Virginia, thank you for taking us down 'memory lane' with you. I laughed
out loud when I read about the parrot! What fun.
Reading this reminds me that it is the VERY RARE household I enter for my LC
home visits which remains pet free. In these parts, its almost always dogs.
who enjoy climbing all over me, licking my hands, and attempting to coax me
into a game of 'come on. play with my new toy!'. For the most part, I like
dogs and they like me and we all get along just fine. But. I have
witnessed quite a few households in which the pet (mostly dogs) *actually*
interfere with breastfeeding, mostly because when mama is attempting to sit,
relax and feed the baby the dog(s) demands attention or gets into something
or just creates noise and distracts mom.
One particular household I will never forget, was where mama was struggling
with a very low milk supply, a poor gaining baby, and finger feeding
apparatus. There were two really large dogs in this household (I can't
remember the breed) who had the roam of the house during the first part of
the consult. After taking a breastfeeding and health history and then
conducting my exam of the baby, mom put the dogs out in the backyard via the
sliding door off the living room, and we settled into feeding the baby.
Little one was quite hungry, so I suggested that mom offer an appetizer via
finger feeding before we attempted the breast. No sooner had she settled
in, tubed finger in baby's mouth, and baby happily drinking when all of the
suddenly mom YANKS her finger out of baby's mouth, yells "GET OUTTA
THERE!!!!", jumps off the couch with baby balancing precariously on her
forearm, runs to the sliding door, opens it, and continues with "GET BACK
HERE YOU STUPID DOGS!!!!" Apparently, the dogs had 'issues' with getting
into the neighbours yard.
At first I was startled and stunned as I watched this tirade, and couldn't
speak. The next thought that came to my mind was 'no wonder this baby isn't
feeding well!". If you all had seen how 'violent' the yanking of the finger
and jumping up was, you would have been stunned too. That one was the
worst, but since then there have been other homes in which the family pet
interrupts feeding times, and I can't help but wonder if it might be a
factor with breastfeeding difficulties.
Thoughts, wise ones?
~kg
Karyn-grace Clarke, IBCLC
Nanaimo, BC, Canada
Direct [+1] 250 739 3146
@MilkWhisperer
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<http://www.goldconf.com/> www.goldconf.com
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