Jamelle Lyons wrote:

"But doesn't it make you wonder what other 'medical advice' he is giving out that is incorrect? I mean, is he this knowledgeable about, say, the symptoms of leukemia? Or how to accurately diagnos shingles?" 

****

Well, these are assumptions the mothers often make after getting conflicting advice about bf and having arguments and bad feelings about going to a particular doctor anymore. For lots of moms though it is not possible to change providers - in my country you can change your doctor only in specific time of the year - so I really don't find it helpful to steer mom's thoughts in this directions. 

This is a very big problem in our country at the moment - bf moms go to the doc, hear outdated advice, cannot easily change provider though and end up not following doctor's advice altogether, even in situations where it can be dangerous for the baby.

IMHO and experience, this is what I am telling my moms - doctors do have very varying interests in different areas and can be really good pediatricians and/or GP's without having any particular interest in bf. It is doctor's job to care about sick babies and kids. It is mother's job to make a kid healthy and to care for her healthy child - bf is mother's job and moms have done it from the dawns of time without doctor's directions. Sometimes all a doctor should do is simply not interfere ;-)

Of course, that doesn't mean that doctors can and should remain ignorant about bf - but it is really not helpful to make suggestions that if a doc is not knowledgable about bf, he or she is automatically an uninformed or bad doctor altogether. Most of the time this is simply not true, IMHO.

Christina Yaneva
BF Peer Councellor
Bulgaria




      

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