Has anyone had success in telling a mother to go back to her HCP and to say,
"I don't choose to stop breastfeeding my baby.  Is there any other drug that
you can find to treat my condition?"

Now the HCP would have to forget about that latest shiny brochure that
advertised Drug X and remember what she used to do before this drug was
available, but I'm wondering if more mothers couldn't act like adults and
state clearly their intention to breastfeed their babies and ask the HCP for
further consideration in treatment. When the HCPs act like superiors and the
mothers instantly become helpless children, it is easy to forget who is in
the hire of whom.

I understand that mothers of newborns (and particularly if they have
pneumonia) are rather emotionally vulnerable, but perhaps *we* can be the
strong voice for them to help them tap that "mother bear" protection
characteristic of mothers of newborn mammals. Somehow women must stop
abdicating their rights as humans when they work with the health care system.

This pharmaceutical drug issue is coming down to be the latest weapon to
keep breastfeeding women in their place or to decrease the incidenceof
breastfeeding. But mothers don't have to let it happen.  You and I know that
there are many drugs that can work in a given situation and we must let our
clients know this and encourage them to talk to their HCPs as equals in the
health care of their families. It may not have occurred to them that they
are, ideally, partners in this endeavor.

This asking the MCP to reconsider her Rx won't work every time, but nothing
changes until people find the courage to speak up about what is not right.
And when enough people speak up the message can't be ignored.

Patricia Gima, IBCLC
Milwaukee
mailto:[log in to unmask]