I got little education on breastfeeding in medical school or residency
either.  Two things stand out in my mind as formative:  (1) my mother
breastfed us and I watched my sister-in-law breastfeed my nieces, so it's
family tradition, and (2) my baby's neonatologist (she has DS and was born
with a heart defect, plus I was in a very baby-unfriendly hospital) said to
me that "Sometimes it's just not worth the effort to try to breastfeed
babies like that."

"Babies like that?"  That comment flew all over me, and I committed myself
to breastfeed her, no matter what it took, just to show him up!  (My dh has
been known to say that the way to get me to do something is to tell me that
it's impossible!) So I read everything I could find on breastfeeding.  Not
just the "normal" stuff that I had read while pregnant, but all the "how to
overcome obstacles" stuff, including the medical literature references
cited.  I guess you could say I was my own first consult.  And the rest is
history.

Happy ending to the story:  Janette breastfed 19 months, took mommy milk
from a cup for awhile after that, is incredibly healthy, takes gymnastics
lessons, will be 5yo on Wed, and can already write her name (even spells it
right!), and read!  I now get referrals from that neonatologist's 3
partners, though none from him.

Becky Saenz, MD, IBCLC

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