To improve breastfeeding rates we need to drop the "all or nothing" message - Page 3

[smeep]

I didn't read the whole thread, but based on the title I have to say what I do...

I talk about the risks of NOT breastfeeding - it hits home faster and more efficiently. However, I do not make it an "all or nothing" thing because then many women get frustrated and go for nothing and turn a blind eye to the risks. Pumping for work is probably the situation where I get the most women thinking it's all or nothing and considering nothing. I tell them about the risks of not breastfeeding exclusively and the risks of not breastfeeding at all. Then I tell them that the risks of giving them part formula part breastmilk are significant, but much, much less than the risks of no breastmilk at all - so if they're going to make the nothing choice if given an "all or nothing" decision, I would rather they choose some than none. But I in no way encourage them to only do some. I just tell them that IF they are going to choose nothing if I gave them choices on the extreme, then they might as well do both - I'd much rather that.

[siobhang]

I think there is a lot of "all or nothing" in the hard core bf communities.

I cringe when I hear a mom say "I failed at breastfeeding, I only breast fed for 3 months. " like if you don't breastfeed for at least a year, it doesn't count. Or if you are unable to exclusively breastfeed, it doesn't count. Or unable to feed at the breast, but use pumped bottles, etc etc etc.

I think we do need to recognize that there are a number of breastfeeding moms who do turn bfing into a bit of a competition. That there is ONE RIGHT WAY to breastfeed, and everything else doesn't "count".

Me, I am a glass half full person. I am thrilled that 70% of women initiate breastfeeding in the hospital, despite no maternity leave and some very anti-breastfeeding policies by hospitals. Sure, the rates drop off, but initiation is one of the hardest battles to fight, and we won that one.

Lets work on getting the continuation rates higher. If that means that a woman needs the option to supplement on occasion, then lets help her supplement in ways that won't destroy her supply or sabatogue her breastfeeding relationship. And help her recognize the signs of dairy intolerance, real low supply, how common messages about sleeping through the night are harmful, the reality of pumping output to actual supply, etc etc.

For example, I spoke to a nursing mom yesterday who really didn't know that there is no relationship between what you pump and your supply. She had been judging her supply based on her pumping. When I told her that I tandem nursed my kids, and they gained insane amounts of weight but I could only pump a few ounces, she had a lightbulb moment - "wait so maybe I don't have low supply?" (that combined with a comment about "yeah, during the growth spurts, my babies nursed all day and night too. Too bad that the body needs those signals to make more milk - it can be a real PITA!" when she was complaining about not having enough milk).

Telling this mom, btw, that supplementing is wrong or harmful would go over like a lead balloon - she'd be rightly insulted. This is her third child and she supplemented all of them. However, helping her to see how to improve her milk supply so she doesn't NEED to supplement actually seems to work a bit better.

[BiscuitBaby]

I think the formula companies make it clear that you can do both. I got a pamphlet from Similac through my health insurance. : Inside it asks what do you first plan to feed your baby? Breast milk only, Both breast milk and formula, Formula only or Not sure. So they get that idea to pregnant women that you can do both. Of course there are always well meaning family members and relatives who say a bottle once in a while won't hurt.

Personally, I am pissed off at my health insurance fro sending me this crap. I said I would participate in a Healthy Pregnancy Program and told them I only breastfeed.

[MaryJaneLouise]

Originally Posted by BiscuitBaby

Personally, I am pissed off at my health insurance fro sending me this crap. I said I would participate in a Healthy Pregnancy Program and told them I only breastfeed.

:

[bullfrog]

I honestly have to say that my position is that women should breastfeed their babies if they are able, and I have information and advice in that area.

If they are unable there is plenty of support for formula feeding. I don't feel the need to learn about formula feeding enough to 'support' a woman in formula feeding. That doesn't automatically mean that I think any less of a woman who formula feeds - I simply am not the person to ask for advice on FF. I'm a Lactivist - meaning that I support breastfeeding - I know about breastfeeding exclusively. I know nothing about formula feeding.

I know a few things about the formula companies though .

[Lucy In the Sky]

I absolutely do think she should have mentioned that supplementing may be necessary if we can't solve the problem in other ways. I believe women have 3 choices, providing breastmilk exclusively, forumla feeding exclusively or they can attempt to combine both (which may or may not work). I didn't understand this before when my biggest supporters were breastfeeding advocates. I thought I had to breastfeed exclusively and if I didn't do everything the optimal way, I would fail to breastfeed and I would end up on formula totally. So I don't agree that mothers know about the choices that are available to them.

Yes yes YES!!!

I wrote one of the original posts in the evils of formula thread that sparked this spin off discussion.

My main point in that previous thread which may have been lost in my long winded personal story is that when you take a hard line and actually call formula dangerous, you're going to discourage women like myself who desperately want to breastfeed from actually supplementing when medically necessary whilst continuing to nurse and instead force us to decide between nursing exclusively (which isn't working) or weaning entirely.

I thank God every day that I finally listened to my own gut on this issue and decided to continue breastfeeding and providing extra calories with suplemented formula. I am 12 week post partum now and my opened and infected c section wound is finally turning a corner in the healing process. Up until recently I was at about 60% bf and 40% forumla, but due to my increasing health and not being so stressed out from PPD and forcing myself to BF exclusively when it wasn't working, I have slowly been able to increase my supply so that I am at about 80% BF and 20% formula; I hope that at some point I'll be breastfeeding exclusively.

If the goal is to help women breastfeed their babies, then each woman's situation must be dealt with individually instead of the one size fits all approach. I find it ironic that after all the hysteria I encountered from LLL and lactation consultants about supplementation being a slippery slope, it was actually my decision to supplement with formula that allowed me to preserve my nursing relationship.

Lactivism as I see it personally should involve making the world a better place for nursing moms, ie changing social norms concerning public nursing and pumping at work and increasing maternity leave, etc. instead of harping on the evils of formula.

[MaryJaneLouise]

Originally Posted by Lucy In the Sky

I am 12 week post partum now and my opened and infected c section wound is finally turning a corner in the healing process. Up until recently I was at about 60% bf and 40% forumla, but due to my increasing health and not being so stressed out from PPD and forcing myself to BF exclusively when it wasn't working, I have slowly been able to increase my supply so that I am at about 80% BF and 20% formula; I hope that at some point I'll be breastfeeding exclusively.

to you! What a tough fighter you are.

[Lucy In the Sky]

Originally Posted by MaryJaneLouise

to you! What a tough fighter you are.

Thanks. I am very happy and proud that I fought so hard. I felt like I was up against LLL/the Lactation Consultants and on the other end of the spectrum, my well intentioned but misinformed mom and friends who kept telling me to wean-- it was like I was is a dark room all alone trying to find the light. I feel very very fortunate that it has worked out. It's not perfect, and I truly wish I was at that 100% bf mark right now, but I feel blessed for what I do have. Sometimes things don't work out perfectly, but that doesn't mean they can't be OK. This is a message I wish was sent more often.

I also want to mention that LLL was wonderful in terms of helping me with my son's initial latch, answering questions I had about bfing that I had been misinformed about (eg frequency of feedings, when to use a pacifier if at all, what to expect re peeing and pooping, etc.) They were so nice and so accomodating, even coming over to my house to help me personally. It's a shame that an organization with so many positive attributes and such a sincere desire to help has a side to it that is ultimately undermining.