Hi,
I love this forum and admit I post infrequently. To reintorduce myself I am in 
private practice and own my own retail business.
Once a week I faciltate a breastfeeding support group. After group today I 
have to admit I am not sure I can do this much longer. 
These are just a few of the stories I heard from moms this morning.
A mom of twins was told by her ARNP to give her boys a bottle of Carnation 
Good Start 1-2 times a day to promote good bacteria in the babies stomach.
A mom of a 3 week old has been supplementing with formula for 1 week 
because when she went for 2 week check the doctor was very concerned 
about the weight and was told she had to supplement after every 
breastfeeding. Infant was 1 oz below BW.
A mom of a week old was told by doctor to supplement with formula after 
every feeding to flush out the jaundice. Bili at the highest was 13.
A mom of a 3 week old was told at 2 week check that she needed to stop 
breastfeeding for 1 week and start giving her baby formula because the baby's 
weight gain was not adequate. Mom became upset with the advice and the 
doctor scolded her and said "don't you want to do what is best for your baby". 
The mom crying repsonded that she thought she was doing the best for her 
baby by breastfeeding. She was told that the formula concentration would 
give the baby more calories. The baby was 1 oz below birth weight. She 
pumped a few times a day and stored the milk in the freezer and now her milk 
supply is down.
A mom of a 2 week old complained to her ARNP that she was so tired because 
the baby was feeding frequently at night and she was exhausted. The ARNP 
told her to start giving cereal with formula at night so the baby would start 
sleeping during the night.
a mom of a 35 weeker that is having problem with latch and is very sleepy 
baby was told at  D/C to feed every 3-4 hours 2-3 oz .(baby is 5 LBS) and to 
give Neosure twice a day for 4 months for the extra calories.
Now this was just a few moms that I talked to. What about the other moms 
that you never get to talk to. How can we ever reach the goal of exclusive 
breastfeeding for 6 months? 
Can someone explain to me what is going on. I feel like I am in a time warp. 
Why is it that these health care providers are not held accountable for this 
advice? What would happen if they gave the wrong advice for anything else 
they were talking to the familiy about? How do we ever get women to 
breastfeed exclusively for 6 months when the moms go to the doctor's offices 
and are given this advice and samples of formula? 
How can we keep going and not get burned out??? I did not get to go to ILCA 
to get re-charged this year. I get so frustrated. Does anyone else see this 
trend of moms always getting this poor advice?
I am sorry for the rant but as you can tell I am frustrated. I know we make a 
difference by helping moms, but why does it have to be so hard? 
Thanks for taking the time to listen.
Molly Shakar
Tallahasse, FL 
www.best-begin.com 

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