Comments on: Breastfeeding and Early Weaning

By: Cin

Cin — Sun, 30 May 2010 01:23:31 +0000

The word “no” is my strongest BF tool. Seriously. I am th eparent, and no one has a right to do anything to my baby without my permission. I actually warn the nurses before birth, and put a sign on the bassinet and the hospital room door. No bottles. No formula. No nipples. No soothers — without written and SIGNED permission from me. Violators will have consequences.

Luckily, since this is my 4th child, the nurses tend to leave me alone, since I generally know more about BFing my children than they ever could. I don’t even let them look at my nipples or check my latch as part of their routine.

By: phdinparenting

phdinparenting — Tue, 25 May 2010 18:06:09 +0000

Yelli:

I look forward to hearing how your experience in Germany for the birth and breastfeeding support is different from what you experienced in the US. I hope you’ll blog about it.

By: Marija

Marija — Tue, 25 May 2010 04:09:09 +0000

I’m grateful my son had a good latch from the beginning and I had the ability to hire a doula who was able to help me with the first breastfeeding session, but it was definitely a battle against the hospital to keep my baby in my room and to not have formula samples forced onto me, and I was too exhausted from three days of labor to advocate for myself or my baby. It makes me so angry that moms have to fight so hard to make breastfeeding work. We really need major changes like you propose here in the US as well, to help moms breastfeed so it isn’t such a struggle against all odds to make it work. The entire medical birth system from beginning to end hurts breastfeeding success.

By: Yelli

Yelli — Mon, 24 May 2010 19:04:30 +0000

I was really frustrated with my breastfeeding experience. My son had trouble latching. The MRU (major research university hospital in the US) advertised they had a lactation consultant who would help w/BFing after birth – one of the reasons I went there! Much to my dismay, not only could I not get an appointment with her, she eventually came in for a whole 2 seconds and gave me a plastic thing to put around my nipple. I didn’t even know what it was! To make a long story short, the night nurse eventually just gave my son formula without asking when she deemed him to be dehydrated (this is a rooming-in hospital BTW). Eventually, we both sort of got the hang of BFing. After leaving the hospital, I went to an LLL meeting where someone took the time to help me and correct our “technique.” I have a feeling that my story is not in the minority sadly enough…I am very glad to be in Germany for my 2nd child where, at least now, it feels like BFing mothers are much more supported with the midwife system. At the very least, I know a little better what I am doing.

By: Abbie

Abbie — Thu, 20 May 2010 15:26:51 +0000

Yes, they made an announcement that you could bring a support person, and please drop your baby off at the nursery. It was bizarre, since they have a rooming-in policy. I made sure to write about this when they emailed me a satisfaction survey.

By: Eve

Eve — Thu, 20 May 2010 05:37:21 +0000

I delivered my sons in Edmonton, Alberta and in hospital after my first son was born, was pressured by the nurses to take formula home with me “just in case”, and was even warned that if I got in an accident and had to go to the hospital, I wouldn’t be able to feed my baby! I was left on my own for virtually the whole first night with my son, trying to latch him with no assistance and having no idea what I was doing AND I was to mark on a sheet each time and for how long I fed him. When the nurses finally came in to check my latch, I was essentially scolded for marking times as feedings when they were “attempts.” Later when my son failed to gain weight between 4 and 5 months, nurses again expressed their “concern” and pushed supplementation with formula. Luckily, our pediatrician is a sensible man and quickly put my worries to rest and told me not to weigh my son for at least 2 months. THAT was another battle with the nurses who tried to insist on weighing him at his 6-month immunizations, but again, I held fast citing doctor’s orders. All this, and I had a relatively easy experience with nursing, so I can only imagine how much pressure mothers having significant difficulty would face. At 4 1/2 years old, my son is now a strong, energetic lithe young man and the pediatrician tells me that he has the body that everyone in North America wants. I was much more relaxed about nursing my second son and am set to deliver my third child in the next few weeks. There are good resources available in Canada, but as someone who strives to nurse till 24 months, I definitely am in the minority.

By: Sarah

Sarah — Thu, 20 May 2010 01:30:31 +0000

Hey Amanda,
I just wanted to say great job and hang in there–it will get so much easier, probably by 6 weeks or so! I had a hard time at the beginning, too, but by 6 weeks my daughter was nursing like a pro. My daughter is 14 months and still nursing (I plan to nurse until she self-weans) and going to La Leche League meetings has really helped me find support. If you have a LLL group nearby, I would highly recommend going to meet other like-minded moms and get help along the way.

I’ve known other moms who needed nipple shields at first, but they were able to wean the baby off the shields once they were a little older and stronger. I would say don’t worry about needing the shields for now, focus on getting him eating well and gaining, and slowly take away the shields when everything is going well. Keep up the great work, you can do it!

By: Sarah

Sarah — Thu, 20 May 2010 01:20:35 +0000

Abbie,
I’m so glad to hear that you stuck with it and that your nursing is going well now! We had the same issues with slow weight gain when my daughter was a newborn. She was even teenier–born at 6 lbs. 8 oz and got down to 5 lbs. 8 oz. We had to go in to the doctor all the time to weigh her and fret. I

I feel that some doctors are way too concerned with weight loss over 10%, when it is very common and normal. If the baby is nursing on demand and well-latched, they will start to gain. The constant weigh-ins just stressed me out and made those first weeks harder! The doctors truly made me feel like I was putting my baby at risk by not giving her formula! I believe that some doctors do not like breastfeeding because they can’t measure exactly what the baby is eating.

Thank goodness I had great support from family, friends, my doula, and La Leche League. I wish that all struggling new mothers had the support to make it through those first difficult weeks.

By: Callie

Callie — Wed, 19 May 2010 20:29:11 +0000

I am still angry at the nurses I dealt with when my son was born. They weren’t so bad in the hospital because things were mostly going ok. He nursed a lot even though my milk wasn’t in yet and I did have some nipple soreness. He did lose weight but his pediatrician assured me that all babies do that. Then came the in-home follow-up visit a couple of days after we got home. On the nurse’s portable scale, it appeared that he had not gained any weight since his check-up in the doctor’s office the day after we were released. So in two days, he hadn’t gained or lost any weight (according to her scale, which she admitted sometimes showed different numbers than the scale in the doctor’s office). So she called the nurse at the hospital and they requested we bring him in. She tried to push formula on me, which I accepted since at this point I was petrified that I was starving my baby. He refused to take a bottle. They hooked me up to a pump to see if I “was producing milk.” All I got was a few drops, but of course, he had been nursing all day, I was still less than a week post-partum, and I was extremely stressed. They sent us home with a bunch of bottles and instructions to supplement because she wanted him “full as a tick.” She proceeded to call me at home several times, hounding me about bringing him in for another weight check. I stopped taking her calls, so she had the pediatrician’s office call me! I took him in and he was back up to his birth weight and the doctor said “He is perfectly fine. He’s gaining weight, he’s got good color, he’s not dehydrated. Go home and keep nursing your baby.” I really have to give credit to my sister and my fiancé and his parents, who all assured me that people had been feeding their babies this way for years without books and nurses and doctors and the human race had done just fine. Thankfully, I didn’t give up and we are still nursing now at 23 months. And sometimes I would like to take him back to the nursery, all 36 inches and 34 pounds of him and tell him this was the baby they thought wasn’t gaining enough weight. But then I’m vindictive like that.

By: Andrea

Andrea — Wed, 19 May 2010 19:51:40 +0000

OMG! I didn’t try in the classes with my baby because it was prenatal. But a class AFTER the birth is a great idea. Major fail not allowing the babies to take part! Almost laughable, if it wasn’t so sad!