Dear lactnuts and Pam(hope that baby has arrived by now),
I too found a lot of similarities in your letter. My mom was told 49
years ago that she had the wrong kind of breasts to nurse me. I think she
held me but after much throwing up fed me plain milk at 3 months of age and
food, at least it came directly from a farm then in glass bottles. I have
lots of allergies and nasal congestion, which was one reason I nursed, and
my children are basically allergy free. I also wonder how much smarter I
could have been!
When I nursed her grandchildren, she said that doctor was obviously
wrong, she could have nursed( had been brought up in Ireland, born at home
and most were nursed, although I visited there and found out many of my
cousins didn't nurse.)My mom was very supportive and never discouraged me
with my 1st 2 children, sadly she had died before my 3rd child. One of my
cousins from Ireland did nurse her 1st 2 children when I was 10 and 11 and
I babysat a lot so that was the few times I saw a nursing baby in my family
or community until my own and going to LLL. Interestingly, she didn't nurse
her last 3 children who came quickly after the 1st two.
Sadly, my husband's niece who is 37 just had her 2nd baby, and only
nursed her 1st briefly and has chosen to bottlefeed in spite of subtle and
not so subtle encouragement from me, I don't see her often but tried. She
said her 1st child is smart and fine(has had plenty of ear infections) and
I pointed out she was nursed the 1st week at least. Her husband wants to
help and they considered it easier. I did visit in the hospital and did
notice the baby had already been throwing up, will have to call this week
to see how things are going. It disappoints me as she was around when my
children were small and nursing but as Pam said, many in this generation
are convinced formula is perfectly fine. It still is tough to counteract
formula's message and influence in our society.
Warm regards,
Ellen Mahony, RN, LCCE, IBCLC
Greenwood Lake, NY
[log in to unmask]
Grateful for healthy babies, had a tough day in maternity yesterday
with a baby who was born with congenital anomolies and is not expected to
make it. The mom was going to try nursing this third baby, hadn't tried
with her 1st two.
Grateful for a healthy baby born to one of my co-workers, also,
yesterday, who was nursing beautifully. This is her 4th baby, 1st son, and
she is determined to nurse longer this time, nursed her girls between 2-4
months.
So, I can't sleep with all this on my mind, glad to have lactnet
friends to communicate with tonight. I need to get some rest and feel
better after writing to you all.
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