I wanted to relate a story from a mom I am working with.  This is a  single 
mom, 45 years old who got pregnant through IVF.  She really wants to  
breastfeed her baby but is a bit nervous and her support is some friends who  come by 
occasionally and her sister is coming in a couple of weeks.  She is  basically 
on her own right now.  
In the hospital her baby boy was very sleepy.  There were documented a  
couple good nursings but I never observed them.  I had mom hand expressing  and 
either letting her baby lick the colostrum or did some spoon feeding  with her 
milk.  Her baby's birth weight was 7-1 and discharge weight  at 2 days old was 
6-11.  Two days later at the pediatrician's office  the baby weighed 6-11.
Mom has been calling me with concerns on how long it takes her baby to  latch 
(any where from 30-45 minutes).  Once the baby latches he nurses well  and 
comes off content.  He is nursing on average 9 times a day and having  4-5 
large, yellow, seedy stools.  
She came in for an outpatient visit on the sixth day postpartum just prior  
to returning to her pediatrician's for another weight check.  The mother  told 
me that the pediatrician was suggesting that she might have to give formula  
if the baby did not gain.  She also told the mom she should not be nursing  
more than every 3 hours.
We worked to get the baby latching better and nursing well.  
The mom called me after her pediatrician appointment.  The baby  weighed 
6-12.  I had explained to the mom that the usual weigh gain is 0.5  - 1.0 oz/day.  
The mom states the pediatrician did not think this was  good enough and wants 
her to come back on Monday.  The mom describes that  she was brought to one 
of the exam rooms for the visit and the pediatrician  asked her to breastfeed.  
The little boy latched well and nursed well so  the pedi left her alone so he 
could finish.  Mom told me as she sat there  she started to notice her 
surroundings.  All over the room there was  bottles of formula and advertisements 
from formula companies.  This is  mom's own comments "I now understand why my 
pediatrician was so eager to have me  use formula."
I gave her reassurance she and her baby are doing well and have told her we  
will have a follow up visit next week.
Once this mom is feeling like she has her feet on the ground I will ask her  
to contact some of our legislature with impending bills, telling this story so 
 they can understand the influence the formula industry has on providers.
Ann Perry, RN IBCLC
Boston, MA



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