Wow, so many things wrong with this…where to start?

She probably actually believed what she was saying, is the saddest thing.

And she’s supposedly a medical professional? She’s either a deliberate liar or woefully ignorant. YOUR milk is EXACTLY what your baby needs!

Not only is breastmilk the bestfood for a preemie (or any baby) nursing skin to skin with mom is extremely beneficial for all babies, especially premature babies.

“really???” said with wide-eyed innocense, “I would just love to see the science upon which that statement is based.”

“And I get a year’s supply of free pens, clipboards and magnets for every mom I tell this to.”

Poor kid. Poor mom. But I’m hoping since this was posted here that mama poo-pooed Nurse Ding Dong and proceeded to nurse her baby anyway.

this POWDER? call it was it is….formula. the mother is not a moron, don’t treat her like one. OR even better give her suggestions on diet additions instead of pushing formula.

Oh and one more thing, i swear docs have to be getting kickbacks in some way from formula companies b/c there is no excuse for that behavior.

Lindsey Carr-Ruck Reply:
March 27th, 2010 at 6:17 pm

And when you leave, you’ll get your “formula company provided” diaper bag!

Jane Reply:
March 27th, 2010 at 6:28 pm

I got the special bag for nursing moms that contained a special can of formula just for nursing moms. :eyeroll:

jennifer Reply:
March 27th, 2010 at 6:33 pm

i didn’t get the diaper bag but i did get on the nursing moms mailing list for formula. got tons of free samples. i donated them .

Erica Reply:
March 27th, 2010 at 7:24 pm

please don’t donate trash!

jennifer Reply:
March 27th, 2010 at 11:14 pm

well actually i donated them to the daycare that my friend works at, i didn’t feel right about throwing them in the garbage.

Heather Reply:
March 28th, 2010 at 12:52 am

I donated mine to a mother with true low supply that uses them in her lact-aid. With which she nurses several years per child.

While it’s garbage, not everyone who uses it deserves to have to pay out the ass for it, especially when they’re paying so much to make sure their child gets every drop of milk that they make.

Jane Reply:
March 28th, 2010 at 5:11 am

For moms who can’t or chose not to breastfeed, formula isn’t trash. It’s food. I’ve donated all the formula samples we’ve received to the local soup kitchen, and when I used to receive those “free checks” for certain formula brands, I’d buy that too (hey, free!) and donate those. If the formula company is jacking up prices in order to afford these “freebies” then why should financially struggling moms have to pay for it when they could receive those freebies right back from the food pantry?

Erica Reply:
March 28th, 2010 at 8:50 am

Formula is trash. To imply that it has any nutritional value at all is an insult to food. Nursing is free. Maybe if you stopped endorsing formula as an alternative, more people will be forced economically to breastfeed.
Here is a link on Fortifier.
http://press.dirtybaby.org/?cat=6

Jane Reply:
March 28th, 2010 at 9:05 am

I fully breastfed all four of my living children and pumped after the one who died in order to donate her breastmilk to a milk bank. I’m not a shill for the formula company.

But it’s not trash: many women cannot nurse. Women who have had a double mastectomy cannot nurse. Mothers of adopted babies cannot nurse those babies without super-heroic efforts, and even then may not be successful. Mothers of triplets and higher cannot single-handedly nurse them all. Mothers who are taking medications that are keeping them alive but which pass through the breastmilk cannot nurse their babies. Mothers who are working in conditions such that they cannot pump for their babies.

Those babies GROW on the stuff. They survive. They even thrive. No, really! Breastmilk has undisputed advantages over formula. Of course. But hey, I was a “trash-fed” infant and I haven’t done so bad myself, and I cannot stand to hear other moms denigrated for making a decision to formula-feed, especially those moms who really truly wanted to nurse and for some reason were unable to do so. That’s heartbreaking for both them and, to be honest, to me too because I don’t see why women should attack one another when the real culprit are the companies that advertise their lies and bait-and-switch moms who are at their most vulnerable and most impressionable time.

Kat Reply:
March 28th, 2010 at 11:43 am

You DO know that by falsely calling formula “garbage” you only further alienate women who are “on the fence” about breastfeeding, who have had the heartbreak of being unable to breastfeed, or who simply had no idea about breastfeeding when their children were small, right?

Breastfeeding is normal. Formula feeding is what we do when human milk is not available, and in many cases it saves lives. Not all cases, perhaps not even most cases, but it DOES save lives.

I am a die-hard lactivist. None of my children had one drop of formula, since I tended to have an oversupply. I nursed the youngest until she was a few months past 3 years old. My “dream job” once my kids are grown is to become an IBCLC and help other women overcome breastfeeding obstacles.

But I will not sit there and tell the mother who has struggled for months to breastfeed, and who needs to give formula as well that she is giving her child garbage. It’s not true, and it’s extremely insulting to the moms who are doing *the very best they can* with their circumstances, and need to give formula to keep their child alive.

Erica Reply:
March 28th, 2010 at 12:12 pm

How about this? Not only do I stand by my garbage comment, I submit; formula is poison.

Jane Reply:
March 28th, 2010 at 12:50 pm

I’m genuinely confused: are you trying to start a fight, or are you trying to convince women to breastfeed? Because either way, you’re failing at it. I’ve spent most of the past 12 years of my life breastfeeding my children, and you’re making me want to go buy formula just so I can see the baby wake up in the morning, unpoisoned.

Hyperbole: ur doin’ it wrong. (To go all LOLcat on you.)

Kat Reply:
March 28th, 2010 at 1:03 pm

Please stop trolling this site. Thank you.

Formula is NOT poisonous. It is not the same as breastmilk, it has definite differences and inferior qualities as compared with substances found in breastmilk, but it is NOT poisonous.

Elizabeth Reply:
March 27th, 2010 at 7:41 pm

I got the bag and threw away the formula and the little “Supplementation Support Kit” with it, as did my sister.
As for the OP, I really hope too that since this is here that she knew better and didn’t allow that “powder” into her baby. Does that nurse REALLY think that formula has more nutrients than breastmilk? I mean REALLY?!

Lisa Reply:
March 28th, 2010 at 6:01 am

It’s not formula, it’s human milk fortifier. Made by formula companies I’m sure, but they’re two separate things. Whether or not it’s needed for preemies is highly in debate, but I’d be surprised if there’s a NICU out there that doesn’t try to use it.

Sheva Reply:
March 28th, 2010 at 6:29 am

Definitely made by a formula company – it had “ENFAMIL” all over it.

Aron Reply:
March 28th, 2010 at 6:52 am

yes, and unless they sent mama’s milk off to the lab to be tested (um, which I kinda doubt), they have no way to determine that her milk is lacking in nutrients.

Jane Reply:
March 28th, 2010 at 9:06 am

Back about four decades ago, they’d have Mom express some into a test tube and hold it up to the light, then determine that way whether it was good enough. :-b

The Deranged Housewife Reply:
March 28th, 2010 at 10:51 am

That is if they didn’t bind your breasts or give you pills to dry up your milk first. :O

This one was mine, and I was too scared to pooh pooh her. They were adding this special super-duper concentrated stuff to my milk, and promised me she wouldn’t taste it, either. And, on top of that, they wouldn’t let me touch her, because “it will excite her and make her lose extra calories that she can’t afford”. And they didn’t let me nurse her, to replenish those calories. I always feel like we never bonded properly because of those first 3 days that I missed.
They finally “let” me nurse her after a week because I begged.
I just pulled her out of school and I’m homeschooling, and I’m finally bonding with her, 7 1/2 years later.

Kelly Reply:
March 27th, 2010 at 9:28 pm

I know that was not a very encouraging thing to say, and though breastmilk IS best, ESPECIALLY for preemies, it just doesn’t always contain the amount of calories they need to gain weight, so often expressed milk is fortified.

My preemie was not gaining ANY weight on my milk, she was spending all her energy on trying to maintain her body temperature, adjusting to the stimulation around her, etc, but when they started fortifying it she started gaining weight really well.

Believe it or not, formula is not always such a bad thing.

However…..I find it strange that this NICU did not promote breastfeeding and touching, both of which are proven EXTREMELY beneficial to both mom (or dad) AND baby. When my daughter was born, my husband was afraid to touch her, and the NICU nurses practically FORCED him to because they know how needed it is on both ends. NICU nurses should be encouraging, and it’s sad that the ones at this hospital weren’t.

Sheva Reply:
March 27th, 2010 at 9:41 pm

The thing about this situation that made the whole thing even more ridiculous (but only in hindsight – I become paralyzed when a health-care provider talks to me) was that my baby was 4 1/2 pounds at birth, and was born at 35 weeks, breathing on her own. There were no indications that she had any problems at all. They gave her oxygen right after she was born because “she wasn’t breathing” although I caught her and she cried while in my hands, so that was not true. But they put her in the tier 3 NICU anyway, and didn’t let me touch her for 3 days.
And she wasn’t that tiny that a few calories would make that much of a difference.

Lauren Reply:
March 28th, 2010 at 1:40 am

Omg Sheva, I’m so sorry!!! What idiocy you endured.

fuzzy Reply:
March 28th, 2010 at 11:49 am

Though I will be so bold as to ask: How much of your “failure to bond” was caused by your resentment of the experience, and how much by the actual 3-day delay in seeing the baby? Adopted infants bond with their parents despite not going to them until they are a few days old, and human beings are NOT ducklings. There is not a “magic imprinting period” that a baby must meet it’s parent in.

Jane Reply:
March 28th, 2010 at 9:07 am

Oh, wow, Sheva, I’m so sorry.

Methinks these folks had a hero complex, and needed to “SAVE” your daughter regardless of the fact that she didn’t really need “saving.”

Preemies who are less than 33 weeks and/or less than 1500 grams, require supplementation of breast feeds. Human milk fortifier is added to breast milk to increase calories, protein and essential fatty acids that are crucial for brain growth. It has nothing to do with the “quality” of a mom’s milk. For full-term infants breastmilk is 100% sufficient to support growth. However preemies grow at such fast rates, that the breastmilk needs to be supplemented to support this growth. Besides supplementation, there are other things that can be done to increase calories and fat, such as feeding with hindmilk.
Most NICUs (not all unfortunately) encourage parents to touch and bond with their babies. It is a shame that not all NICUs practice developmental care. It is also sad the nurse profiled was not eloquent enough to properly explain why breastmilk is supplemented for preemies.

Formula isn’t garbage, and saying so is insulting to moms who can’t breastfeed for legitimate reasons. They’re certainly not feeding their babies “garbage.”

That being said, the NICU nurse in this instance was out of line and inaccurate.

Kat Reply:
March 28th, 2010 at 1:25 pm

You’re absolutely right JoAnna. I know it’s hard enough doing everything in your power to breastfeed, and having to resort to formula, without enduring insults and slander from other women who have never had to use formula for their child’s survival.

I want you to be absolutely sure of this: those who make hurtful and untrue statements like that are in the minority, and most breastfeeding supporters have these amazing qualities called “compassion” and “empathy” and we disagree just as strongly with those who say “formula is trash/poison/garbage” as we do with those who say “There’s no difference between breastmilk and formula/breastmilk isn’t good enough/etc.”

Actually, for most preemies this is the status quo, and was at the Mayo Clinic where my son was hospitalized. But he was a 31-weeker. For a 35-weeker? Absolute and complete BS! I’d file a complaint, OP, if you haven’t already.

Sheva, I am so sorry you had to go through this. Yes it was idiocy that your hospital was not up to date on all the Mother/Baby friendly practices, and had they truly been educated they would know that you were what your baby needed. It is even more unfortunate that you were bullied into making choices you didn’t agree with, but it is scary to have a chld that is in “medical trouble” and they fear monger you into doing what they want you to do. Women are very vulnerable and “not themselves” immediately postpartum and that makes it very easy for the medical professionals to make new mom’s their puppets. I am glad you have the oppurtunity to homeschool your little one! I hope it works out for you and her and you both enjoy it!

I was told the same thing by a NICU nurse when I had my preemie 2 years ago. It put me off and I ignored her advice and kept nursing my son. He lost even more weight within the next several days and then under duress I gave in and did the fortification thing. The thing is, if you have a preemie baby you are often scared sh*tless and will do whatever you are told if it is expressed in a way that indicates that it is essential for the health or even survival of your child.

I had a 34 weeker who was 4lbs 11 oz and breathed on his own from the start but I still get differing opinions about fortifying breastmilk. Bottom line, having gone through that myself and knowing the dread that filled my heart in those days, I cannot fault anyone for just going along with a nurse or doctor that says this. You just want your new baby to thrive and grow and everything else falls by the wayside.

Sheva Reply:
March 28th, 2010 at 11:15 am

You really articulated my feelings exactly. Thank you all for understanding.