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And we wonder why more women dont nurse....  

post #1 of 39
5/21/08 at 2:06am
Thread Starter 
I was at the doctors today with my sister. She is 29 weeks pregnant. I was nursing my 2 year old in the mei tai. The nurse had been talking to me about the MT. How she has a 14 week old baby at home and lalala...anyway she finally notices I am nursing. "you still have milk?

"why wouldnt I?"
" I did not know you produce milk for so long, why has it not dried up?"
" Seriously? "
" I never nursed"
So I went on to explain that milk is produced on a supply and demand system that as long as she nursed I would continue to make milk.

The nurse also wanted to know why I choose not to formula feed and I was able to tell her about the WONDERUL benefits that mommas milk has that formula does not have. I think she truley did not know based on some of her questions. Do they not teach anything about lactation in school?

I was also able to pass out several "mothering" that I had in the diaper bag to the nurse and the other pregnant lady in the office. My sister and I had been debating the merit of some of the articles.
post #2 of 39
5/21/08 at 2:40am
Surely she was not an RN - maybe she was an LPN. Still, if this was an OB's office, she is seriously undereducated on the topic.
post #3 of 39
5/21/08 at 2:43am
post #4 of 39
5/21/08 at 3:14am
i think i would mention it to the ob. you don't have to call her out by name but something along the lines of "how much education does your office staff have about the benefits of nursing?" and go from there.....
post #5 of 39
5/21/08 at 8:54am
Holy crap. I can't believe that someone so ignorant of the basic functions of lactation actually works in an OB office.
post #6 of 39
5/21/08 at 9:24am
Yikes, I pray that she wasn't a RN. That would make me very sad for my profession. Geez....how do you not know??!!
post #7 of 39
5/21/08 at 11:32am
wow
Well, you put a worm in her ear anyway, so thats I hope she's the proactive type that will research what she just learned and spread it around :
post #8 of 39
5/21/08 at 11:47am
Oh My God! I work as an RN in my OB's office and I can ASSURE you we were taught about lactation in school. However, there are nurses out there who just don't either get it or "forget" what they learned in school. I would be scared to go back to that clinic. When I worked L&D I was asked by a nurse if I HAD to drink only milk so I would produce milk? I just rolled my eyes and walked away.
post #9 of 39
5/21/08 at 11:51am
Well, at least she learned something.
post #10 of 39
5/21/08 at 11:55am
Quote:
Originally Posted by honeybunch2k8 View Post
Well, at least she learned something.
true!
post #11 of 39
5/21/08 at 12:34pm
Good job! Nursing in front of people, speaking up for it, and passing out info! You rock. Every opportunity for education is great -- every chance to get the message out could make a difference. Especially someone who interacts with pregnant women! Yay!
post #12 of 39
5/21/08 at 3:07pm
Are you sure she was a nurse at all, or just someone up front in scrubs/nursing gear? Sometimes offices will have assistants who look like nurses but dont really have medical training, just "medical office" training, and in that case it would make sense that she didnt know much about breastfeeding.


Katherine
post #13 of 39
5/21/08 at 3:44pm
Thread Starter 
I think she was nurse bc she was in scrubs. She took my sisters blood and did a blood pressure on her. She was in the lab not in an OB's office though.

Even if she was a tech though. This is the biggest maternity hospital in the area.
post #14 of 39
5/21/08 at 4:20pm
I am just completing my BScN (bachelor of science in nursing) and honestly, there isn't much about lactation in the curriculum, and the stuff that is taught is minimal, and as everyone knows, you don't remember/retain everything you learned in school...many of my classmates that are not mothers have very little knowledge about breastfeeding...

Great job, OP!
post #15 of 39
5/21/08 at 4:29pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by fullofquestions View Post
I think she was nurse bc she was in scrubs. She took my sisters blood and did a blood pressure on her. She was in the lab not in an OB's office though.

Even if she was a tech though. This is the biggest maternity hospital in the area.
If she took blood then she must at least have phlebotomy training- which is something like a 6m course?

You don't know if this particular woman regularly works in OB though- she could be a temp, working for a temp agency, filling in for the day because the regular tech is out sick.
post #16 of 39
5/21/08 at 4:51pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by fullofquestions View Post
I was at the doctors today with my sister. She is 29 weeks pregnant. I was nursing my 2 year old in the mei tai. The nurse had been talking to me about the MT. How she has a 14 week old baby at home and lalala...anyway she finally notices I am nursing. "you still have milk?

"why wouldnt I?"
" I did not know you produce milk for so long, why has it not dried up?"
" Seriously? "
" I never nursed"
So I went on to explain that milk is produced on a supply and demand system that as long as she nursed I would continue to make milk.

The nurse also wanted to know why I choose not to formula feed and I was able to tell her about the WONDERUL benefits that mommas milk has that formula does not have. I think she truley did not know based on some of her questions. Do they not teach anything about lactation in school?

I was also able to pass out several "mothering" that I had in the diaper bag to the nurse and the other pregnant lady in the office. My sister and I had been debating the merit of some of the articles.
pediatricians don't learn about lactation unless they take it upon themselves. i remember reading that in a doctor sears book.
post #17 of 39
5/21/08 at 5:09pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by mytwogirls View Post
However, there are nurses out there who just don't either get it or "forget" what they learned in school.
They might have really forgotten. They all have to take algebra too and the nursing students in my chemistry class couldn't remember how to find x in a problem like 25=x+17. (And they'd had algebra like 3 months earlier.)
post #18 of 39
5/21/08 at 5:13pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Astoria View Post
Good job! Nursing in front of people, speaking up for it, and passing out info! You rock. Every opportunity for education is great -- every chance to get the message out could make a difference. Especially someone who interacts with pregnant women! Yay!
: WTG mama!
post #19 of 39
5/21/08 at 5:23pm
When I was pregnant with my first, they barely gave you a chance to decid. At your first prenatal, they bombarded me with a big baby bag full of fomula stuff and "as good as mamas milk" articles almost as if assuming you were not breastfeeding. And of course at 16 I fell for it, figured they knew best and used formula..formula that made my child sick..then the peds turn around and say he has reflux...
post #20 of 39
5/21/08 at 5:35pm
I had something somewhat similar happen to me at my ob's office. A physicians assistant and nurse saw me when I had mastitis and both were not very educated in breastfeeding and both admittedly said to me, I could never do it. I didn't even know how to react, and felt pretty crummy so just left shaking my head.
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