The most helpful thing a physician (pediatrician) can do to promote, 
encourage and/or support breastfeeding is to ask mothers how breastfeeding is going 
for mom, sore nipples, baby latching well, staying awake during feeds, and so 
on.  If mom tells her pediatrician she's having trouble, then the pediatrician 
should have referral sources available and have mom call from the office so 
pedi knows help is available and that mom has followed through.  The few 
pediatricians I know who do this often save breastfeeding and prevent use of formula.

The most detrimental thing a physician can do is to ignore signs of 
breastfeeding difficulties and just instruct formula supplementation without even 
considering supplementing with mom's own milk, nor referring mom to lactation 
specialist.

An example from my private practice, young, first time mother who states to 
pedi that her baby can't latch so she's pumping and feeding him by bottle and 
baby's doc just says ok, end of conversation.  It was her mother-in-law who 
nursed 11 children that got her help.

Best of luck, Kelly, and hope you hear from many others.  Your time is 
limited so you really need to make your words count.  A very salient point which 
relates to above is to help pediatricians realize (don't get me wrong, many do 
already) that it is a dyad they are working with, not just the infant.  If one 
has problems, so will the other.

Barbara Latterner, BSN, RN, IBCLC









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