Just need to vent after meeting our new head Neonatologist today.  We lost
our previous kind, breastfeeding knowledgeable and supportive Neo who was
helping us try to get donor milk for our Special Care Nursery.  Our new one
could not be more opposite.  He told me how happy he was to work with me and
then proceeded to tell me he was an expert on nutrition and breastfeeding
and has lectured all over the country and the world on the topic.  His
special interest is DHA and ARA.  He says that "Breastmilk is best, but it
can be better" with supplementation of the mother's diet with DHA.  He said
that research shows that preterm breastmilk is inadequate after 8 days
because it then becomes full term milk, that Brand S formula's research is
flawed because their formula's DHA level  is deficient as it has the same
level as mother's milk, which is also deficient in DHA, and Brand E had
better outcomes because it has much higher levels, and that mothers must be
supplemented with DHA (manufactured by Brand E).   He also said that donor
milk is the worst milk because the pasteurization process destroys most of
the immunities in the milk and changes the protein.  He says that in the
hospitals that use donor milk, mothers are requesting donor milk for their
babies instead of providing their own milk and that this is a very common
practice that will happen more and more with increased use of donor milk.
He also doesn't believe there is any need to protect the gut by giving only
breastmilk to start, says there is no research that proves formula causes
any harm to the gut.  He is also going to switch from Brand S' liquid
fortifier to Brand E's powdered fortifier.  We currently use no powdered
formulas.

My head was pounding after his marketing spiel and I politely countered many
of his claims, but I felt like I had just been cornered and verbally
assaulted by a formula rep like I had been in the past.  He is on Brand E's
payroll.  Our educator said that he had some of the nurses in tears this
weekend.  He ended his marketing pitch again by telling me how happy he was
to be working with me.  Ugh!

End of rant.

Linda Anderegg, BSN, RNC, IBCLC in Chicago


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