Morgan,

 

Thank you for that wonderful post (you have so many!).  I have to agree with
everything you have said and I'll take it a step further in my own
direction.  

 

I have been talking with a Nurse Practitioner who will be procuring donor
milk from a number of moms for his baby he is adopting at birth in January.
He does NOT want this baby on ABM at all.  He had a meeting with the moms
who asked about testing and many other questions - I was asked to be there
to answer what he could not, so I was.  What he told them was that in his
professional opinion he could test them but those tests are specific for
that time and that time only.  Changes and/or issues can show up 1 wk, 1
month, 3 months down the line so what is he supposed to do - continue to
test them every other week?  No!  In his opinion (both personal and
professional) breastmilk is the perfect food - women go through so much
testing prior to birth that if there were a problem all hell would have
broken loose and they would have played hell to breastfeed their own baby.
So, since they were all breastfeeding and all their babies appear healthy
and happy and the moms appear healthy and happy he must assume that their
milk is just fine.  ABM is NOT a perfect food - it is only there if no
breastmilk can be obtained and it has a number of serious risks in his
professional opinion.  He also discussed the importance of communication -
if one needs meds - let him know - then he can make an educated decision as
to whether or not to accept milk with antibiotics or whatever in it.  But
again, he stated that since it would most likely be fine for them to
breastfeed their own babies - why would it NOT be ok for his baby to drink
that milk?  And, he will be investigating the possibility of getting a
prescription for donor milk for his baby (through HMBNA).  He is absolutely
the staunchest BF supporter I have seen in a long time outside our field.
:-)  He even tells moms in his care that they cannot give up BF without
first seeing an LC because BF and breastmilk is TOO important to mom and
baby!

 

The bottom line here is that here is a man who really gets it.  I have also
discovered that the other FNP he works for is also VERY breastfeeding
friendly - in fact so much so that he is at a loss as to why any good Dr.
would tell a mom who producing 80 oz of milk per day is a good thing (I
mentioned this client before) - he wants to see her NOW to investigate
because someone with ONE BABY should NOT be producing 80oz of milk in a day
- by the way - that amount started at 60oz per day 4 weeks ago - it
continues to go up and mom is only pumping 5 times a day now (we are working
on trying to reduce the supply but it is not working - she is highly
allergic to psuedoephedrine and birth control pills).  The FNP KNOWS that
there is something wrong and is willing to work with me to help the moms in
my care who are not getting the response they need from their own HCPs.

 

Just wanted to share this - it is a very interesting situation.  Please - no
comments about this being outside my scope of practice - I made my
disclaimer to the moms and the gentleman that it was and gave the
information they needed because no one else would.  I am not recruiting - I
am simply giving information to those who want to help.  We have here a
situation where a baby with absolutely no access to human milk directly from
her adopted parent (who would provide it if he reasonably could) will be
getting human milk from a group of women who are thrilled to be able to
help.  And we also have a father to be who is thrilled to have found someone
who will listen and give him the information he needs.  He contacted several
other LC's in my area and NO ONE even bothered to respond to him.  How sad
is that?

 

Warmly,

 

Jaye Simpson, IBCLC, CIIM

Breastfeeding Network

Sacramento, CA

www.breastfeedingnetwork.net

 


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