We heard this basic message from a female pediatrician, when our baby was
dealing with lots of weight loss at birth/jaundice/traumatic birth/c section
etc. etc. etc.  We saw her prior to his birth, but this was her first time
seeing him.  Her first comment was, "your fourth baby goes to a room by
herself without a monitor" stated in a very patronizing tone as she walked
into the room (we had obviously had a hard week).  Her second action was to
freak out on us (quite literally) and tell us that we had to either
supplement with formula (he had just started nursing well the day before) or
hospitalize him and give him IV fluids.  We were too inexperienced and
frankly frightened to not supplement, but with a lot of perseverance he
quickly weaned off the supplements and went on to nurse for 22 months until
he self-weaned, consistently hitting 75-90 percentile on the growth curve.
(needless to say, we have another more supportive pediatrician now).  I
can't help but think that most MD's--male or female--have their babies or
become dads during residency, and most make compromises in their own choices
that impact their ability counsel parents with integrity.  Ironically, I
thought a woman would be more helpful!  That experience is what makes me so
passionate about LLL (I went to my first meeting soon thereafter) and the
work you all do as lactation consultants!

Anisa Cottrell Willis

Question:

Is this advice not to respond to a baby always from a male and/or doctor
author?  I myself have not seen this advice from a female.  My guess is that
it is a control issue on the part of these docs.  They wish to have the mom
exclusively available to the husband/father, with whom they identify.

Judy Ritchie


             ***********************************************

To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest)
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
All commands go to [log in to unmask]

The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html

             ***********************************************

To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest)
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
All commands go to [log in to unmask]

The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html