Posted by My OB said WHAT?!?.
Oct
12
Posted by My OB said WHAT?!?.
“…Breastfeeding Only Works For A Few Weeks.”
“But you need this – how else are you going to feed your baby? Breastfeeding only works for a few weeks.” – Postpartum nurse after chasing the mother down the hallway after discharge. The mother had left the formula gift bag in the room.
There are 37 comments to this post.
arzt4empfaenger had this to say,
Oct 12, 2012 @ 5:04 am (Quote)
This is incredibly sad, because the nurse sounds like she really believes what she said.
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Wow, this is a very sad comment if this nurse really believes this.
Besides, even if this were the case, does this nurse think the mother would be incapable of going to the store and buying formula if she wanted? This baby would starve without the all-important sample sized can.
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If by a few weeks, you mean 29 months then yes…it only worked for a “few weeks” for me and my little guy.
Geez…. This might be a good sign that you are in the wrong unit of the hospital Nursie-poo. Basic breastfeeding education should be required of all L&D and PP nurses.
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Amy Reply:
October 12th, 2012 at 6:43 am (Quote)
Wonder how she would explain me breastfeeding for 88 months and counting (three kids, no weaning in between)? I guess her head would just explode.
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Desiree Reply:
October 12th, 2012 at 8:31 am (Quote)
Between my last 3 kids I’ve been nursing for 6 years straight (and counting). But I guess I’ve just been imagining it 
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“…and here’s how we make sure! Studies show that receiving samples of formula reduces duration and exclusivity of breastfeeding. You wouldn’t want to miss out on this sample and risk meeting your own breastfeeding goals, would you?!”
Yay for health “care.” :\
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Bahahahahhaha! So before the invention of formula, all the babies in the human race starved to death after a few weeks, when breastfeeding stopped working. Oh, wait… Oh well, we modern day women must just have mutated boobs that stop producing milk around week 3 
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Jespren Reply:
October 12th, 2012 at 7:57 am (Quote)
Yeah, whenever I hear these kind of comments I have a barely resistable urge to say something incredibly sarcastic like: so you think the world sprang into existance in the 1940′s huh? Wow, and they call Biblical Creationists ‘Young Earthers’.
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Then I must have 5 zombie babies who were all breastfed at least a year. And really “How else are you going to feed the baby?” Does that nurse really think that the tiny sample of formula is going to feed the baby for any substantial length of time? If mom is going to formula feed she is going to have to go to the store to buy formula whether she takes the stupid bag or not.
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I’m laughing at the visualization of a nurse dashing through the L&D unit with an outstretched hand holding the oh-so-important formula bag, jumping over isolettes and sliding foot first into the elevator to give the mother her life saving 12oz. of free formula. Wow, good thing she was on shift today or else this mother would have been sent into the big cruel world with only her breasts to nourish her child.
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Mummy KitM Reply:
October 12th, 2012 at 3:46 pm (Quote)
I almost spit eggplant on my laptop at this! Thanks for the laugh!!
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The Well-Rounded Mama had this to say,
Oct 12, 2012 @ 11:25 am (Quote)
Breastfeeding “only works for a few weeks”? Seriously?
Can’t believe anyone with any education at all, let alone a NURSE, would say something like that these days. Wow.
I hope the OP writes a letter to the nurse-manager of that unit and suggests in a kind way that some more lactation education might be needed on that unit.
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Jane Reply:
October 12th, 2012 at 11:59 am (Quote)
I agree with the suggestion to send a letter. The nurse may be assuming the mother is going to go back to work full-time in a few weeks, but the way it’s said, the nurse has communicated a belief that breasts only produce milk for a month or two at the most.
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You gotta wonder how we managed to survive as a species and live on this planet for as long as we have if that were the case. All babies would’ve died and we wouldn’t be here to have this conversation, would we?
The more I read this site and my own background in medicine tells me that people just don’t THINK anymore.
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Mummy KitM had this to say,
Oct 12, 2012 @ 3:52 pm (Quote)
Even if this was true, why on earth couldn’t the mother just drive to the nearest Wal-Mart and buy a can of formula? I think the lack of logic behind the “this goody bag of formula will sustain your child for the first year of his/her life” bugs me more than the “breastfeeding only works for a few weeks” nonsense!
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Buh? Granted, I know BFing is very hard for a lot of women and a lot of them throw in the towel, but um…
The very sweet lactation consultant at my hospital gave us extra formula, but I was completely unable to breastfeed, so I’m glad I had that. But giving it to a breastfeeding mom really annoys me…
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Mrs Pine Nut had this to say,
Oct 23, 2012 @ 6:42 am (Quote)
HA. I’m another one with a nearly-three daughter and a two-month old who has been nursing straight through. I anticipate that the milkiness will be just as milky when Younger Girl is 2, so yeah.
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Add Your Comment.
Where in hell did this person get his/her nursing degree- Nestle’s University?
The question now is should I tell my husband our children are zombies?
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Amy Reply:
December 10th, 2012 at 8:24 pm Amy(Quote)
Sadly yes. Nestle now gives out complementary nursing degrees if you sign up to tout their formula at unsuspecting mothers.
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