As a Lactivist, would you ever recommend supplementation and how? - Page 2

[*Aimee*]

LLL recommended that I supplement. I'd seen 3 different LC's and 2 dr's who all said I had insufficient glandular tissue. I thought they were all just trying to get rid of me until I realized he just wasn't getting fed. It turned out after a 45 min. nursing session with his perfect latch he got 5 grams. I'm able to get about an oz into him on a good session every 3 hours or so. I pump every 2 hours with a medical grade pump, use an sns, still never got anymore more milk. I went through this same thing with my first son too. I blamed it on them being born early (4 weeks and 3 weeks) and jaundiced. Turns out they were so severely jaundiced (levels of 20 and 22) and had to be hospitalized because I wasn't making enough colostrum to flush out the bili.

Now I breastfeed my son and then give him formula. I have a friend who pumps and gives us what she can, but its not much. I'm just so grateful my sons are both alive, healthy, and thriving, and I finally know why I can't provide for them. Now with my next baby we'll supplement from the beginning and avoid the hospital stays and dehydration, and iv's.

Despite feeding both my sons formula I'm very much a lactivist. I share my story but because of everything I've been through I'm a great resource for my friends that need help or advice and I always recommend breastfeeding

A baby needs to be fed, period.

[MarcyC]

Aimee...we have very similar experiences!

[knowerofnada]

Very, very rarely -- but can't say "never".

[bandgeek]

Just a question...

Why is it that for ages, more experienced women were the go-to for breastfeeding advice and now we are no longer "qualified" to hand out advice? I'm truly having a hard time wrapping my head around this. I understand that not every experienced woman is going to have great advice. My mom nursed 4 kids and still didn't "get" a lot of the issues that some women have. She had no experience with fixing the problems so she couldn't give advice on them.

But I however have been through almost everything and have *survived* everything and I know that I'm more knowledgable that some IBCLC's. There are some great ones, but some bad ones too. If a friend is struggling and I have the knowledge that wil help her, what good am I doing to withhold it and send her off to an LC who may or may not be one of the good ones?

[ccohenou]

Because I may not understand all the underlying medical issues, and I'm not qualified or licensed to give medical advice. It could be serious, deadly business to tell someone not to supplement if their baby is really starving, and I don't want to be in that business unless I am fully qualified and have a full understanding of ALL relevant issues. I don't believe that personal experience is a good substitute for hundreds or thousands of hours of supervised clinical experience.

But, this is where "sharing information" rather than "giving advice" can be very helpful. I can tell anyone what has worked for me or other mothers, what research suggests, what alternative approaches *might* be appropriate, without bringing possible unqualified medical advice into the picture.

[mytwogirls]

Jumping in here, I would also recommend a lactation specialist or someone who is VERY knowing in the area. I know quite a bit of general knowledge of breast feeding, but thankfully my two girls had no problem latching on or gaining weight or really any issues. I would encourage her to see someone before I would say "Oh, just get a bottle."

[bandgeek]

Originally Posted by ccohenou

Because I may not understand all the underlying medical issues, and I'm not qualified or licensed to give medical advice. It could be serious, deadly business to tell someone not to supplement if their baby is really starving, and I don't want to be in that business unless I am fully qualified and have a full understanding of ALL relevant issues. I don't believe that personal experience is a good substitute for hundreds or thousands of hours of supervised clinical experience.

But, this is where "sharing information" rather than "giving advice" can be very helpful. I can tell anyone what has worked for me or other mothers, what research suggests, what alternative approaches *might* be appropriate, without bringing possible unqualified medical advice into the picture.

See, I'm assuming that the baby would be seeing a doctor for the issues and that the purpose of the more experienced mama would be to help the other mama supplement without ruin her bf'ing relationship.

I think if you believe that no baby should ever be supplemented then yeah, you shouldn't be handing out advice. But if the doc says supplement and you believe he's right but want to make sure the mama can do it and still nurse, I don't see why you should pass on giving advice.

I also think in most cases it's not a medical issue, but rather just an issue than can be fixed with education, like if the mama thinks she has to stick to a 4 hour schedule...well, that's not rocket science and handing that sort of problem over to a doctor is just asking for trouble.

I don't know, I just think women should be able to trust each other for advice about nursing and 2 women trying to figure out what to do about a FTT baby should be smart enough to know that the baby should also be checked out by a doctor.

[That Is Nice]

I'd consider myself a lactivist. I'd understand supplementation with formula if the baby were extremely low birth weight, was in intensive care, jaundiced, having sucking or latching problems due to medical reasons, and of course if the mom had some medical reason she could not breastfeed, or if the medical reason made formula a better choice (there are some very rare cases of this).

With that said, I would still strongly, strongly advocate working with a lactation consultant, La Leche League, nurses, the pediatrician or holistic health practitioner, and using anything and everything available to increase the amount of breastmilk the baby received.

I overcame huge breastfeeding issues and stuck with it after wanting to quit so many times. It was worth the struggle and it was indeed a struggle. I supplemented but we were 100% breastmilk by about a month. I count it among the best things I've ever accomplished.

[Ellien C]

I'll throw out another circumstance from my own experience. I consider myself a lactivist, I've no medical training, didn't do LLL, worked full-time with a babe in day care at 6 months and mother-led weaned same babe at well over 4 years old.

When my DD was 9 months old I had to travel overnight on business. It was a trip I was looking forward to and wanted to go on. I wasn't sleeping very much at night, was exhausted from DH's foot surgery and recovery and had used up my stash of pumped milk. The idea of adding EXTRA pumping sessions while I was at home to get ready for the trip was simply unthinkable. I didn't want to spend time hooked up to the PIS, I wanted to cradle my babe, put a few dishes in the dishwasher and freakin' sleep. Get up early? I could barely make it to work on time as it was. Pump more at work? When do I work? Wake up in the night? MORE? There was just no time in the measly 2 hours between when I got home from work (6 pm) and when I fell asleep exhaused (8 pm) to pump again.

When I relieved myself of the burden of "never giving formula," I really felt much better. I lowered that standard. Baby took formula for the days I was away. I came back with some more pumped milk and she went on to nurse for years - sometimes with formula for trips and sometimes formula when I stopped pumping during the day (around 10 months).

I don't know that I recommend this specifically to a particular person, but I have posted this personal story a few times on MDC when other mothers were struggling with pumping enough for an overnight trip.

[That Is Nice]

subbing.

[Ellien C]

I'm going to recast that too and say that I "chose" to travel overnight. I could have gotten out of that trip but it was a conference a 90-minute plane ride away and I really wanted to go. I wanted a whole night in a hotel room or uninterrupted sleep. For me it was about balance. I took the trip for me and for me work.

But because of that, I got to be a mommy-mentor for a business colleague of mine. A few years later I sat in her hotel room with her while she pumped. We are great friends now and I can say that experience was more "bonding" for us than any executive golf-outing - he, he!

It was a good thing to have done. I don't regret the trip at all. It gave DH and baby some good time together as well.