Bringing home baby: Doc says lady's too small to breastfeed big baby!

[MarineMommy]

This is insane...
I am watching Bringing Home Baby on TLC and this small lady, 4'11", had a 9 lb baby by C-Sec, of course, and the doc told her that because of her small size she probably wouldn't be able to breastfeed her big baby!!

Can you believe that!!!

I can't believe some doctors!!

Katie

[LemonPie]

I know. I saw that one recently too. : I'd bet that doc did his training in the 50s and has barely bothered to crack open a textbook or journal since. I can't believe women are still being told that in this day and age.
Jen

[lilgsmommy]

I just got done watching that one! I busted up laughing and older DS asked me what was so funny. I told him the Dr said the mom is too small to give her baby mamas milk....he stood there for a second looked, said "whatever" and walked out. "Whatever" has become my favorite thing to say when I dont agree with CRAP on A Baby Story or Bringing Baby Home.

[Celina2]

That's insane. One wonders if he had the same logic about birthing the baby also (if she had a TOL or of they just went to c/s when they realized before any labor had started that the baby might be large).

Celina

[mighty-mama]

did she believe him?:

[Jilian]

I saw that one a while back and it really pissed me off, where the heck do these doctors get their info from? Formula companies?! I'm small too but I BF my gigantic DS1 for well over a year, no problems at all and he went from 7lbs 5 ozs at birth to being off the charts for growth by 4 mos. Women's bodies were MADE to bear and nourish their children, small or not. What do they think would have happened before formula, the baby would have died? :

[lilgsmommy]

Originally Posted by mighty-mama

did she believe him?:

I know at one point she tried nursing but wasnt deeply engrossed in it, so not sure if she did at that time, but in another segment saw the baby being bottlefed, and it was one of those give away formula ones from the hospital.

[tammyswanson]

Gee, what did the doctor think would happen, the mother would shrivel up as soon as her baby started to feed? That's so dumb. No wonder I don't trust doctors....:

[The4OfUs]

I'm a miracle of modern medical science! 5 feet 0 inches tall, and I've nourished 2 babies on breastmilk alone!

[memz]

Originally Posted by Celina2

That's insane. One wonders if he had the same logic about birthing the baby also (if she had a TOL or of they just went to c/s when they realized before any labor had started that the baby might be large).

Celina

She indeed had a c section because the baby was too big for her

[Jade2561]

That is such craziness, but the annoying thing is that it perpetuates the myth that small women can't breastfeed big babies. That doctor does not need a nationwide forum to display his ignorance. Poor baby.

[~Boudicca~]

OH. COME. ON. :

[Celina2]

Astounding, yet not, you know? Did it ever occur to him that she actually nourished this baby for the duration of the pregnancy inside that same body? I realize that there are situations where mothers truely cannot breastfeed but to just sabotage the whole nursing relationship before it gets a chance to start is literally a crying shame.

Celina

[turtlewomyn]

Hmmm, I am just under 5ft2 (so less than three inches taller than her) and my DD was born at 9lb8.5oz (uh, via "elective" c-section, ob/cnm coerced for fetal macrosomia: ) and I breastfed her just fine (and continue to breastfeed her of course). Now, I did have supply problems, but I think they had a lot more to do with DD's tongue tie than her big size.
Yet another example of a doctor spewing out garbage.

[s_kristina]

Garbage like that is the reason I have to stay away from baby shows. They will almost always get me upset and that does nothing good for my bp. I gave up on watching them while I was pg with ds, but if dd sees them she wants to watch them.

[CMcC]

That is ridiculous!!! I'm also 4' 11 and my boys were 8 lb 15 oz and 9 lb. 14 oz...... I exclusively breastfed both of them. The size of the baby has absolutely no effect on whether the mother can nurse or not!!!! The stupidity that some doctors are willing to shovel out! I hope this mother told him where to go. I wish I could personally talk to that dr. He would have a cow if he knew such a "small" mother could nurse such a "big baby". Why...by the time one of my DS was 9weeks old he weighed 20 lb! And just over 30 lb by 6 months old.... all by this "small" momma exclusively breastfeeding!

I think this doctor gets the award for biggest bs.

[LoveChild421]

I'm petite too and I managed to sustain my son when he was 19 pounds and 5 months old on nothing but breastmilk! She probably didn't even need the C-section either. Gotta love OBs and their infinite wisdom. :

[mchouchins]

That really annoys me! I just wrote to the channel that makes these shows, and here's what I said...

"I am done watching "A Baby Story" and "Bringing Home Baby." There is so much misinformation on those shows about breastfeeding and birth. When I heard a doctor on "Bringing Home Baby" tell a woman she was too small to nurse her baby, I was so sad. I am so afraid that people will watch this show & actually think that is true. You have a responsibility to be putting accurate information out about birth and breasfeeding. At the very least, an expert (childbirth educator, midwife, lactation consultant, etc.) should respond at the end of the show. Ideally, you would have lots of stories about normal birth and successful breastfeeding. Our current maternity care system is a mess and your shows perpetuate the myths that continue to hurt moms and babies. Your producers need to read "Pushed" by Jennifer Block or "Born in the USA" by Dr. Marsden Wagner. Or visit http://www.ican-online.org."

[AlexisT]

I know someone who was told by the midwife "you have such a big baby, you won't have enough milk for her" The woman wasn't small or anything either and as far as I know there was no reason to believe she'd have supply issues.

I don't know what they were teaching in midwifery school here 20-30 years ago, but dang, there's some very ignorant ones still working.

[LemonPie]

did she believe him?

Yes, she said on the show she was going to do a combo of bottlefeeding and breastfeeding.

I've repeatedly heard "Oh, he was so big, he was just hungry all the time and I couldn't keep up". I think usually this is a *paradigm* problem rather than a feeding problem. We've got this societal pressure to produce cookie-cutter babies that eat every 3 hours and sleep all night by the time they're 2 or 3 months old. Which of course is a rare occurence in an exclusively breastfed baby. Breastmilk digests in 90 minutes and baby's hungry again. Baby's up all night nursing because it's biologically programmed to nurse when mom's prolactin levels are highest. But if the mother doesn't know better, she thinks "Oh, something must be wrong--my baby isn't satisfied."

And then we've got the majority of the medical world comparing breastmilk against formula, when it should be the other way around. So we've got medical providers telling women that they don't have enough Vit. D, Iron and Vit. K in their milk because it doesn't have as much as formula. This, as far as I can tell, seems to be a HUGE basis for vit. K shots at birth. Because colostrum doesn't contain as much vit. K as formula.

Jen