[famousmockngbrd]

I went to my midwife's for my first prenatal appointment this week. They gave me a big bag of stuff, you know how they do that. OK, first of all it was an Enfamil bag. It contained some coupons for free Similac, coupons for free Enfamil, some Enfamil samples, a bag for transporting bottles and some more samples from Similac, and a 50 page booklet published by Enfamil about formula feeding your baby.

The ff booklet had the usual disclaimer in the beginning about breastmilk being best for your baby, blah blah blah, and that this booklet was intended for mothers who have already decided not to breastfeed. (Um, I got this in an information bag at my first prenatal visit!) They said if you want to know more about breastfeeding, check out their other booklet on nursing - which was conveniently NOT included. In fact, there was NOTHING in the bag about breastfeeding. NOT ONE THING.

I'm going to bring this to their attention at my next visit. I'm really, truly appalled.

 

[mermommy]

That's awful

 

[carolsly]

That is horrible. I have to admit that I brought the formula bag and formula home from the hospital (I gave it to the local food bank). I had bought one can of formula just in case. My midwife never gave me anything like that. They tried to give me the What To Expect book, but I already had it. What I really liked...the OB that did the consults for the midwife gave out free water bottles.

 

[ScotiaSky]

NAK

No No No No No....
At my Birth House there is a sign when you first walk through the door in both French and English that states that it is a BF friendly area(although here in Canada BF in public doesn't seem to be a big issue) and that they do not push FF at all.
In fact they was never once mentioned FF to me.
It is assumed that you will BF of course unless you bring up some reason why you are not going to be.
Now I ended up giving birth at the hospital(unplanned) and they claimed to be BF friendly my

they were. I was lucky to get out of there and still be able to BF sucessfully. 8 months and still going strong.

You know maybe its the hospital where I gave birth or a Canadian thing...but we get nada when we leave the hospital...so I took a towel

:

Bring it up...I find that appaling.

 

[chalupamom]

Was it the Enfamil booklet condensed from "The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding" by any chance? I cracked up when I saw mine last year - the booklet contained only the chapter dealing with problems...cracked nipples, mastitis, clogges ducts, etc. and made the whole affair sound just awful. I mean, can you imagine not knowing much about nursing and opening up this little book? It'd scare the milk right out of you!

I was really surprised that LLL would give publishing permission for the booklet. Unless, I guess, the material is old enough to be in the public domain? Not sure what the laws are about that. Maybe they didn't have a say.

 

[darkstar]

Yikes...I would totally say something too.My midwife never said anything about formula.Although I did get formula up the wazoo from a mailing list from,

I am assuming motherhood maternity...Which I donated to a womans shelter.

darkstar

 

[JesiLynne]

OMG, My midwife EXPECTS you to bf, almost to the point of demanding that you do!!

 

[Nikki Christina]

wow.. that is odd.. I wouldnt think a midwife would give that out

my Ob's office has never given me anything with formula.. or promoting it.. & this is my 3rd baby Ive had going there
but you can sign up to recieve stuff from enfamil.. but they ask you if you are interested first

 

[RachelGS]

My midwife's office has a sign in it that says, "Breastfeeding may not be the best choice for every mother, but it is the RIGHT choice for EVERY baby."

Quite a contrast.

 

[nikirj]

I get a bunch of propaganda from my MW, too. No samples, but a bunch of formula coupons mixed in with assorted other baby coupons, of course the whole bundle is sponsored by a formula company. She says she gets it for free and thinks we're smart enough to sort through it ourselves.

She never once mentioned formula feeding, except to say that if I got larger-sized samples in the mail she had a client who had a double mastectomy and could use it. All kinds of support for breastfeeding. I just figured she hadn't found the time to sort through the free packages.

 

[cj'smommy]

: - I wonder why?

Quote:

Originally Posted by RachelGS My midwife's office has a sign in it that says, "Breastfeeding may not be the best choice for every mother, but it is the RIGHT choice for EVERY baby."

I like that!!

 

[nikirj]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RachelGS My midwife's office has a sign in it that says, "Breastfeeding may not be the best choice for every mother, but it is the RIGHT choice for EVERY baby."

Oooh, GREAT sign! (We must have cross-posted just now.)

 

[meco]

that is bizarre. I went to an OB before I knew people even still had midwives and HB and all...

And I got a bag with a real book on breastfeeding (like one you would buy at BnN)...from a mainstream OB. I was quite pleased.

W/my next, I better get a midwife who skips that crap

 

[girlndocs]

Boy, I'd be switching midwives so fast their heads would spin.

 

[JessicaS]

Your Midwife gave you that!?!?!?!?!?

UUhh....right.

 

[Moon Faerie]

That's crazy! My midwives pretty much expect it too. They've never mentioned ff to me. They asked about my plans, and explained their routines. The ONLY time I heard (well saw) anything about ff was on my sheet of what to bring. If I had planned on ff, I would have to bring my own formula and bottles to the birth center. When they were going over the list with me they didn't mention it. I just happened to notice it when packing my bag.

 

[StephandOwen]

: I got that from my midwife too. But to be fair to her she works under two OB's and she said she has to give them out. By the time I got through all 9 months I had gotten 2 sample cans, countless coupons, and a diaper bag from the office, and 4 more sample cans in the mail. They all went to a shelter for abused women/children (except the diaper bag which I use to store stuff).

 

[mom2tig99Nroo03]

oy

 

[RosieTook]

Sick, sick, sick...

My midwife was wonderful, and never thought for a sec that I'd do anything but bf! And after my emergency c-sec, she put my dd to my breast in recovery, so she had her first nurse about an hour after she was born....we have a great relationship, she is a champ! My dd AND the mw that is!

Terri (great name BTW, that's my mom's name

) I think it might be a Canadian thing, I got nothing at all from the hospital...but they were VERY supportive of bf...they assumed that was what you would do, offered plenty of very good help (the nurses were better than the LC

) and even tried to convince my roommate to at least try to bf...they wouldn't accept her answer of "I just don't think it's worth it..."

I did recieve a package from Nestle today...it has a coupon for a free can of formula which I am going to get and put in the foodbank donation box...and it came with a booklet...2 pages of bf info (and half of one of those was about formula...

) and 8 about formula...the usual "Breast is best, but..." line...it's sad! But this must also be a Canadian thing, cause I have never recieved more than that, no formula samples, no other coupons, nothing!

On another note, I got Milk, Money and Madness from the library today, and it is very informative...

 

[sophmama]

Quote:

Originally Posted by chalupamom Was it the Enfamil booklet condensed from "The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding" by any chance? I cracked up when I saw mine last year - the booklet contained only the chapter dealing with problems...cracked nipples, mastitis, clogges ducts, etc. and made the whole affair sound just awful. I mean, can you imagine not knowing much about nursing and opening up this little book? It'd scare the milk right out of you! I was really surprised that LLL would give publishing permission for the booklet. Unless, I guess, the material is old enough to be in the public domain? Not sure what the laws are about that. Maybe they didn't have a say.

I read some things about how the book rights were sold somehow and published without the authors knowing with the big formula company stamp on it. All the authors were furious and I read some letters they wrote in protest. I think this is the same book - or maybe it was the AAP one.