Posted by My OB said WHAT?!?.
Feb
22
Posted by My OB said WHAT?!?.
“…Breastfeeding Can Either Help or Hurt Your Baby.”
“Well, at this point, breastfeeding can either help or hurt your baby.” – Doctor to mother who had a slightly jaundiced baby. Doctor then went on to recommend formula.
There are 28 comments to this post.
partlysbabe had this to say,
Feb 22, 2010 @ 5:13 am (Quote)
Feeding your child during Jaundice is the best thing that you can do for your child, I think that the Doc is worried about baby not getting enough milk to help dissipate the bilirubin in the blood stream but if the baby doesn’t nurse there wont be enough milk!.. Silly Doctors! Ive nursed 3 children through at least some degree of jaundice now and all have done really well 
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The Deranged Housewife had this to say,
Feb 22, 2010 @ 5:35 am (Quote)
If you have AIDS, then yes, you can hurt your baby. Otherwise this comment is absolutely stupid!
I had a similar experience with my old pediatrician – I had a daughter who was showing signs of serious bowel issues, including mucus and blood in her stools, crying constantly in the evening and just generally miserable. I researched it and through kellymom found that she likely had a milk protein allergy. Thus I had a plan.
I told my ped about it and she said it was in her experience that the ‘mother changing her diet didn’t work.’ I looked at her like she was nuts. Then she recommended I stop nursing for three days and try formula. I thought, if I don’t change my diet how is this going to help at all?! I left there telling her, with all due respect, that I was going to try my plan and get back to her if it didn’t work. Of course, it did work, my child was like a new baby again, and we immediately found a new ped.
I wonder how much these docs are getting from formula companies to tout their products … barring extreme cases like AIDS, breast milk is nature’s most perfect food! 
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Denise Reply:
February 22nd, 2010 at 7:25 am (Quote)
Actually the WHO has again revised it’s position on HIV+ mothers.Until recently it was HIV+ mothers in developing countries w/o access should breastfeed. Now it is all HIV+ women should breastfeed as long as they meet certain criteria.
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Heather Reply:
February 22nd, 2010 at 3:14 pm (Quote)
Plus, there’s now a nipple shield that prevents HIV transmission: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/122973.php
As long as you have breasts and milk, you should nurse
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THe Deranged Housewife Reply:
February 22nd, 2010 at 5:10 pm (Quote)
“Plus, there’s now a nipple shield that prevents HIV transmission:”
Wow, that is awesome!
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They convinced me of this, too, and didn’t give my preemie baby ANY food for 3 days. Only IV fluids. And I didn’t know any better and I let them.
7 years ago and it still eats me up that I wasn’t there for her!
They also told me with my next one that if I took him out from under the lights to nurse him, the photo-therapy wouldn’t be as effective. I let her bottle feed one feeding, and then I stopped letting her. My heart just told me she was wrong. Later when I read up on it, I learned that I was right.
I was afraid of this nurse, though. She threatened to throw me out of the hospital if I didn’t let her run tests on my baby, and she wouldn’t explain to me what they were for! I know now that she wouldn’t have been able to throw me out for wanting answers, but I didn’t then, so I let her do what she wanted, so I could at least be near my baby. How do you let go of that kind of anger?
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Mistie Reply:
February 22nd, 2010 at 6:55 am (Quote)
First off, you pray for peace (even for her actions) and forgiveness and then you think about Karma.. one day she will get what it coming to her for lying and bullying Mothers and babies. So sorry you had to endure this, twice even, Sheva. The best things you can do, you are already doing.. educating yourself and sharing that education with others. ♥
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Ugh…this was mine. I tried explaining to my friend that this theory was discredited years ago….but she said that the doctor gave her a pamphlet that was printed that year about it. Small town….totally wrong advice. I tried explaining how it helps, all that….and she wouldn’t listen. Sad thing is, she really wanted to nurse this babe, and after this, she just believed her bonehead doctor and stopped. Then it was too difficult to pick it up later. This next one she is saying she will nurse. She has a different doc, I hope she does.
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Vashra Reply:
February 22nd, 2010 at 8:22 pm (Quote)
Just because a pamphlet was published this year doesn’t mean that the information in it is current.
In my work, we get drug interaction reports all. the. time. that have to be updated to deal with the newest drugs because all the company bothered to do was reprint some list from back around stage IV of the other drug’s trials….
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ABCTrio Reply:
February 23rd, 2010 at 3:34 pm (Quote)
Washra -
Oh, I totally know it isn’t/wasn’t current. I tried explaining to her in complete detail why it wasn’t true but that was her “excuse” for not listening to me. But since it did have that current date on it, and she had it in writing, she believed it over me (a lactation consultant student). Argh. So frustrating.
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ABCTrio Reply:
February 23rd, 2010 at 3:34 pm (Quote)
Washra -
Oh, I totally know it isn’t/wasn’t current. I tried explaining to her in complete detail why it wasn’t true but that was her “excuse” for not listening to me. But since it did have that current date on it, and she had it in writing, she believed it over me (a lactation consultant student). Argh. So frustrating.
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ABCTrio Reply:
February 23rd, 2010 at 3:35 pm (Quote)
Oops – sorry I spelled your name wrong – I meant Vashra – sorry….pregnant brain/no sleep makes me type wrong….
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Michelle Potter Reply:
February 23rd, 2010 at 5:24 pm (Quote)
To me, the main thing that makes all these comments so horrible is that they come from “professionals” who SHOULD know better, and who women SHOULD be able to trust. It makes logical sense to believe the guy who spent 11 years training to be a doctor (4 years of college + 4 years of med school + 1 year of internship + 2 years of residency), and has however many years of experience in his practice, rather than a friend who is still in school. That’s why it’s such a betrayal when the guy with all the education and respect, with whom you trusted your baby’s life and health, turns out to not have a freaking clue what he’s talking about.
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Michelle Potter Reply:
February 23rd, 2010 at 5:28 pm (Quote)
(PS, I am not saying women shouldn’t listen to their friends. Obviously the reality is that most doctors don’t seem to know their heads from their… What I’m saying is that if society is going to invest so much in creating professionals whose job it is to give solid medical advice, we SHOULD be able to trust that they are doing so, and it’s a MAJOR PROBLEM that they aren’t.)
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ABCTrio Reply:
February 24th, 2010 at 4:45 pm (Quote)
I understand what you are saying. But, it also makes sense to me to listen to someone who is specializing in an area (such as breastfeeding) rather than to a family doctor. We do this all of the time when family doctors or others refer to specializations such as an ear/nose/throat doctor. I think it’s just in our society we hold doctors to such a high standard that those who aren’t doctors are obviously wrong. Drives me a little crazy b/c she comes to me for advice, I provide documentation on WHY it’s wrong (from professionals who HAVE completed their training – which I usually do anyway to back it up) and she still doesn’t listen or even question the doctor.
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ABCTrio Reply:
February 24th, 2010 at 4:48 pm (Quote)
BUT I used to be that person who only listened and believed doctors – until I became pregnant. So I completely understand how one over the other seems “more right.” Hard mindset to change unless people do their research and are ready to question some people. I know my example isn’t exactly a good one since it is referring to another doctor….but it basically illustrates my point.
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Michelle Potter Reply:
February 24th, 2010 at 4:49 pm (Quote)
I understand why you are frustrated. I just hate that when we spend money to hire an “educated professional” to safeguard our health, we are betrayed by misinformation and lies.
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I have been through so many doctors simply because of their misinformation on just BFing alone. It’s really quite sad. I need to get around to writing them letters as to why I left and hope they do some research.
OMG with my first I had a nurse in peds positively *browbeating* me to make me give my baby formula when she had hyperbili! Thank God for our Bradley classes and stubborn streaks! The nurse looked me right in the face and said formula would help get rid of the bilirubin. I was 4 days pp with a great milk supply and replied, “The bilirubin will be excreted. My breastmilk digests in about 45 minutes, and formula is indigestible crap that will take hours to get through. So what is the best thing to feed my baby?” The nurse scowled at me and took my daugter and husband off to a procedure room to start an IV. I sat, miserable and alone, knowing my baby needed to nurse and that when they came back the nurse would try to force formula again. So I took out my crappy little manual pump – I’d never pumped before – and in the 20 minutes it took them to start that IV, I pumped 4 oz of milk. Finally they came back, and I mentioned that my daugter needed to eat. Sure enough, Nurse Evil said, “OK, what kind of formula do you want?” I simply held up my precious 4 oz of pumped milk and said, “this kind.” That earned me more contempt – and my way. 
On the bright side, after shift change a few hours later we got a wonderful nurse who set me up with a hospital-grade pump and told me I could actually touch my baby (the other nurse had implied I couldn’t, so I’d sat there for hours talking and singing to her constantly, to reassure her I was there). Grrrr! OK, rant over.
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Molly Reply:
February 23rd, 2010 at 7:24 am (Quote)
Being a horrible, controlling bitch must be a prerequisite for being a NICU nurse because I had awful nurses when my son was in the NICU for 3 weeks with meconium aspiration syndrome. They fought with me on absolutely everything. They also gave him formula and a pacifier (when I told them not to) when they knew they had bottles of my breastmilk for him in the fridge. I think they hated me because we had a homebirth and they were, I dunno, punishing me? It really did feel like that.
You’d think people who were dealing with babies and families in stressful, delicate situations would be more compassionate.
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JoAnna had this to say,
Feb 22, 2010 @ 10:12 am (Quote)
When my firstborn had jaundice, the on-call ped recommended formula supplementation. I asked why formula was necessary, and he looked blank and said, “Well… it’s just what we always recommen. In these cases.” Thank goodness I called the nurse/LC who taught our childbirth class, and she assured me that breastfeeding would probably work better. Sure enough, she was right!
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The Deranged Housewife Reply:
February 22nd, 2010 at 5:14 pm (Quote)
“Umm, it’s just what we do, but I have no idea why. But I’m not going to tell you that.” (eyeroll)
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attached2mykids had this to say,
Feb 22, 2010 @ 4:53 pm (Quote)
this comment brought to you by the makers of good start, enfamil and similac… (smacks forehead)
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The Deranged Housewife Reply:
February 22nd, 2010 at 5:16 pm (Quote)
Your comment makes me LOL and reminds me of how just a few weeks ago, I received a sample of ‘toddler formula’ in the mail. I always kept a spare can on hand just in case, but thankfully we never had to use it. But I was running low on pureed fruit, so I mixed some up with some oatmeal cereal. Needless to say, my son made horrible faces and wouldn’t eat it, probably because it looked like wallpaper paste. LOL
I’m like, My son is nearly a year old and has never been formula fed. Why on earth would I start now?! LOL
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Lindsey Carr-Ruck had this to say,
Feb 22, 2010 @ 4:58 pm (Quote)
Idiot. Did he not remember that whole section on how breastmilk is the best food for a baby with normal jaundice?
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ANOTHER friend of mine received this advice just this week and has started her baby on formula. *SO FRSUSTRATED* All I can do is provide information in a non-confrontational way and hope they read it and understand Dr. Jack Newman knows what he is talking about….
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I’m speechless.
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