I am awaiting news of the outcome currently but wanted to let you know what
took place in court. I testified for 2 hrs yesterday and just under 2 hrs
this AM. The Mom's attorney kept asking me to tell how many times the mom
would have to pump in order to provide milk for bottles for the week and what
would be involved. I kept trying to explain the factors involved in pumping
and tried to give a range. The judge then asked me to be more specific on how
many pumpings, how long and how much each pumping. I tried to explain that
this varies, again depending on the Mom, her body, the stress she is under
etc. The judge said to pretend that this mom has "all systems go". I came up
with a figure of the baby needing 8-10 bottles a day, of 6-8 oz for 7 days
would equal about 420 oz. And pumping 4-6 oz each pumping ( this would be the
week before the dad had the baby so she also would be nursing), she would
have to pump 54 times or about 8 times a day. I tried to emphasize that this
would be almost impossible. As I was talking, The Dad's attorney who had a
Womanly Art of Bfing in front of him with all kinds of bookmarks in it, kept
nodding his head yes and then would remove a bookmark and finally put the
WABF away and didn't use it. I guess I gave all the right answers! Upon
cross examination, he took a short break and reviewed his notes, and then
pulled out a brochure on Infant Nutrition written by somebody at Harvard that
I have never heard of. He started by asking me wasn't it true that
educational materials provided by MD's was written by professionals in the
field who was reputable, and accurate. I almost laughed. I said, no most of
it is marketing and sales pitches. He then asked if I knew the Ped who wrote
the letter that said that Mom could pump and I said yes. He asked if I
respected him-yes. Then asked what type of relationship I had with that
office. I said that they referred Moms to me and had for about 16 yrs. That I
thought we had a very professional relationship.
He asked if I thought those Peds were accurate and up to date in their
education for parents. I said that there some of the peds were more
knowledgable in BFing but that none of them had attended any of the
inservices or Grand Rounds at the Hospital which had been taught in the past
8 yrs on BFing. He asked how I knew and I said because I had taught most of
them, eitherly solo or with a MD. He then went through the brochure and asked
if I agreed with the statements in it. Things like "babies need to start
solids at 4 months, ABM has all the nutrients necessary for growth and Moms
need to be assured that ABM is adequate and not to be made to feel guilty". I
addressed each point and then I asked him the date of publication and it was
1994. I then borrowed one of the statements someone made on here this week
and said that if I went to a MD who had not updated his skills in 5 yrs or
was not following his profesional organization recommendations, that I would
not even consider that MD for my physician. He then asked what were the
professional recommendations and I was able to get in some of the AAP stuff.
He then asked if I was stating that babies fed ABM was malnourished. I said
not necessarily malnourished, just not receiving optimal nutrition. He asked
what was missing as far as nutrients and I discussed DHA ( that's all I
could think of). He asked if I thought Dads were important in the life of a
baby and I said yes, but I thought that the importance of Dad and Mom wasn't
always 50-50, that babies needed Mom mostly in the first year and then
slowly started declaring independance and started to need Dad more and more
as he grew older. We then got into what I thought was an appropriate weaning
age. Again as we went round and round about individual differences. The judge
asked what was the minimum age that I thought babies should wean. I said
about age 2. The judge then asked what I thought about if I saw a 4 yr old
nursing. I said I wouldn't think it to be unusual. I had found out last night
that the Mom's attorney has a 4yr old who just weaned!
I was absolutely drained when I left court. I hope I was able to help. I
discussed the idea of compromise with the mom's attorney last night of maybe
asking Dad to meet Mom halfway ( she has moved 8 hrs away) and staying in a
hotel for a weekend so the baby can nurse maybe at least once or twice a day
and Dad be responsible for the care of keeping the baby with him for that
length of time and then lengthening the time to a long weekend where Dad can
bring the baby home for 3-4 days but not a week until the baby is closer to 2
yrs old.
I hope I was able to help.
The attorney told me also that Child Psychologist get about $500/hr to
testify and said he was sure I wasn't get paid that much! I said not even
close.
Thanks for all your support and encouragement. The LLLI legal pack is very
good! the attorney wanted to keep it and said to send him the bill for it.
Wonder how much I can charge for it???
Barbara Whitehead, IBCLC
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