Just thought I'd share what happens to some people in real life!

This was posted to another (non-lactation-related) list I'm on.  I asked for
and received permission from the author to post it here, with the names
changed of course.

Other background info is that the labor was induced at 37 weeks since the
mother has a history of having LARGE babies (10.5 and 12 pounds).  This baby
was 9.5 pounds.  He had some breathing problems, thus the delayed start of
breastfeeding.  The second hospital was not a luxury experience - that sentence
was written tongue-in-cheek.  And bili came down almost immediately, and all is
fine now.

<snip>

2001 A BREASTFEEDING ODYSSEY

At hospital number one- where Jimmy was born, I met with opposition from
the pediatrician on duty when I wanted to breastfeed. Jimmy hadn't been
allowed to eat for the first two days of life, so on day 3, Ped tells me
he is ready for Jimmy to have a bottle. I protested -- requested to
breastfeed and he basically gave me failure orders by telling me that it
probably was too late and not to be disappointed when it failed. He
followed me into the nursery and when Jimmy didn't IMMEDIATELY suckle,
Ped tells me that I have two hours to succeed OR he will have to order
a bottle OR that if I still object to a bottle, he will be forced to put
a tube down Jimmy's throat to feed him. I am not exaggerating this one
bit. I bawled like a baby. The nurses and lactation consultant banded
around me like a protective wall and willed me to succeed. We did.
The lactation consultant, a wonderful older lady, made sure I knew what I
was doing, left me alone, checking back later to say things were going
wonderfully and that Jimmy seemed to be a great nurser.

So. I get to hospital number 2 where Jimmy was treated for his jaundice.
The lactation consultant there pays me a visit in my cell. She says she
is going to "observe" a feeding and hovers over me while I feed Jimmy.
She criticizes my technique [she was aware that I had breast fed Sarah
and Amy until they were both two] and actually leaned forward and started
checking a breast-pushing on it- to see how much milk was coming out.
She proceeded to pester me for my entire luxury stay. Checking on me and
hovering over me. I was SO uncomfortable. She decided that Jimmy was a
"less vigorous" nurser and told me that she was going to come back the
next day and have me pump out some breast milk. She said then she would
put it in some special bag with a hose attached, then tape the hose to my
breast so that Jimmy  could take the hose in his mouth when he nursed on
the breast --to get extra milk. Well good Lord. I decided that I would
stand up to her on the next day, which I did. I told her, nicely, that I
felt that nursing was going well, that I knew what I was doing, etc.
She ignored me, of course, and started telling me exactly how to
breastfeed [again] and commanding me to come in one day next week for a
"weigh in" of the baby. When I declined, saying I had a pediatrician
appointment next week, she insisted that I come back to the hospital and
weight Jimmy in there, too. Whatever! I told Jim (my husband) that it was
a good thing I was an experienced breastfeeder. If I had been a newbie, she
would have scared me right off. It is a fact that breastfed babies do
tend to get jaundice more, and I'm sure she was just worried that he was
getting enough to eat- but our pediatrician had said that in this case,
jaundice was probably caused by the problems he had had at birth, not
eating for almost three days, etc.


<snip>

Beth Hilleke              [log in to unmask]