Along the current thread on how not to alienate a new mom, I have a recurrent problem when I make our postpartum follow-up phone calls. I don't know how best to deal with a mother who feels it is somehow more effective for her to pump and give EBM by bottle than it is for her to just breast feed. The one I spoke to last night (and no, I don't have her permission to post) started to supplement with pumped EBM because the baby would only nurse for 5 minutes. She started this the day after getting home from the hospital. Most of the time when I hear stories like this, they seem content to be doing all this extra pumping and most of the time it sounds like it was unnecessary. Usually the baby has had good output etc. Usually it's more reflective of a nervous, uncertain mom. So, in those instances where it wasn't broke and mom decided something needed to be fixed, I like to encourage them to allow themselves to return to exclusive breastfeeding for the ease of it. I don't think any of them realize how it complicates the nursing relationship by pumping and bottle feeding. That it makes going out anywhere a much more daunting challenge than if they simply nursed. Most of the time I'm talking to them in the first few days and they haven't even ventured anywhere yet and have no idea how they've made feeding so much more complicated. But, usually even when I'm consciously trying to be gentle and not overbearing with my advice, the mom gets quiet and I know that I blew it. Last night after this happened, I asked if she was OK and apologized for making her feel badly, if that's what she was feeling. I told her that she should do whatever would make her feel good about feeding her baby. But, she remained pretty tightlipped and I got off the phone feeling pretty shitty. Oh well, can't win them all. Gotta go to an IS training, Priscilla Tansley RN IBCLC *********************************************** 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