Some background info: I live on an island in Southeast Alaska. We only have one pediatric office with two physicians on the island, and travel is expensive (no roads on or off). I am the leader of the local breastfeeding support group (I actually started it just this year to help offset our lack of resources).
The problem: every single woman who has come to the group or asked me for help has received some form of REALLY bad advice from these pediatricians. Examples - you have to wean after a year, cow's milk allergy means you should switch to formula, infants under 4 months can't have food allergies, toddlers receive no benefit from nursing, start cereal early so they sleep, etc. Anyway, several women have been pressured into weaning by these guys, and others have only avoided the pressures because they were lucky enough to be related to a doctor down south who knew better, or been set straight by the nurse in the WIC office. I feel like I really need to do something about the woeful ignorance in this practice, especially since it's not like we have a lot of alternatives. I'm not sure who best to address though. The physicians? Peacehealth? (It's a peace health clinic) Making matters more complicated is that there is already negative history between one of the two physicians and myself because he flatly refused to report a severe vaccine reaction my eldest had, insisting that him being detached and staring blankly for a full week after his 4 month vax set (among other lesser symptoms) must have been my imagination. I have refused to see this doctor since; the bridge gladly burnt thinking no value lay at the end of it. But now I want to make a difference here...
So who do I address? And what should I suggest beyond the general request for evidence based practice and keeping up with the last 20 years of research? Is there a course they could take? Should they have an LC in the practice? What action will make this better?
Sorry, I'm sort of operating in the dark here. Can anyone offer a little guidance please?
Thanks!
The problem: every single woman who has come to the group or asked me for help has received some form of REALLY bad advice from these pediatricians. Examples - you have to wean after a year, cow's milk allergy means you should switch to formula, infants under 4 months can't have food allergies, toddlers receive no benefit from nursing, start cereal early so they sleep, etc. Anyway, several women have been pressured into weaning by these guys, and others have only avoided the pressures because they were lucky enough to be related to a doctor down south who knew better, or been set straight by the nurse in the WIC office. I feel like I really need to do something about the woeful ignorance in this practice, especially since it's not like we have a lot of alternatives. I'm not sure who best to address though. The physicians? Peacehealth? (It's a peace health clinic) Making matters more complicated is that there is already negative history between one of the two physicians and myself because he flatly refused to report a severe vaccine reaction my eldest had, insisting that him being detached and staring blankly for a full week after his 4 month vax set (among other lesser symptoms) must have been my imagination. I have refused to see this doctor since; the bridge gladly burnt thinking no value lay at the end of it. But now I want to make a difference here...
So who do I address? And what should I suggest beyond the general request for evidence based practice and keeping up with the last 20 years of research? Is there a course they could take? Should they have an LC in the practice? What action will make this better?
Sorry, I'm sort of operating in the dark here. Can anyone offer a little guidance please?
Thanks!
if not listen 
