You are so, so right, Sue - both on the problems created by a) the urge to
create stockpiles and the focus on pumps, and on b) what should be focused
upon, i.e. "How the Breast Makes Milk". I've been concerned about this for a
long time. So many Mums already have a pump before giving birth, or very
soon after, and as they cost a lot or if they were gifts, the mindset is
that they ought to be used. So they are used unnecessarily, because they
are there, and then to use the expressed milk a bottle is introduced - and
so it goes... It's very sad when a Mum is expressing for her small
stockpile, with her healthy baby in the same room or another room, and it
doesn't occur to her to pick up her baby. Objects given priority over people
(baby people). Also sad, in this thunderstorm-prone region where electricity
blackouts can and do occur, would be when someone loses her precious
stockpile, or has to use it or dump it as it is thawing. Mercifully, most of
the Mums I see who are pumping, for their own reassurance, only have a few
batches stored and I've only occasionally heard of a "freezer full".
By the way, when talking with Mums, I often use the term "machine" in
relation to pumps - "pumping machine", "milking machine", "mechanical
pumping". It is an accurate term and sounds less cosy. No one has objected.
Mercifully, I seldom see those apps for recording every moment of the baby's
day, but some clients do use their own homemade old-style paper record. At
least it doesn't take over their lives to the extent of the apps.
Virginia
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sue Jocoby wrote:
Stockpiling breastmilk. Arrrgg! This seems to be becoming a standard that
mothers believe they must practice, starting almost immediately after birth.
So we have lots of focused attention on the pump (as WELL as those hand-held
devices) and then lots and lots of obsessing over whether their supply is
"enough" "dropping" "needs building."
Then I get mothers in to my clinic stating that they have exausted all of
their stockpile and need formula. Did they pump every time they or a
caregiver offered some of that stockpiled milk? No!
I think the insistance that every mother in a health plan be allowed to get
a breast pump is going to make things worse. We need a national teach-in on
"How The Breast Makes Milk." And what interferes!
Stockpiles are for premies. And even then those mothers need to pump or
nurse when the baby gets out of the hospital. These mothers often do what I
described, above, and then "don't have enough milk,"
Sue Jacoby
CA
***********************************************
Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html
To reach list owners: [log in to unmask]
Mail all list management commands to: [log in to unmask]
COMMANDS:
1. To temporarily stop your subscription write in the body of an email: set lactnet nomail
2. To start it again: set lactnet mail
3. To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
4. To get a comprehensive list of rules and directions: get lactnet welcome
|