Patricia, I think we both must have had the same kind of days, today.
First thing when I got to work, one of the nurses asked me if a mom could
bf while taking Effexor (75 mg per day).  I got the info from Hale 97 and
copied for the mom.  She felt that this was a safe drug since she had
already been taking it for her entire pregnancy..her genetecist, OB, and
her psychiatrist agreed.  The pediatrician however said no way (since it
was listed in Hale as "not reviewed").  The parents decided that they would
bf anyway and then the nursery tells them that they must have an order to
Bf--and of course I have "caused all this trouble, since I gave the info to
the mom"!!  Finally, my nurse manager tells the nursery that we must
"allow" the mom to bf.

Then I have lunch with the other IBCLC in town and she tells me that a
neonatoligist has written an order for a baby to recieve progestimil
instead of the breastmilk that is being pumped for the baby.  He told her
the reason was that the baby had NEC.  He said that he believed in
breastmilk preventing NEC but once a baby had NEC and then went back on
feeds, they had to be started on something "easier to digest".  Progestimil
is easier to digest than breastmilk??  Does someone have this study??  I
told my friend this was ridiculous--only to find when I got back to my own
special care nursery, we had  a similar situation.  Premie twins, one is
being og'd breastmilk, the other is getting progestimil (because he has
stomach problems).  Have I missed some research on the superior
digestibility of this abm??

And the kicker for the day happened on the way home.  I was paged by a
frantic mom who was in the emergency room for a MRI.  She was afraid that
they were going to have to use an imaging agent, and told the doc that she
was bf'ing her 7 mos. old.  He told her that there was no benefit to bf
past 3 mos., anyway.  He also mentioned that his wife had lots of problems
with bf and stopped when the baby was only a couple of months old, and of
course his child is just fine.  So, I guess we ARE talking personal
experience instead of documented research, as others have mentioned.

What I am going to remember about today though, is that I watched 6 babies
go to the breast unaided within 30 min. of birth........YEA!!!

                            Pam Holland, IBCLC
                            Savannah, GA