I am one of 2 LC's in my fairly small community.  I have been an RN at
the local hospital for 17 years and am well known.  I have been working
as a private LC for 7 years and have made some inroads into long
established breastfeeding unfriendly practices here.  Of late, my
clientele has increased dramatically and recently I have been butting
heads with a pediatrician who feels that my methods are too difficult for
any family to follow.  Primarily her problem is with breastpumping and
finger feeding or cup feeding for babies who can't nurse for various
reasons.  Recently she has been citing her friend who is a
pediatrician/LC who prescribes bottle feeding with formula for babies who
can't breastfeed.  So I see people and work out a plan for a
breastfeeding-friendly method of supplementation, then they go to her for
office visits and are told to quit following that plan and bottle feed.
She is one of only a few pediatricians here and is influential.  I am not
sure how to proceed with helping people when she is undermining my plans!
 I have talked with her about my rationale, given her research info etc
and it doesn't work.  So I'm beginning to feel defeated!  Am I nuts to
think that babies shouldn't bottle-feed when moms are hoping to
successfully breastfeed?  Am I too rigid?  Is her friend right to
supplement freely with formula via bottle?  She says that people will
stop breastfeeding with my plans because these alternative
supplementation methods are too time-consuming.  I do think that it is
hard for people to comply with alternatives to bottle supplementation but
I have seen many succeed this way.  I would like some ideas from other
LC's about the difficulty for new parents to use alternatives to the
bottle and formula.  Is there some information out there I'm not aware of
saying to bottle feed with formula to promote breastfeeding?
Thanks
Laura Showers RN BSN IBCLC       [log in to unmask]

Laura Showers RN BSN IBCLC
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