DD was in the US she started fussing...the tech doing the US said once she does her gall bladder I can go ahead and nurse her to calm her down and then she will resume the US.

I guess you can just mention that you are nursing and that they may want to include instructions for BFing families as well. Unfortunately bottle feeding is assumed to be the norm and lots of people don't want to assume otherwise in fears of offending bottlefeeding parents I guess.

[o4smommy]

yeah, this drives me nuts too..when i took my DD to her first perdiatricians visit, the DR was like "what formula is she on?" I replied "shes breastfed" and then he says "what formula are you supplementing her with?" i replied "shes 100% breastfed!" : and then he tells me in a shaky voice "yeah breast is best"..he probably thought to himself "i hope the formula company didnt hear me say that!"

another thing that drives me nuts...the nursing room at the local mall, it has a picture of a bottle on the sign!

[Beccah+twins+1]

I posted about this exact same thing about a year ago, when i had to take my son for an u/s. Same thing, bottle feeding was presumed. It irks me too. It wasn't in writing though, just verbal. I said "he doesn't take a bottle, he is breastfed".

[faerierose]

My dd had reflux and when she was 10 weeks old she needed to have a scan of her upper GI track and she was supposed to drink that white stuff (I can't remember what it's called) but nobody told me. When we got there the techs were telling me how it is supposed to go and they were like "we'll just put some of this in her bottle" you should have seen their faces when I told them I didn't have a bottle and one of them said, "well how do you feed her then?" I'm like "Well first she latches on then the mild flows, it's not really that hard" (I was not in the greatest of moods: " You would think that they would have let me know she needed a bottle for the test:

[julie128]

Actually, breast milk is considered to be "clear fluid," so a baby could nurse up to 2 or 2.5 hours (I forget which it is) before the procedure. They should know that. Grrr.

[dara00]

Originally Posted by o4smommy

yeah, this drives me nuts too..when i took my DD to her first perdiatricians visit, the DR was like "what formula is she on?" I replied "shes breastfed" and then he says "what formula are you supplementing her with?" i replied "shes 100% breastfed!" : and then he tells me in a shaky voice "yeah breast is best"..he probably thought to himself "i hope the formula company didnt hear me say that!"

ugh, every time I'd take dd to the doctor they'd ask what formula I give her. I'd always say none. I guess that'll start up again now that ds is here!

[dara00]

Originally Posted by faerierose

My dd had reflux and when she was 10 weeks old she needed to have a scan of her upper GI track and she was supposed to drink that white stuff (I can't remember what it's called) but nobody told me. When we got there the techs were telling me how it is supposed to go and they were like "we'll just put some of this in her bottle" you should have seen their faces when I told them I didn't have a bottle and one of them said, "well how do you feed her then?" I'm like "Well first she latches on then the mild flows, it's not really that hard" (I was not in the greatest of moods: " You would think that they would have let me know she needed a bottle for the test:

lol, I love your answer! they must have felt dumb.

[momtob&t]

This happened to me too!! My dd had a terrible throat infection that we took her to the hospital for and after we had seen the doctor, the nurse came in and said, "No, bottles tonight, only clear fluid" And I said, "Good thing breast milk is a clear fluid b/c that is all she gets!" The WORST part is the nurse gave me a strange look and was like "let me ask the doctor." Then she came back and said not to even nurse her because that wasn't a clear fluid!!! : don't worry, I nursed her anyway!!

[LadyBee]

Originally Posted by dara00

ugh, every time I'd take dd to the doctor they'd ask what formula I give her. I'd always say none. I guess that'll start up again now that ds is here!

Yup same thing here. I wish they would ask if the baby was BFing, to make Mom's who weren't BFing think twice.

[earthmommy2]

When DD was a week old they had to do an xray type thing while she was drinking that solution (can't think of it now...) well she REFUSED bottles ALL the time so we had no clue how they were going to end up doing it...well How it turned out was I was laying on the table over her with my breast in her mouth as the syringe fed her that crap...sure enough as I had said, they found that she had reflux...but man the fact that I had EBF stumped them!!

[SashaBear]

DD needs antibiotics right and and since we just got over thrush the ped. said to give her probiotics. I went to pick up the probiotics at the local health food store and it said to mix it in with the baby's formula. I called the ped. back and they said I would have to pump. I asked a pharmicist and they said I would have to pump. The pharmicist did say to use a syringe to do it. I'm tempted to write the medicine company and complain!

[mzfern]

Originally Posted by SashaBear

DD needs antibiotics right and and since we just got over thrush the ped. said to give her probiotics. I went to pick up the probiotics at the local health food store and it said to mix it in with the baby's formula. I called the ped. back and they said I would have to pump. I asked a pharmicist and they said I would have to pump. The pharmicist did say to use a syringe to do it. I'm tempted to write the medicine company and complain!

Off topic, but I thought I'd mention this in case you're still dealing with this now! You can open up the probiotic capsule and give your baby the powder directly. Just dip your finger in water and then the probiotic powder and let your baby suck your finger. No need for bottles!