Okay, so here's another one to chalk up to my frustration about MDs who
don't enough about BF and make some pretty careless suggestions, IMHO.
I was working with a very nice mother/baby dyad. The baby was feeding
beautifully! Her latch was beautiful. She had the suck of a Dyson. It was
a lovely sight. Mom had asked me to come to her aid because she was
engorged and was finding it difficult to latch because her breasts were
rock hard. She was also having loads of headaches which I suspected were
spinal headaches from the epidural (which she ended up having a blood
patch done for, thus proving it was a spinal headache). Mom was not a
happy camper, but I got baby to latch beautifully and mom was not
uncomfortable breastfeeding while I was there. She shed tears of joy and
called me an angel. I was pretty high on myself that day.
So then, she went into the hospital the next day because of the headaches.
Her husband called me frantic because mom wasn't getting even a drop of
milk out when pumping and the baby needed to get bottles because her momma
was going to stay in the hospital overnight. I verbally instructed dad
about RPS and he called me back to say that RPS did the trick. Hooray!
Well, this mom's OB told her that she was too engorged to pump and that
she should wean temporarily and then relactate in about a week in order to
be more comfortable! WHAT?!
The husband called me to cancel the follow up appointment we had set up at
our initial visit and said he would be taking the MDs advice because after
all, that was her doctor and would know more. Is there a piece of the
puzzle I am missing here? I did explain to the dad that if her intention
is to BF, that this would really crimp her milk supply. He (a NICU nurse,
himself) said he was aware of this, but that mom was going to follow
medical advice. How could I compete with that? I told them that I would be
happy to help if and when she was feeling up to it, and I left it at that.
Is there anything more that I could have done? I couldn't show them any
research because they took the word of an MD as golden and that of a lay
LC as second rate. Is there any reasearch that shows that this action was
warranted or that it helps the mom in any way through engorgement. I have
looked and can't find any such. If there is, please turn me towards it so
that I can be better informed! This situation frustrated me greatly. How
can we get the MDs on our side and on the same page?
Warmly,
Veronica B. Tingzon, IBCLC, RLC, CLE, CNA
Oceanside, CA
www.theoriginalcomfortfood.com
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