Hi all
I didn't want to post this to Lactnet because it is too public a forum and I
didn't want to offend any members in Russia. But Kathleen Bruce told me it
was important to enrich the list so her's the case.
Her birth story follows in part 2. (Lactnet's server rejected it as a single
post.)
From Russia with love and we thought we had it bad.
(the mom said it was OK because she is all the way in Moscow)
I have received several letters from Russia. This one is by far the worst one
yet. I almost flipped when I saw that the Ezzo program has been exported to
Russia.
(I told her to throw out the book in the FIRST line of my letter to her.)
That was all this mother needed to read after being so confused by her
doctors.
Everything about her baby sounds so normal and there are the doctors trying
to mess it all up. Unbelievable.
She mentions the need for a scale for her friend: In that case I was dealing
with a bad case of oversupply colic and had made some changes to how she was
feeding her baby so the scale was needed for the other mom.
Marie Davis, RN, IBCLC
replies to: [log in to unmask]
http://sites.netscape.net/mariedavisrnibclc/index.htm
also at
http://hometown.aol.com/davisrnclc/myhomepage/index.htm
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From: <snipped>
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject:: Advice
Date: Thu, 3 Aug 2000 00:23:28 +0400
Dear Ms. Davis:
I am living in Moscow, Russia and recently I met a woman named Theresa who
said that you had helped her with some breast feeding advice via e-mail and I
was wondering if you could do the same for me. This is rather 'backwards
land' and I have no one really to ask advice to.
I had a little girl named <snip> on June 2 who was born at 7 pounds 5 ounces
and 20.5 inches. I do not have access to a scale normally, but at six weeks,
I had her to the doctor for a rash and the only useful
information I was given was her new weight and height. In six weeks, she had
grown to 12.5 pounds and 22.5 inches. I was very happy about this as she
looks like a very healthy, bubbly baby. Unfortunately, here with a russian
doctor I was scolded for eating all the wrong things in my diet and for over
feeding her. However, my diet is pretty well balanced. The things I was
told were outlandish and I can't listen to this kind of advice or ask the
questions I need to ask and get reasonable answers. They told me that the
rash was an allergy (without barely glancing at it) and after working at a
doctors office myself for several years, I really felt it was a fungal
infection. It was around her neck where the fat does not allow air in close
and I had had a difficult time getting it clean and dry and had not realized
that I was not cleaning it or drying it thoroughly enough.
Since this doctor felt it was an allergy - she told me to stop eating all
vegetables, all dairy products (which she said I shouldn't be eating anyway
because they give the baby gas), she listed off several fruits I was not to
eat and she said definitely no peanut butter. Meat is rather 'iffy' here so
I prefer to eat peanut butter for protein. She said I was not allowed to
drink my usual half cup of coffee each morning but that I could drink as much
tea as I wanted (isn't the caffeine in either one a bad idea?) And she said
that I only needed to stop these things for a solid week, then I could eat as
usual. However, if this rash were an allergy, wouldn't I need to eliminate
one thing at a time to see which thing were causing it? And
also, if it were an allergy, why then would I only need to stop these things
for a week? Wouldn't the rash then just come back?
As you can imagine - I did not alter my diet in the least and went with my
instinct on the fungal infection. I found an over the counter fungal cream
and the rash cleared up within the week. Nothing else had worked on it
because I had gone through oil, lotion, creme, powder - everything I could
think of with no changes.
About my breastfeeding - I try to keep a healthy diet including all the food
groups. I love raw vegetables, but I eat no red meat and very little 'junk'.
However, they told me that my milk was way to fatty and that I should only
feed my child 3-4 minutes on each side at a time, and on demand. They told
me this in the hospital and I did not listen because I couldn't bear to yank
my breast out of my child's mouth. They told me if she didn't let go that I
was to hold her nose and then she would let go to either switch sides or
stop. This doctor told me that I should definitely be feeding bottles of
water in between breast feeding so that my daughter wouldn't gain too much
weight. Now I understand completely why so many russian babies look anorexic
to me. However, though I know that their advice is outlandish - I really
don't know the right thing to do. My mother never breast fed so I don't
really have anyone to ask. Theresa told me it is helpful to have access to a
scale for you to help me, but I don't have that. The only place I can go
with a scale is this same doctors office and I am only going to go that
doctor as a last resort.
Would you please help me? Any advice you could give would be great. I
thought I was doing a pretty good job for not knowing anything, but now at
8-9 weeks, I feel a little confused. I have a book that someone gave me when
they were moving "Preparation for Parenthood" By Gary and Anne Marie Ezzo.
However, after all the controversy I have heard on that, now I am more
confused. Please respond.
Sincerely,
<sniped>
The only point of reference I have is that book.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
I answered, gave her half a dozen web sites including Dr, Jacks and
re-assured her that she had a wonderfully normal nursing newborn here is her
reply (see part 2)
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