My new baby experience and "The Bag"

[Ivan's Mom]

I just had baby #2 in January. Anyway, I was disturbed by how many times I was offered formula

Before the birth, the appointment scheduler at the midwife office offered me free formula. Also, I was brought "The Bag" three separate times in the hospital!!! I had to refuse it each time and had to explain my refusal to each person who brought it. They would not take "no thanks" as enough of a refusal.

Poor babies whose mamas fall for this trap.

[gcgirl]

I received an Enfamil "breastfeeding" bag from my OB's office. Um, yeah right. Chock full of formula and coupons, with the Enfamil logo all over it. But they included a couple of disposable breast shields, a water bottle and an excerpt from The Nursing Mother's Companion, so it's okay.

[MaryJaneLouise]

Hey, let's give our post open heart surgery patients Big Mac coupons too!

[mytwogirls]

Hmmm...maybe I am one of the very few women who did not receive anything formula at all, from my OB or at the hospital. After I delivered, they asked if I was breastfeeding and then brought me a breastfeeding bag filled with goodies I could use. It was really cool. I did see the formula bag from another lady who had a baby though, not nearly as pretty as mine I might add..haha.

[rmzbm]

All 4 of mine, same thing...you could "pick" the breastfeeding or FFing bag. I always, of course, took the BFing bag. The ONLY (and I mean ONLY) things NOT FF related was the Lansinoh 2 pack of nursing pads (thanks! ) and the advertising for mainstream parenting magazines.

[rrs]

Originally Posted by mytwogirls

Hmmm...maybe I am one of the very few women who did not receive anything formula at all, from my OB or at the hospital. After I delivered, they asked if I was breastfeeding and then brought me a breastfeeding bag filled with goodies I could use. It was really cool. I did see the formula bag from another lady who had a baby though, not nearly as pretty as mine I might add..haha.

I didn't receive anything formula related either. I had a wonderful hospital birth, Carter nursed right after birth. He was NEVER taken away from me, I was with him 100% of the time. An IBCLC saw me the 4 hours after the birth, despite the fact that we had no problems (and she would have seen me sooner if I had problems). She also saw me before I left. I felt the LC and all of the nurses were EXTREMELY supportive.

[LeighB]

Originally Posted by rrs

I didn't receive anything formula related either. I had a wonderful hospital birth, Carter nursed right after birth. He was NEVER taken away from me, I was with him 100% of the time. An IBCLC saw me the 4 hours after the birth, despite the fact that we had no problems (and she would have seen me sooner if I had problems). She also saw me before I left. I felt the LC and all of the nurses were EXTREMELY supportive.

Me too. I was encouraged to breastfeed as soon as the baby was put on my chest after birth. They let her latch on before doing any tests, or full cleanings.

[homewithtwinsmama]

when I was in the NICU I had to beat the nurses off with sticks trying to give me those darn bags every day. I would repeatedly say I didn't want it, you are violating the WHO Code and on and on and they would look at me like I was nuts. I wouldn't even use the free Enfamil cooler bag to bring my expressed bm for my baby and bought my own to use. I wasn't going to walk through the hospital with my breastmilk as a walking advertisement for them.

Did you know that the formula companies send young hot men to the NICU with freebies for the nurses. I saw them over and over and commented how they must send the hot chick reps to the more masculine oriented departments like cardiology or the like. My lead nurse laughed and said they have ALWAYS had hot young guy reps and she too figured it was because the NICU staff is 95% female.

[GooeyRN]

The first hospital I delivered at took the formula out of the bag before giving it to me. The second hospital I delivered gave me both a Similac AND an Enfamil bag. I said "But I am exclusively bfing and don't need formula, thanks anyway." They said there is breastfeeding stuff in there, too. There was a book on how to wean completely by 2 weeks old. Oh, and some ice packs. Thats it for breastfeeding supplies. There were a bunch of formula coupons and formula. The bags are nice, especially the Similac one since the emblem can be removed. I use that one since it does not advertise since I removed the emblem. The Emfamil bag is really nice too, but I can't use it in good faith since I don't know how to remove the emblem without destroying the bag.

[HappyFox05]

Originally Posted by LeighB

I was encouraged to breastfeed as soon as the baby was put on my chest after birth. They let her latch on before doing any tests, or full cleanings.

Me too. But our "breastfeeding" bag still had similac in it.

[pumpkinyum]

Originally Posted by GooeyRN

The first hospital I delivered at took the formula out of the bag before giving it to me. The second hospital I delivered gave me both a Similac AND an Enfamil bag. I said "But I am exclusively bfing and don't need formula, thanks anyway." They said there is breastfeeding stuff in there, too. There was a book on how to wean completely by 2 weeks old. Oh, and some ice packs. Thats it for breastfeeding supplies. There were a bunch of formula coupons and formula. The bags are nice, especially the Similac one since the emblem can be removed. I use that one since it does not advertise since I removed the emblem. The Emfamil bag is really nice too, but I can't use it in good faith since I don't know how to remove the emblem without destroying the bag.

Are you serious? There was REALLY a book about weaning by 2 weeks???? what year was this?

[llamalluv]

Originally Posted by GooeyRN

The Emfamil bag is really nice too, but I can't use it in good faith since I don't know how to remove the emblem without destroying the bag.

How about using fusible interfacing to create an iron on patch with the BF symbol?

[HarperRose]

Originally Posted by MaryJaneLouise

Hey, let's give our post open heart surgery patients Big Mac coupons too!

Funny you mention this because my dad just got out of a quadruple bypass this afternoon.

He'd love a big mac, I'm sure!

[Meiri]

When DD was born, I got their version of the breastfeeding bag, including some small samples of powdered formula and the interestingly excerpted Nursing Mother's Companion. If memory serves, it was the Peter Rabbit bag.

When I got rid of it soon after, donated to a local thrift store, I permanent markered over the brandname inside, and added that Peter had been breastfed.

[Bekka]

Originally Posted by homewithtwinsmama

I saw them over and over and commented how they must send the hot chick reps to the more masculine oriented departments like cardiology or the like.

Never had thought about it, but I worked as a tech in cardiology and while there were PLENTY of young male reps, I think it probably was weighted (heavily?) in the direction of female reps. hmmm

[MilkTrance]

This is why I think that public healthcare, in general, is superior in support of breastfeeding. They don't have to pander (as much) to formula companies.

It is NOWHERE NEAR perfect, but I'm SO glad the hospital I gave birth in was very pro-BF. I hope to eventually see all hospitals operate that way under health laws in every country supporting breastfeeding.

[acannon]

The one I went to was pretty AP friendly compared to other places (I had a homebirth but I had to transfer because I tore.) They didn't give him the Hep B shot, they encouraged breastfeeding and had a LC who saw me, they didn't give me any formula or coupons, and that first night when I couldn't take care of him because I was still really woozy, they gave me a choice of giving him forumula out of a cup or out of a bottle, which I thought was awesome. I didn't like, though, how they'd keep taking him out of the room to give him blood tests and how I wasn't "allowed" to sleep in bed with him, but that's a pretty good start. Most of the nurses I had thought my having a homebirth was pretty cool, too.

[Ubelle]

Originally Posted by MaryJaneLouise

Hey, let's give our post open heart surgery patients Big Mac coupons too!

You aren't too far off - My father who had two heart attacks a few years back (he's doing very well now) goes to a support group with my mom for Heart attack patients - Where pfizer was distributing pens, keychains, magnets, pads of paper etc. with the vigra logo all over them.

People with heart conditions Cannot take that medicine.

So I have heard that the drug companies can no longer have freebies at the hospital, they can pay for lunches etc (like at conferences) either. Not sure if this is just that hopital or all over now.

Wonder if we will move towards that with formula?

I got a breastfeeding bag (with medela pump parts), lanolin, breast pads hmm can't remember what else - but I also got the breastfeeding formula bag, it was better than I thought only 4 single serve formula powders (I threw them away) the book excerpt, which was nice, Ice packs, breast pads I have used them - but I also knew better and threw away all the formula breastfeeding liturature - describing how to supplement (thanks to the mama's here) and i don't use the bag because I won't advertise for them - but the nurses never pushed the bag on me they just offered it, I took it since it did have items I could use (ice packs)

[acannon]

Originally Posted by Ubelle

since it did have items I could use (ice packs)

Did the BFing bag have ice packs, too, or just the FFing one?

[Da WIC Lady]

Originally Posted by acannon

The one I went to was pretty AP friendly compared to other places (I had a homebirth but I had to transfer because I tore.) They didn't give him the Hep B shot, they encouraged breastfeeding and had a LC who saw me, they didn't give me any formula or coupons, and that first night when I couldn't take care of him because I was still really woozy, they gave me a choice of giving him forumula out of a cup or out of a bottle, which I thought was awesome. I didn't like, though, how they'd keep taking him out of the room to give him blood tests and how I wasn't "allowed" to sleep in bed with him, but that's a pretty good start. Most of the nurses I had thought my having a homebirth was pretty cool, too.

They gave me the "breastfeeding" formula bag too. Called it a "goody bag". When I told the nurse to take out any formula in their breastfeeding bag she looked at me like I was nuts and asked me if I was sure I didn't want it. I also caught grief from the night nurse who came in while I was sleeping with Lil in the bed with me saying anyone could just come in and take her and I'd never know or that she could roll out of the bed and die. That was the night nobody could stay in the room with me and Lil was rooming in against hospital policy because I was the only adult in the room. If I hadn't been half asleep when she came in and tried to take Lil out of my arms to do vitals I would've had a snappier comeback than "This is how we'll be sleeping at home" She seemed to be pretty knowledgeable and otherwise supportive about AP practices, but it was all coming out in a really sarcastic tone that made me want to choke her. Like how we were talking about extended nursing and child lead weaning and she kept talking about Europe and how in the US it's just not done and how she BF her daughter till she was 5, then acted like I wouldn't or couldn't do the same because I had a part time job. : Talk about your mixed messages. Though she was a walking billboard for mixed messages. A white nursery nurse with ratty dreadlocks talking out of both sides of her mouth when it comes to breastfeeding and expecting me to respect her "professional " opinion. You would think hospitals would have hygiene standards for their employees. This woman looked like she got plucked out of a Rainbow gathering and thrown into scrubs, hemp and wood bead necklace, shells in the hair, and all. Not that I have a problem with the Rainbow kids, but they're not exactly the picture of professionalism.

In any case, I'm glad there are some hospitals with staff that have a clue out there. I just wish I had found one of them.