I have always thought that the AAP was a very powerful body.  But it is
coming clearer each day that, powerful though they be, they can't come
close to the power of anti-breastfeeding sentiment among the pediatric
membership in this country.

Peds all over are saying, "Sure the AAP has said that, for optimal health,
a baby should be breastfed for at least a year, but..."

Last night a client had her baby into Children's Hospital and the resident
volunteered this recommendation:  "I know that the AAP has recommended
breastfeeding for a year, but 6 months is long enough.  My wife nursed our
baby for 6 months then switched to formula.  Formula is just fine for a baby."

This mother is a dedicated breastfeeder and is very knowledgeable about
health issues.  She opened her mouth to speak, but her husband said, "We
need to go." And to the doctor, "You don't know who you are talking to
about 6 months of breastfeeding being enough."

Last week I worked with a family who had some problems surrounding the
birth.  Mother was determined to breastfeed and began pumping early.  At
the dismissal exam at the hospital, the Ped told the mother that she could
breastfeed if she wanted to put all that work into it, but it really
doesn't make much difference because formula is just as good.  The husband
heard that and was a major obstacle in our work getting baby to breast. He
kept saying that the doctor said... ( The baby is now breastfeeding well.)

This is a ped who is expecting her second baby and has made it clear to
everyone that she is formula feeding this baby as well. Her husband is also
a ped. and says that this breastfeeding stuff is over-rated.  I have worked
with 7 of their clients in the past  year and not one has gone on to
breastfeed past a couple of months.

I naively thought that the AAP breastfeeding position last December would
have an impact on the pediatric community, but what I am finding is that it
is the *parents* who are taking it seriously. They believe what they heard,
and are working hard to successfully feed their babies at mother's breast.
But they are not getting the encouragement from their babies' doctors and
sometimes are being sabotaged intentionally.

Has there ever been a health issue that is so clear that has been so
flaunted by health-care practitioners? Can you imagine a doctor saying
"Sure the oncologists say that a woman should have a mammogram, but my
mother didn't ever have one and she lived to be 86 with no breast cancer.
You can get a mammogram if you can stand the pain, but this breast exam
stuff is over-rated."

And when is someone going to write an article in a "respected" journal
about intraductal and nipple yeast?  A client was told yesterday by her OB
that such a condition would be very rare. (OOOOhhhhhh, how I wish!) And, of
course, he wouldn't treat her.  Another said he had never heard of such and
was going to contact the CDC about yeast infection in the breast. :)

I really meant for this post to be about the rejection of breastfeeding in
the medical community (and not yeast).  I am most disappointed in my
medical community.  Is anything being done at the med. school level?  But
first the professors at the schools have to get beyond their "breastfeeding
aversion."  Where do we start?  I guess it will have to be from the
parents' demanding that their doctors become educated.

And the LC profession is concerned about *our* credibility!

"When the people lead the leaders must follow."

Patricia Gima, IBCLC
Milwaukee





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