Tammy it sounds like your group of paediatricians are a scientific bunch -
that's not all bad, it takes all sorts to make a world.

I think you will get the best success if you argue along scientific
lines.  Prof Peter Hartmann's research is all pure science and explains so
beautifully how all breast capacities are different, and that milk
synthesis (and total production) is dependent on the degree of breast
fullness.  With all of this physiology in mind it is quite obvious that
yes, some babies will thrive on 5 feeds a day, but the next one will HAVE
to breastfeed 2-hourly or fail to thrive because of his mother's different
breast physiology.  There is NO rule that will fit all.  You might like to
copy the charts that Peter uses to demonstrate this concept.  Here's the
url to on of his articles which explains this
concept.  http://mammary.nih.gov/reviews/lactation/Hartmann001/index.html

You may like to throw in a bit of information about diseases that are
associated with not breastfeeding, just to remind those present that this
really is a serious health issue.  I highly recommend you get the article
called: Breastfeeding and chronic disease in childhood and adolescence.
written by Davis MK and published in Pediatric Clinics of North America,
48(1) 2001. This article goes through each of the chronic diseases and does
an excellent literature review, which usually carries a lot of weight.
I would also briefly state statistics for acute diseases too (don't dwell
on it though).

So hopefully now you have re-inforced to them the importance of
breastfeeding (which they probably weren't disputing) and that
physiologically it cannot be controlled by a clock (which may be new
information to them).  I see their major problem being that women come into
their office complaining about being so tired from frequent feeding and can
the doctor please fix it.  I understand their dilemma!!

This is where you can be really helpful... talk to them about ways they can
really assist the mothers of the frequent feeders to accept that this is
good for both themselves and their infant and teach them ways to handle the
situation as it is.  I have found that most mothers will accept the feeding
pattern of their baby happily when they realise that it is normal for them.
They've just had so many people telling them that either they or the infant
are at fault for this BAD behaviour and they seek the guidance of their
doctor to fix it.  Your job is to help those paediatricians move the mother
along to realistic expectations, to acceptance of the norm for her and her
baby, and better management techniques of her time and energy.

Good luck Tammy
Denise

Denise Fisher
mailto:[log in to unmask]
http://www.health-e-learning.com


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