Hi,
Just a vent, but I'd appreciate suggestions about anything I can do
before I explode or something.

The lady in this story recently had her fourth baby. She had bf'd the
other three and was quite knowledgeable about the basics of bf'ing.

This baby was premie and unwell and at 4wo, had failed to gain weight.
The mother was told (by a Health Visitor) on inspection of some EBM she
had pumped, that her milk was "too thin and not mature milk - only
colostrum really". She was then advised to bottle feed with a certain
brand of ABM which was "almost as good as breastmilk" (according to the
HV). She was upset at this, and not inclined to take the advice, but
felt undermined. I suggested she take the baby to a doctor.

This she did, and ended up in NICU with a baby with suspected pyloric
stenosis (the reason the baby had not gained weight). She wasn't able to
bf'd on demand (or encouraged to do so), due to her other children at
home, an hour's drive away and no childcare, but found pumping was
disasterous. She was told her low yields with the pump were due to her
inadequate milk supply.

Even this did not cause her to give up, however. She got a prescription
of metaclopromide to increase her milk supply, a good double pump and
sought information about establishing a good milk supply with a pump. I
thought she might make it. The baby was then diagnosed with a kind of
gastric hernia (diaphragmatic hernia?) which was apparently quite
serious, but they felt that the symptoms could be controlled with drugs
and that surgery may be avoided.

Sadly, this pm I got a call to say she had given up and put the baby on
formula. She said she had "had a long talk with the doctors, who felt
that since the baby had done so well on such-and-such ABM, actually
gaining weight in the last two days, it would be better not to 'rock the
boat' and try to establish breastfeeding". The mother said that if she
tried to breastfeed, she was afraid the baby would be in NICU longer,
since the goal now was to make the baby gain weight and "obviously her
milk wouldn't be up to that task". I got the distinct impression that
she felt that trying to establish bf'ing would be frowned upon by the
doctors. She expressed disappointment about her "failure" to breastfeed,
is worried about affording the formula (she is on a very low income) but
says it will be worth it if the baby gets to come home soon because of
it. She ended with the statement "I suppose this proves that breast
isn't always best".
--
Anna (Mummy to Emma, born 17th Jan 1995, Alice, born 11th Sept 1996,
??? due 18th April 1998)
Email: [log in to unmask]  Web Page: http://www.ratbag.demon.co.uk/anna