I wrote my letter and hand delivered it today.
How can I share it here??
It is 4 pages long and has attachments.
I could copy it and see how that works...here goes!
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I got a lot of info from mothering and breastfeeding books I own and from your posts on here that provided more info and emails from others in the community with reasons why to keep the group, why 12 mo+ children's moms needs BFing support too, etc...
I hope you like it!
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John M. Sernulka, President & CEO
Carroll Hospital Center
200 Memorial Avenue
Westminster, MD 21157
January 7, 2008
Dear Mr. Sernulka,
I’m writing with a sad and concerned heart in response to the recent activities involving the weekly community breastfeeding support group at Carroll Hospital Center. I’ve attended this weekly support group for two years now and in that time I’ve gained so much information, support and resources from the lactation consultant, Barbara Baldwin and the former lactation consultant Jane Holland as well as the many women who have made up the membership of this great group over the years!
I’m deeply disappointed and shocked about the recent banning of breastfeeding mothers from the breastfeeding support group based on the breastfeeding child’s age and now the news that the breastfeeding support group is canceled until further notice leaving no woman in Carroll County with breastfeeding support.
The Carroll Hospital breastfeeding support group was the first group as a new parent that I joined. I saw a flyer at my pediatrician’s office inviting all breastfeeding mothers to this weekly support group. I was very excited to get out of the house and actually be in a room with other mothers like me who were also breastfeeding and who also had questions and concerns while doing so. I’ve been attending this wonderful support group for 2 years now! It helped me through so many breastfeeding issues and my most difficult time when breastfeeding when my oldest son was 7 ½ months old. If it weren’t for the support group, I wouldn’t have figured out for a long time what was wrong with my son. Over a three week period, he began to lose weight and lost 12 ounces total! I was pregnant again and we figured out that my milk supply must have gone down. He was fussy and his diapers were drier than normal and his bowel movements coming less often. That together with the substantial weight loss helped us figure out what was going on. I worked closely with Barbara and Jane to take herbal supplements to try to boost my supply naturally while figuring out how to force a baby who had never been bottle-fed to take a bottle of supplemented formula. We also started a solid food diet at that time and previous to that point, he had only had breastmilk. Needless to say, this was all very difficult on me emotionally and on my son and our family. Through a week of syringing formula down his throat to get his weight back up, he finally took a bottle! I couldn’t have made it through this situation without the support of my weekly breastfeeding support group. After that point it was even more crucial that I follow my son’s weight each week to ensure we were giving him the right balance of continued breastfeeding and supplementation. After the baby was born, my son continued to breastfeed and the baby was breastfeeding, too. I needed the support of my fellow breastfeeding support group members and of Barbara and Jane even more! It was difficult at first to balance how to feed them both to avoid plugged ducts which I have battled with. Barbara was also instrumental in helping when I was given certain drugs or IV medications during CT scans or illness that had an unknown impact on breastfeeding safely when taking these drugs. Thanks to her, I learned (and so did the radiologist at the Imaging Center at Carroll Hospital) that the IV dye used during my CT scan did not require I “pump and dump” for 24 to 48 hours but instead was safe for me to continue breastfeeding!
I’ve spent the last two years praising the hospital for it’s breastfeeding support group and recommending their services to any woman I encountered in Carroll County through my many community ties to seek the great, professional assistance of our hospital’s lactation consultants and our hospital breastfeeding support group!
I plan to have more children and to add to my family. I have enjoyed having the breastfeeding support group on my calendar every Thursday. I have always seen it as my favorite place to be where I feel the most comfortable nursing my children and where I can get support and advice on breastfeeding from my peers and from Barbara, our only remaining LC. I would be greatly inconvenienced if I was not able to bring all of my children with me. Today both are still breastfeeding but one day they will wean. If they are not in school, I would need to bring them with me when bringing my next baby to breastfeeding support group. I was told in the last few days that if the group starts back up again, they won’t be allowing siblings to attend. As I recall, 99% of the time, we had no complaints of siblings attending group. There were a handful of occasions when older children were disruptive. I think the best way to handle that is to have Barbara first hand out guidelines letting the mothers who bring siblings know what behavior is expected of their older children and then to take that mother aside individually to address any concerns over that child’s behavior. Banning all siblings (most of whom are very well-behaved and obedient) is not the answer.
There are many alternatives to canceling the group to rectify the very old issue of space for the mothers and children in the breastfeeding support group. It is definitely no longer an issue since so many mothers were called months back and banned from attending the support group further dwindling the membership numbers down greatly. Then, another decision without any legitimate and sensible justification was recently made to ban all breastfeeding mothers who were nursing older babies and toddlers beyond the age of 12 months from the support group. There are many reasons continued breastfeeding beyond the first 12 months is greatly beneficial and recommended.
See Attachment A. Additionally, Maryland law prohibits anyone from preventing mothers from breastfeeding in a place they are authorized to be. The group never had an age limit when it began, so to impose one now is violating provision b of Maryland Law 20-801. See Attachment B.
All breastfeeding mothers need support! Mothers breastfeeding newborns, mothers breastfeeding 6 month olds that are just starting solid foods, as well as mothers breastfeeding older babies and toddlers, including mothers breastfeeding while pregnant! At any point during breastfeeding any age child, a problem can arise and mothers need each other and the support of a professional lactation consultant to help see them through those rough patches. There are 63 reasons I’ve found that I and others around me have needed the breastfeeding support from Carroll Hospital! See Attachment C.
You also cannot ignore the impact a mother nursing an older baby or toddler has on other nursing mothers of newborns and younger babies. This experience week after week of seeing a mother breastfeeding her older children gives mothers with younger babies the confidence that they too can make it to the next mark for them – the 3 month mark or the 6 month mark or the 12 month mark or even nursing up through 2 to 3 years of age or longer! I can’t tell you how many women have come up to me and thanked me for my words of experience and for just knowing me and how my breastfeeding both my now 29 month old and my 15 ½ month old has made a huge impact on their drive to continue breastfeeding and helped them with breastfeeding issues they wanted to know how other mothers got through.
Furthermore, it is worth knowing how long respectable physician and health organizations believe it is best to breastfeed children. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) together with the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) state that children should be breastfed exclusively (no supplementation of formula or solid foods) for the first 6 months of life and then should continue with supplementation beyond the first year and as long as mother and child desire. See Attachment D.
The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that instead of just continuing breastfeeding a minimum of one year that breastfeeding should continue a minimum of two years. See Attachment D.
The AAP and AAFP also strongly advise pediatricians and family doctors to promote and support breastfeeding enthusiastically, to promote hospital policies that facilitate breastfeeding utilizing support groups and lactation educators and lactation professionals in their communities. Ending the community support group indefinitely and limiting the support group to certain aged breastfed children goes against these recommendations. “The AAP identifies breastfeeding as the ideal method of feeding and nurturing infants and recognizes breastfeeding as primary in achieving optimal infant and child health, growth, and development. The AAP emphasizes the essential role of the pediatrician in promoting, protecting, and supporting breastfeeding”.
At the end of one of my last visits to the support group, I was asked where the mothers I refer to the support group (I am a childbirth educator and birth doula and friend to many nursing mothers in the county) have given birth. I was a bit perplexed and didn’t have an answer. I don’t ask these women where they have birthed or really care where they gave birth. The women I refer to Carroll hospital’s breastfeeding support group live in Carroll County. Carroll Hospital is the only hospital in this county with the only weekly breastfeeding support group until it was canceled and with professional lactation consultant help for ALL breastfeeding mothers (as is advertised on your web sites and flyers all over this community throughout pediatrician offices) See attached copies of your web pages. It should not, therefore, matter where any woman gives birth whether it be in California and she moves to Carroll County, or she decides to give birth at home or at a local birthing center or other area hospital. What matters is she lives in Carroll County and she is seeking local breastfeeding support.
It’s pretty hard to believe this all began when we asked for more space to hold the breastfeeding support group because we had so many mothers and children interested in breastfeeding support from other mothers in the group and from our lactation consultants. That’s a great problem to have! In the future if this problem arises again, instead of banning any mother from seeking breastfeeding support, I urge you to instead find a bigger room in the hospital to hold the support group in!
Thank you for reading this letter. Thank you for taking the time to care about me and my family. I hope you will resume support immediately at Carroll Hospital for all breastfeeding mothers without limitations of any kind!
Regards,
Jessica B. Groves
Mother of two breastfeeding boys
325 Brookwood Drive
Hampstead, Maryland 21074
cc: Linda Grogan
Attachment A
There are many reasons continued breastfeeding beyond the first 12 months is greatly beneficial and recommended:
1.Research shows that the fat and energy content of breastmilk actually increases after the first year providing breastfeeding children ages 12 to 24 months with these percentages of the following minimum daily requirements:
a.Energy 29%
b.Protein 43%
c.Calcium 36%
d.Vitamin A 75%
e.Folate 76%
f.Vitamin B12 94%
g.Vitamin C 60%
K. G. Dewey, "Nutrition, Growth, and Complementary Feeding of the Breastfed Infant," Pediatric Clinics of North America 48, no. 1 (February 2001): 87104.
2.Breastfeeding toddlers through illness ensures that the child is getting both fluids and vital nutrients to help him recover. Sick children are more likely to push away a cup of milk or water when they are feeling miserable, but will gladly snuggle up to their mother’s breast and get hydrated by breastfeeding when sick. The American Academy of Family Physicians stated recently in their position paper that weaning a child before the age of 2 increases their risk of illness!
3.Breastfed toddlers are physically healthier because the immunological benefits of breastfeeding actually increases during the second and third years of nursing. These antibodies in breastmilk that protect a newborn against pathogens, viruses, bacteria are still present in the milk of mothers breastfeeding their toddlers protecting against such infections and diseases like strep throat, pneumonia, E. coli, salmonella, influenza, rotavirus, rubella, mumps, measles, diabetes, meningitis and even many childhood cancers such as leukemia! This is true whether the child is breastfeeding at 3 months of age or at 3 years old!
A. S. Goldman et al., "Immunologic Components in Human Milk During the Second Year of Lactation," Acta Paediatrica Scandinavica 72, no. 3 (May 1983): 461462.
M. Hamosh, "Bioactive Factors in Human Milk," Pediatric Clinics of North America 48, no. 1 (February 2001): 6986.
J. K. Welsh and J. T. May, "Anti-Infective Properties of Breast Milk," Journal of Pediatrics 94, no. 1 (1979): 19.
4.Breastfed toddlers are much less likely to suffer from asthma and allergies.
L. A. Hanson et al., "Breastfeeding Protects Against Infections and Allergy," Breastfeeding Review 13 (November 1988): 1922.
5.Breastfeeding toddlers are emotionally healthier! Some worry that it will stunt the toddler’s independence when actually the opposite has been proven. Extended breastfeeding promotes a child’s independence and emotional development which comes from the deep-seated security which comes from breastfeeding. It gives the toddler comfort, support and security and those breastfeeding moments are a time of rest and a time to reconnect with the mother providing reassurance of your unconditional love. Then, they are off to go explore and play!
Jack Newman, MD, and Teresa Pitman, The Ultimate Breastfeeding Book of Answers: The Most Comprehensive Problem-Solving Guide to Breastfeeding from the Foremost Expert in North America (Roseville, CA: Prima Publishing, 2000).
6.Breastfeeding toddlers have a higher IQ and they have increased reading comprehension, math skills and scholastic ability even into adolescence. Their fine motor and language skills develop more quickly as a result of the effect breastfeeding has on the tongue, lips and jaw – our muscles used for speech!
L. J. Horwood and D. M. Fergusson, "Breastfeeding and Later Cognitive and Academic Outcomes," Pediatrics 101, no. 1 (January 1998): e9.
D. L. Johnson et al., "Breast feeding and Children's Intelligence," Psychological Reports 79 (December 1996): 11791185.
7.There are also many benefits for the mother of a nursing toddler:
a.Breastfeeding promotes the mother’s emotional well-being with the continued release or prolactin, a hormone which relieves stress and brings a sense of relaxation over the mother as she nurses.
b.Each time the mother experiences let-down when breastfeeding, oxytocin is released which causes the mother to have nurturing feelings and the desire to bond with her child.
c.Women who breastfeed for 24 months or longer have a 25% lower risk of developing breast cancer!
d.Women also can reduce their risk of developing Type II diabetes by 15% with every year of breastfeeding and women who breastfeed for at least two years reduce their rheumatoid arthritis risk by 50%.
e.Breastfeeding continues to make parenting easier by taming a toddler’s tantrum and by convincing a sleepy but resistant toddler to nap. Nursing also soothes their gums while teething.
C. C. Tay, "Mechanisms Controlling Lactational Infertility," Journal of Human Lactation 7, no. 1 (March 1991): 1518.
K. N. Danforth, et al., "Breastfeeding and Risk of Ovarian Cancer in Two Prospective Cohorts," Cancer Causes Control 18, no. 5 (June 2007): 517523. Epub (21 Apr 2007).
K. E. Brock et al., "Sexual, Reproductive and Contraceptive Risk Factors for Carcinoma-in-Situ of the Uterine Cervix in Sydney," Medical Journal of Australia 150, no. 3 (6 February 1989): 125130.
P. A. Newcomb et al., "Lactation and a Reduced Risk of Premenopausal Breast Cancer," New England Journal of Medicine 330, no. 2 (1994): 8187.
H. Furberg et al., "Lactation and Breast Cancer Risk," International Journal of Epidemiology 28, no. 3 (1999): 396402.
A. M. Stuebe et al., "Duration of Lactation and Incidence of Type 2 Diabetes," JAMA 294, no. 20 (23 November 2005): 26012610.
E. W. Karlson et al., "Do Breast-feeding and Other Reproductive Factors Influence Future Risk of Rheumatoid Arthritis - Results from the Nurses' Health Study," Arthritis & Rheumatism 50, no. 11 (November 2004): 34583467.
Attachment B
Breastfeeding Law
Maryland Law 20-801
(a)A mother may breast-feed her child in any public or private location in which the mother and child are authorized to be.
(b)A person may not restrict or limit the right of a mother to breast-feed her child.
Attachment C
All breastfeeding mothers need support! A few examples of the problems encountered while breastfeeding any aged child are listed below:
1.Engorged breasts
2.Late onset of milk production
3.Sore nipples
4.Breast pain
5.Leaking milk
6.Let-down difficulty
7.Milk appearance
8.Difficult latch-on (flat, dimpled, inverted nipples)
9.Fatigue and even depression
10.Sleepy baby
11.Baby’s bowel movements
12.Jaundiced baby
13.Baby’s refusal to nurse
14.Baby sucking problems
15.Fussy baby and excessive night waking
16.Underfeeding and weight loss
17.Breastfeeding after breast surgery
18.Nursing an adopted baby
19.Relactation
20.Nursing mom with medical conditions (diabetes, herpes, epilepsy, thyroid issues)
21.Pumping exclusively
22.Premature babies
23.Nursing more than one – multiples or tandem nursing younger and older babies and toddlers
24.Nursing babies with birth defects, developmental or neurological problems
25.Breastfeeding and cosleeping with your baby
26.Breastfeeding a sick baby
27.Sick mother brestfeeding
28.Problems with milk supply
29.How often to feed baby and how long to feed them and whether to nurse from both breasts or one breast each feeding
30.Baby’s need for dietary supplements
31.Mother’s nutritional needs to promote nutrition breastmilk
32.Plugged ducts
33.Mastitis (breast infection)
34.Breast abscess
35.Breast lumps
36.Overabundance of milk
37.Lopsided breasts
38.Mother having nausea or headaches when breastfeeding
39.Baby spitting up or vomiting
40.Baby pulling off the breast
41.Colicky baby
42.Baby having reflux issues
43.Breastfeeding and traveling
44.Working mothers breastfeeding
45.Expressing milk, use of a pump, bottle system
46.Introducing a bottle
47.Nipple confusion
48.Issues when baby and mother are separated
49.Starting solid foods
50.Breastfeeding as contraception
51.Fertility while breastfeeding
52.Trying to conceive while breastfeeding
53.Baby slowly gaining weight
54.Baby only wanting to nurse from one side
55.Breastfeeding a teething baby or toddler
56.Transitioning to table food
57.Biting
58.Nursing during pregnancy
59.Tandem nursing (more than one baby nursing)
60.Toddler’s diet while nursing
61.Breastfeeding and mother’s medications
62.Weaning
63.Nursing a child later who previously weaned especially after the birth of a new baby in the family
At any point during breastfeeding whether in the newborn weeks or a nursing toddler age 2 or 3, mothers can experience many of these breastfeeding issues and they therefore need the support of other mothers and the support of a professional each week to see them through!
Attachment D
AAFP Policy Statement on Breastfeeding
”Breastfeeding is the physiological norm for both mothers and their children. The AAFP recommends that all babies, with rare exceptions, be breastfed and/or receive expressed human milk exclusively for about the first six months of life. Breastfeeding should continue with the addition of complementary foods throughout the second half of the first year. Breastfeeding beyond the first year offers considerable benefits to both mother and child, and should continue as long as mutually desired. Family physicians should have the knowledge to promote, protect, and support breastfeeding.”
AAFP Breastfeeding Position Paper
AAP Policy Statement on Breastfeeding
“Exclusive breastfeeding is ideal nutrition and sufficient to support optimal growth and development for approximately the first 6 months after birth. Infants weaned before 12 months of age should not receive cow's milk feedings but should receive iron-fortified infant formula. Gradual introduction of iron-enriched solid foods in the second half of the first year should complement the breast milk diet. It is recommended that breastfeeding continue for at least 12 months, and thereafter for as long as mutually desired.”
PEDIATRICS Vol. 100 No. 6 December 1997, pp. 1035-1039
WHO Policy on Breastfeeding:
WHO recommends exclusive breastfeeding for 6 months is the optimal way of feeding infants. Thereafter infants should receive complementary foods with continued breastfeeding up to 2 years of age or beyond.
WHO Nutrition: Infant and Young Child
I hope your SIL has good luck with the twins!
