Dear Lactnetters:

Once again you have come thru for me, confirming that my instincts were
correct. I purposely posted about the baby with the suspiciously diagnosed
"rectal obstuction" as objectively as possible to get your true reactions.
I truly appreciate your honesty and compassion for this mom and baby. There
have been obviously STRONG reactions. I was appalled at the story myself and
it was all I could do to maintain my cool while on the phone with her. I
told her that I had never heard of such a thing! As I stated, when she
called me (about another matter all together) it was the last day of the two
weeks that they (parents) were supposed to do this procedure.  We talked
about normal stooling patterns for BF babies, etc.  I hoped that this was
convincing enough to spare the baby the one last "treatment(?)" that day.
Just to clarify, the ped said that it should only bleed a little the first
time (when he did it). As if that's really any consolation!

What I didn't mention, was that the dr. was a ped on a naval base. Her
husband is in the military...she may not have much choice as far as dr's go.
The other thing I didn't mention is that her sister is a LLLeader and her
mom an RN.  The mom told me she had read about the normal stooling patterns
of BF babies and knew that it was normal for BF babies to go longer without
having a bm.  It seems from our two conversations we have had in the past,
that she is at odds with the info she receives from her sister and from her
mom.  At times she seems to listen to both of them and other times, neither
of them.  I think, at any rate, that since she is 19 yrs. old and a first
time mom she is having difficulty sorting out information and confused WHO
to listen to.

I will follow up with this mom to see how they are doing and suggest another
ped.  I'll have to see what I can find out about the ped.  Have only lived
in Memphis for 9 mos. and am still finding my way around the medical community.

Thanks again for confirming my gut reaction.  It's so good to have access to
all this networking/support!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Melody Engberg, IBCLC, LLLL
Methodist Alliance Health Serv.
Memphis, TN