World Breastfeeding Week Sucks

[vanlassie]

The author of this post is a friend of mine....

Please read the whole thing before responding- she speaks for me.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jay-gordon/world-breastfeeding-week_b_1739878.html

"The third misleading notion is that parents are the children who are being "nannied" by locking up the formula. Many supplies including food are locked up in hospitals because of pilfering. Locking up supplies is not directed at parents per se. In the case of formula, the bigger issue is that some hospital employees simply have trouble believing that breastfeeding works. I would say that in about half the cases of the mothers I've seen who were told they had to supplement, it was not a pediatrician who recommended the formula for solid medical reasons; it was a hospital employee who insisted that the baby could not possibly be getting enough without any supportive evidence. To date, I have never ever met a mother who was prevented from feeding formula to her baby in the hospital. On the other hand, I have met many women who were devastated to discover that their babies were given formula without their knowledge or consent. In one case, parents were even sent home with a box of formula that was so far past its expiration date that it had separated into a gluey clump in the bottom of the bottles. In reality, it is hospital employees who unfortunately need to be "nannied" because there are some who doubt breastfeeding so much that they can't suppress the urge to fix it with formula, even when no fixing is needed."


Vanlassie- who after 7 years here at DU only recently hit the 1000 post mark by discussing breastfeeding with some of you all.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. She speaks for me too, my dear vanlassie...

It's an excellent article, and I hope everyone who looks at your post will read it.

Thank you for sharing it with us!

[randome]

2. And an excellent play on words, besides!

[NYC_SKP]

3. K/R (nt)

[laundry_queen]

4. Excellent article. Thanks. nt

[vanlassie]

5. Thanks for reading it.

[pnwmom]

6. I remember being surprised when I went to my childbirth class "reunion"

about six weeks after our babies were born -- and I was the only mother there who was successfully breastfeeding without supplements. All of the other mothers supposedly didn't produce enough milk, or so they had been told.

But no new mother will produce enough milk if she tries to breastfeed on a bottle-feeding schedule (every 3-4 hours).

I was successful with my newborns because I ignored the clock, and fed my baby when she was hungry -- even if it was only an hour after her last feeding, and even if she only nursed for a couple minutes.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

7. That is exactly right!

The early days and weeks are crucial to getting the let-down reflex to work and then getting the milk established.

[RC]

8. Babies set their own schedules. Don't try to force something else on them.

The baby will win every time, so go with the flow. They will come around soon enough on their own.
Pay attention to the kid. They'll let you know what they need and when they need it. Those cries mean something.
Giving a bottle to a breast fed baby is a sure fire way to guarantee that mama doesn't have enough milk. Stop it already!

[etherealtruth]

10. Exactly

I breast fed three babies ... feeding all on demand. Mercifully, unlike some I was able to find OBs and pediatricians that were knowledgeable and strong proponents of breastfeeding .... we are, after all, mammals .... mammals nurse their young.

[Butterbean]

9. It's the truth, though.

One of the nursery nurses I used to work with used to roll her eyes when I gave her report and told her a baby was breastfed, and would smile and say, "oh GOOD" when I told her a baby was formula fed. She gave breastfed babies bottles all the time in the nursery, and only started getting written up for it when we (the L&D nurses) started getting pissed.

It's very very very very very true. It's also ingrained in a lot of women before they even hit the door of the hospital, though. I don't know how many times I've had a young mother who tells me she wants to "try" breastfeeding, but then gets frustrated because it doesn't happen like magic and decides after one feed to use formula. Or mothers who have abundant milk, perfectly formed breasts, and babies with the most perfect root/suck reflex you've ever seen in your life who decide they want to formula feed because they think breastfeeding is "gross."

I could go on and on and on....