Gail,

Wish you were here.

Patient #1.  Neurologist puts mom on Dilantin for questionable seizure
activity and tells her she must pump and dump.  Newborn is fed formula.
I express my concern to the nurse who is about to discharge her.  She
talks to the mom--suggested asking doctor about substituting phenobarb
or tegretol (carbamapine) which I was quite sure were okay (off the top
of my head--and they are) while breastfeeding.  I was told doctor will
probably take her off Dilantin in a couple weeks.  [Just now looked it
up--Dilantin is also approved by AAP for breastfeeding women]  I ask,
"And how likely do you think it is that the baby will breastfeed after 3
weeks (baby already several days old) of exclusively bottle feeding.
One of the nurses answered that she thought there would be no problem if
mom had kept up her milk supply by pumping.  How many of YOU buy that.

Just before I left, another mother was told to pump and dump so she
could take aspirin overnight until the doctor looked at her leg in the
morning (possible blood clot, I think).

Gail, you must be wrong.  Surely it's just a faucet that you turn on and
off at will and the baby drinks willingly from this faucet or the other
one, whichever happens to be on--who cares whether it's orange juiice or
orange soda--they're the same color.  Well the orange juice might be a
little better, but both are nutritious; above all, don't feel guilty if
you choose to provide the soda alone--after all, I grew up on it, and
I'm ok!

That book of stupid reasons is soon going to be to heavy to carry!

Bonnie Jones, RN, ICCE, IBCLC