I forgot to mention in my last post this anecdote --

One of my very best friends is now a family physician in a clinic for the
underserved.  She had a baby of her own in April of last year and called me
a  lot to discuss her various breastfeeding issues.  She always mentioned
how little she learned in medical school (she is not even 5 years out) about
breastfeeding.

A few months ago, she called me to ask about a patient she had seen.  Baby
nearly tripled his birthweight at two months on demand-fed breastmilk alone.
No problems, no complaints.  My friend called to ask me whether I thought
she should recommend to this mother that she put her baby on a schedule, to
spread out the feedings a bit more and maybe cut down on his calories.  I of
course urged her to look at appropriate WHO growth charts and consider the
rate of growth for a breastfed baby in those early months vs. the more
steady growth rate for a ABM fed baby.  I also reminded her of all she has
learned about breastfeeding and breastmilk through her own mothering.

It's very sad when doctors are just not informed.  I think many are
well-intentioned (my friend certainly is!) but the information is just not
out there.  And, as long as Big Pharma keeps funding wings of teaching
hospitals and university medical school programs, I think the odds are
against this information getting where it needs to be when those doctors are
being trained.

--Diana in NY

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