here is a link to the website version of the article I am referencing in my letter
to the editor
http://www.parenting.com/parenting/babytalk/article/0,19840,1696052,00.html
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I am an international board certified lactation consultant (IBCLC) who works in
a hospital based outpatient lactation center. I am a professional -- not among
the "very vocal legions of women who promote nursing from a personal
standpoint".
To say I am outraged at your article/excerpt is an understatement. Your
advice is glib, cavalier and potentially damaging to establishing breast feeding
during the critical postpartum/neonatal time line.
I found it interesting that the article/excerpt is written by some the editors of
your magazine. I was unaware that being an editor makes one an authority to
give medical advice -- grammatical advice, sure, but medical advice? I am
also fairly certain that none of your editors are IBCLC, nor any other lesser
lactation training credentialed. I am also fairly certain that William and Martha
Sears (who are contributing editors) did not have a hand in the writing,
reviewing, editing or critiquing of this book.
I am curious -- how many mothers have you worked with whose babies had
trouble latching after getting "just one bottle"? How many mothers have you
worked with who permanently lost part of their milk supply by not stimulating
the breasts often enough in those first 3 weeks of lactation establishment?
How many babies have you had to teach via suck-training how to milk a breast
effectively once again because they learned improper technique from using
fast flow bottles?
"Most babies can take a bottle just fine at 2 weeks" -- pray tell, do you have
any empirical evidence for this statement. Sorry, your non-scientific poll on
your website does not count as evidence. So, if 82% of moms on your
website say they had not problems going back & forth, then at least 18% did
experience problems! Calling this "bunk" is inflammatory and misleading!
I also find the use of other choice words sprinkled liberally through this article
to be unprofessional: "liberated", "PC police" and
"emotionally draining" are among them.
At least you did not use the term "nipple Nazi"! However I resent being
called "PC police". Since when is giving evidence-based advice equated with
political correctness or law-enforcement?
I am additionally disturbed by the photo spread that accompanies this
article/excerpt. The baby that is nursing has a shallow latch, which may
account for the eye-squinting (pain face?) seen on the mother. And the
bottle fed baby seems disinterested, and is being coaxed to take the bottle--
despite your advice not to force-feed.
Your editors have no idea how damaging the advice to add formula to bottles
so you can "limit how often you need to pump at work" can be. Mothers must
stimulate their breasts and regularly remove milk in order to maintain their
supply. This little trick you propose can cause a mother to have a major
reduction in her breastmilk supply -- but I guess if she is already buying into
the formula treadmill then adding more and more formula to the cocktail and
eventually discontinuing breast feeding all together is not seen as a problem to
you because you have reassured those mothers that "we love you too".
Well, perhaps the good news is that as long as horrendous misinformation like
this is being presented in major mass media such as your magazine, there will
always be work for lactation consultants to come in and "clean up the mess".
Rachel Silber, IBCLC, CCE, CD, CD(DONA), CLE, CPD
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