Hi All,

It was asked/said that:

>>It is very expensive to keep an infant
in an acute care setting just to insure that breast feeding is working.  The
solution is to feed a bottle with breastmilk because most infants will take
a bottle and if everything else is "OK" then discharge the infant.>>

My comment to this is, it is MORE expensive in the long run for the mom,
baby and health care system to just "give the baby a bottle....".  Reason
being that when mom is told that it is taking to much energy to try and get
this baby BF, she will then feel undermined, overwhelmed and like a failure,
as well as feeling like the baby is a failure at something that should be so
natural.   When this happens, then baby usually ends up weaned and on ABM.
Not every hospital/town/big city, has excellant BF resources, and not every
mom knows how to find these resources even if they are there.  And why
should she bother?  She has already been told that she and her baby are not
worth the extra time, effort and money to help encourage a healthy BF
relationship.

Forgive me, but this really strikes a nerve in me.  Too many times I have
worked with moms who have been told "Just bottle feed the baby for now, it
is too hard to try and BF"  "We (nurses) don't have the time to keep helping
you BF your baby."  THese moms feel like failures, and ultimately (unless
they are REALLY tough) give up.  Then who wins?  ABM companies, not the baby
and the mom.

Please take the time to help these moms, or work with the hospital to find a
way to continue to help moms with the BF relationship.  Don't assume that a
baby will go back to breast when discharged, because many times they don't.
MAny times when mom gets home with this new baby, she is exhausted from
caring for a newborn (who may have special needs), pumping, caring for
herself, and in too many families, caring for everyone else as well.  She
may not realistically have the time to work on the BF at home the way she
really needs to, and she may not have the money to get continuing care with
an LC to get baby to breast.

My .02.
Jay
Jay Simpson, CLE
Sacramento, CA
Mama Milk is the Greatest!