How frustrating to hear yet more blatently wrong information given out to a
mother- and how absolutely horrible to hear the scare tactics used-
A four and a half month old fully breastfed baby, gaining okay, - mom is a
heavy smoker and a big coffee drinker, has been throughout pregnancy and
lactation. Baby is irritable lately, has always spit up, now a bit more,
plus lots of crying. Pediatrician suspects reflux, so has told mom to put
baby on schedule, to nurse no more often than every three to three and a
half hours, and use pacifier and "baby tea" , "so he can determine if the
problem is from the feedings" (we didn't understand it either) . The cherry
on the top is that he said to the mother the following, when she expressed
concern over a possible need for medication for the baby - " Don't even ask
what kind of a catastrophy can happen if the milk gets aspirated into the
baby's lungs-  You don't want to see that"... Since that encouraging
statement the mom has been checking the baby's breathing every fifteen
minutes all night for fear that he might be choking to death on the
breastmilk, and probably smoking even more from the pressure....I wonder
what the next move on the agenda is.
Instead of saying something like," What a lucky baby to be breastfeeding,
especially if he does have reflux, etc.."  or something useful, like
talking about the mom's diet (oh yes, he told her that only sweet food
passes thru into the breastmilk - is that why for every medication he tells
moms to stop bfdg? Are they all sweet?) or other strategies, no mention at
all of the cigarettes or coffee, just making such unproductive statements
like these.....He has already prescribed some special drops that make the
baby have a bowel movement, because several weeks ago, the baby had some
blood in his stools, with the diagnosis of a virus. Since then his stooling
frequency dropped, and these drops get it going. What about changes in
stooling in bfd babies?
Fortunately the mom knows to seek information from other sources and will
hopefully use her own sense plus info to make really informed decisions
regarding this situation.

Just Jennie ranting and sharing her frustration  in sunny and hot Israel,
where the problems are the  same, just in Hebrew (and several other
languages, but the same as all over the world)

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