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Date: | Sun, 12 Feb 2006 15:01:43 EST |
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I work in a hospital with over half of our mothers are on WIC. There are
many mothers who are immigrants from a variety of countries. It is very hard
for me to find any of these mothers willing to exclusively breastfeed. They
all state on admission that they plan to do both breastfeeding and formula
feeding. I always try to encourage exclusive breastfeeding in the first few
weeks and than tell them after their milk supply is well established that if
they need to introduce formula there would be less negative impact on her supply.
The WIC program in my state has worked hard to educate and supports
breastfeeding in their program. I call my local WIC office to give let them know
about moms who have had problems so they can follow up with them. All the moms
that delivery at our hospital have made at least one visit to the WIC office
prior to delivering so they already have established a relationship. I
remind the mothers that the WIC office has breastfeeding support and for them to
call and get help as needed.
These are some of the comments moms make to me when I try to discourage
formula feeding over exclusive breastfeeding.
"I have to go back to work in a couple weeks, so I need the formula."
"I want my free formula and if I only breastfeed I won't get the
formula."
"In my country they did not have free formula so I had to breastfeed. I
want the formula so I am just like the other Americans."
"I don't have enough milk. My baby is always hungry. My baby does not
like my milk. So to all these comments the mother gives the formula."
I try to educate the mothers on these comments but I rarely get through. If
I have a very supportive family I can get a mother to exclusively breastfeed.
I also am working with the staff who thinks that these mothers are making
informed decisions and therefore do not need any teaching or encouragement from
them.
I will keep on teaching and encouraging exclusive breastfeeding along with
working with the WIC staff.
Ann Perry, RN IBCLC
in snowy Boston, MA
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