Wow.  I thought it was just in my area that this was said, and likely done.
I am sad to say that I also took a class with several nurses from a local
hospital and during the part of the training that discussed birth plans, the
laughter and joking about what they thought of mothers who thought they should have
a birth plan made me angry. Very angry.  They said things like "oh, yeah,
they say they want a natural birth, but as soon as they get a few contractions
they beg for the epidural, why not just do it the first place", "who fills their
heads with this nonsense?", "it just makes our job harder", "their doulas
come in and force them to do without drugs and they have no right to do that",
"things run so much smoother when they just let us do what we need to do to get
the baby born".  And other things that sent me into my soap box mode.  In the
end, I said, "wow, so now I know why everyone complains about your hospital's
lack of support with the birth they hoped for.  While you are all laughing and
making light of a mother's choices, you are changing her life forever and
altering her birth experience in a way you have no right to do.  Long after she
leaves your shift I get to hear about how sad she is that she was pressured to
just use meds, just get the epidural, whatever 'you' thought you needed her to
do.  But, you don't see that.  You just see a quiet compliant patient not
asking for anything anymore."

These are the same nurses who also complained that the LC's force the mothers
to breastfeed, baby should go to the nursery so mom can rest, breastfeeding
is nice but it is wrong to push mothers to do it, most mothers would rather
bottle feed but there is too much pressure and guilt, blah blah blah blah.

So, this makes me think.  If OB's get irritated when mothers dare to ask too
many questions or give input into the birth they would like to at least hope
for (and the comments I hear from mothers that the OB's make when they ask to
talk about their birth plan make me cringe that they are trusting these people
with their birth at all) and the nurses think that birth is their choice not
the mothers, it stands to reason breastfeeding annoys them too.  It takes more
time, it requires more interaction, it means less control by them and more
given to the dyad.  It probably doesn't sit well anymore than the labor support
does.  And the pedis are like the OB's.  They are not trained to know "normal"
and therefore have no clue what to do with a mom who is breastfeeding or a
baby who is not getting that product they are so trained to understand and deal
with the consequences of.  I wonder if the reason they are so quick to just say
"give formula" is because they desperately want the baby to be what they
know.

Anyway, it irritates me and erodes whatever minute amount of trust I have
left in the medical community. It saddens me that it is not just my area, and
worse not only my country.  Actually, I often think I breastfeed because I feel
to, and that if too much science convinces me I should, I will start to
question the validity of my choice and wonder if maybe since all the docs are saying
I should, perhaps I should not.  Haha.  But I don't worry much because there
is just enough negative publicity about breastfeeding to let me know I am on
the right track. And more than enough docs and nurses trying to muck it up for
moms and babies every day, so it must be exactly what I should have done and be
doing.

Take care,
Pam MazzellaDiBosco, IBCLC

PS  OF COURSE this is not about ANY of the wonderful nurses, doctors, and
other medical professionals who are present on this list.  You are actually what
gives me the only trust I have, because if there are this many, there must be
more and I just need to keep looking.

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