This is an interesting article I was reading. http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/03/health/medical-breastfeeding/index.html?hpt=hp_bn12 I definitely feel that this is true in many areas. In my experience the medical community and the lactation community weren't able to help me. Yet my issues are unique but not unusual (food intollerance). I don't know what I would do if I didn't have the internet.
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I didn't read the full article but I couldn't agree more. When I mentioned to one of the peds at her practice that I was on a MSPI diet bc I though m might be intolerant there was barely a discussion about. Just yeah maybe, try it and see if it helps. I don't think she even noted it in her records bc till this day no one has asked me how it's going
If it weren't for the Internet and HB I probably would have stopped long ago to stop the pain M was obviously going through. Instead we are now 8 months BFing strong. I think it just stems down to no one cares about your child like you do. -
There is such a huge push for breastfeeding, to the point that people who can't BF are made to feel really bad about it, yet there is so little support. It just doesn't make sense.
I haven't tried it yet but that's my rant. -
@regberadaisy: We switched primary care for my LO because of this. And neither has him as intollerant to Milk or Soy. And we have come to the conclusion and it is soy that he is still intollerant to. Now we have to get a medical waiver for preschool so that he doesn't have to eat their food. I assume they will just sign it for me.
It isn't even that they don't care I think it is that they don't know. They may suggest dropping milk but they don't know how it actually manifests (unless you have blood in the stool and they can test it). They don't know how to help you increase your production with our without drugs. And then lactation consultants can help you latch but can't test you for low thyroid or other hormones. They can't prescribe drugs for increased production. They can't test your baby for intollerance.
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@Foodnerd81: This is exactly what the article is about. The fact that they don't know enough to support those that are having problems. And yet STILL make people feel bad about it.
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I don't even have to read the article to answer YES, they are!
Most pedi's don't have up to date growth charts for breastfed babies so they push supplementing when their growth patterns don't follow their formula fed counterparts, they don't know about troubleshooting AT ALL and I hear BAD breastfeeding advice ALL. THE. TIME so often they are culprits to making moms feel inadequate when it's really just misinformation & not having the correct practices in regards to breastfeeding.
Where I live, the closest IBCLC (International Board Certified Lactation Consultant) is over 120 miles away!
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That was an interesting article. I also liked the first few comments about how animal sciences has all kinds of info in how to increase supply in animals. So if I have trouble, I'll have to ask my dad (a farmer) what he does for the cows!
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I place my failure to breastfeed firmly in the hands of the doctors and nurses who treated me in the first couple of weeks. I don't really want to go into more detail than that.
The LC was the only one who I think really did all she could to help, in the end it wasn't enough and it was too late.
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I feel the same way. When I went into my Dr's office with LO to discuss my suspicions of MSPI, she said, "Well, just cut out milk and cheese. I wouldn't worry about soy, where did you get that?". I then sought out counsel from a Naturopath who was familiar with MSPI and she got us on probiotics, and has been invaluable to helping us through our now 10 months of successful nursing.
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Yes! We got so much bad advice from my OB and our original pediatrician! It was my top motivation for switching LO's doc within the first week. If it hadn't been for the internet/extensive research on our part I probably would have been pushed to formula really early on.
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Yes... If I'm not mistaken, breastfeeding is not an extensive topic covered in med school... at least, it wasn't extensive enough when a majority of today's practicing doctors went to school. I'm glad to see a growth in LC's and breastfeeding education these days, but more support is still definitely needed from all healthcare professionals who care for infants and nursing moms.
Kellymom was an invaluable source for me, but most of my first-time mom friends IRL don't know about it til I mention it to them!
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I came here just to post this article! It really made me think about this in some ways I hadn't before, and it made me mad!
One part that really stood out to me: "When women have trouble breast-feeding, they are often confronted with two divergent directives: well-meaning lactation consultants urge them to try harder, while some doctors might advise them to simply give up and go the bottle-and-formula route. "We just give women a pat on the head and tell them their kids will be fine,” if they don’t breastfeed, says Dr. Alison Stuebe, an OB who treats breast-feeding problems in North Carolina. “Can you imagine if we did that to men with erectile dysfunction?”
ED, she points out, is within the purview of many doctors’ services, and insurance will cover Viagra, but lactation dysfunction? It doesn’t even exist as a diagnosis, no accompanying health insurance code for which doctors can bill. Within the database of federally funded medical research, there are 70 studies on erectile dysfunction; there are 10 on lactation failure."
That is REALLY messed up!
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@Grace: That makes me really sad. Clearly it isn't as much of a priority for the medical community as it is for farmers!
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Yes. I had a terrible time with DD's latch in the hospital. The LC and nurses were really not helpful at all and when I talked to DD's ped at her 4 day check-up, I feel like they should have a list of other LC's to help. I managed to pump for 4 weeks straight because I couldn't stand to BF with her bad latch. Eventually we worked it through ourselves but it is still uncomfortable at times even though she's 7 months.
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Yep. They sure as hell aren't helping, for the most part. I've been able to have absolute success mostly because of my family and community supporting me. I did have one very good lactation consultant, but that was it.
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I agree that there isn't much support or information readily available to breastfeeding moms. However, I feel very fortunate that my HMO, Kaiser, strongly encourages breastfeeding and I received a lot of support when I gave birth during my stay at the hospital as well as during my pp visit with my lactation consultant. My mother did not breastfeed any of us and so I had no idea if I were capable of doing it or not. I feel that without the support from Kaiser, I would not have been able to give it a fair shot and succeed at it. Now, I am a huge advocate of breastfeeding!
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If I hadn't experienced severe MSPI, I don't think I would be the advocate for mamas that I am now. I'd still be telling people incorrect information about how and what to cut out and when to expect improvements. In this case, being a mama helped me be a better doctor!
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I must have said this a million times in the first few months of breastfeeding when I was really struggling.
This part of the article rings true for me especially: "In addition, doctors practicing today don't know where to place breast-feeding problems --breasts are attached to the women, so shouldn't they be the province of OBs, say pediatricians. And OBs note that breast-feeding is for infants; shouldn't the baby's doctor handle it?"
I ping-ponged between my OB and my LO's pediatrician, both of whom I really like and respect, but neither of them fully committed to helping me. I ended up hiring a LC, which at the time was completely an out-of-pocket expense, and piecing together everything I was able to get from the LC, OB, pediatrician, LLL, and the internet to make it work. It was so stressful, and the struggle is one of my most prominent memories from the first couple months of motherhood.
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I think in general this is probably true. But in my particular case I haven't experienced this at all! My pedi has been amazing! When M started having issues with her stools he had me cut dairy and soy. When she didn't get better he had me cut wheat eggs fish and nuts. And even with that we were still seeing some lingering issues. But since her fussiness was gone (implying no pain) and she is continuing to gain weight he said I should just stay the course. He never once even mentioned formula. He assured me that even if we can't get her 100% better (she still has mucus in her stool) we aren't doing any damage to her system and that keeping her on my milk will always be preferable to formula in his eyes. He has been super supportive of making breastfeeding work for us. I big puffy heart my pedi! And I big puffy heart @Mrs. Jacks: too who also gave me some awesome support when I was freaking out!!
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Great article, and I know exactly what the woman in the article experienced. My milk *never* came in after DD was born. I was going back and forth between lactation consultants and breastfeeding groups. I was crying all the time, feeling like a failure, and I had no idea what was going on. When DD's pediatrician told me that I had to feed my baby formula b/c she was becoming malnourished I completely broke down. I ultimately experienced a severe case of PPD, which I mostly attribute to my feelings of failure surrounding breastfeeding. I was never given a medical reason as to what went wrong, but it definitely was some sort of medical problem. All of the pumping, herbs, and keeping DD on the breast did a whole lot of nothing for me. I wish that I had known that not being able to produce milk is a real problem that some women face, but all that I was told before DD was born at my breastfeeding class was that it was a myth that some people can't produce enough to breastfeed successfully.
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@MamaMoose: aww! I wish I could have done more!
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It has actually been my experience with DS's FPIES that has made me want to become a LC one day. I really want to help another mama who may be in a similar situation and who may not be getting the support she needs from someone who has not been in those shoes. I know if I would have seen an LC they probably would have encouraged me not to continue on a TED and
breastfeed for 21 months!@MamaMoose: Our team of doctors is pretty good as well. The pedi we now see (same practice as always but took my threatening to leave for DS to get seen by the pedi he sees now who was close to new patients) has encouraged me to continue to nurse as long as I could stand it (DS self weaned) as it was our only "safe" option. Our GI was always quick to recommend foods to eliminate and our allergist who specializes in FPIES is amazing....they have all offered support and encouragement to keep nursing, never pushing formula. Our dietician on the other hand is always pushing formula even after I tell her DS cannot tolerate it. I feel like she wouldn't listen and just pushed the formula agenda
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I wish I had been told half of what I know now. Our doctor was incredibly supportive, but I got annoyed at A's two-month check when the resident said she wasn't gaining weight like she had been and told me to supplement. Yeah, she won't take a bottle so how am I meant to do that? We had no help with breastfeeding in a harness either, which has been a real challenge. The supervising doctor wasn't worried though, and has been very supportive. In general I think mums have to do a lot of research themselves which is a shame as bfeeding is so hard and time consuming anyway. God knows how people coped before the internet!
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