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April 2012 Moms
KatFCo
member
Article about inability to breastfeed
KatFCo
member
More articles like this need to be written. It's so frustrating to hear doctors and lactation consultants insist that "every woman can breastfeed" and assume a woman's inability to breastfeed is due to lack of support or education.
It's also frustrating to know that there could be answers out there but no one will bother to care about looking for them.
https://www.cnn.com/2013/01/03/health/medical-breastfeeding/index.html?hpt=hp_t3
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Article about inability to breastfeed
I think the point the article makes is 100% true - lactation needs to be the focus of more research, doctors need to be educated about it, and patients need to have clear answers about who can help them with lactation issues.
My lactation consultant was excellent, but even she made comments about how all women can breastfeed, and it's pretty unlikely that there are underlying medical reasons why some can't. Guilt is the last thing a new mommy needs when something she hopes desperately to do isn't working out.
This is a fantastic article. I bf'd my first daughter exclusively and she had failure to thrive thrust upon us time and time again. When we started introducing solids is when she finally seemed happy. with DS (baby 2) I quit after 6 weeks and felt horrible guilt ever since. with DD2 (baby 3) I started supplementing at 6 weeks and am still breastfeeding, but her main nutrition is from formula now.
I have a wonderful doctor, but when I told him I thought I never made enough breastmilk, which is why my first two children failed to thrive, he told me "nah, that is so rare, your baby is fine and you are doing a great job" *sigh* but Evelyn didn't start gaining weight until I started supplementing.
Yeah, I got those comments too. I practically threw "The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding" across the room.
With DD, I thought it was because she was a preemie, but even then the NICU LCs were stumped.
I hate hearing "few women truly cannot breastfeed"--that word truly just makes it sound like the rest of us are faking it. I also get frustrated at the comments made by one person in the article, that most woman who struggle just don't have enough support or education at the beginning. I see that sometimes on the breastfeeding board and the implication makes me so mad.
This time around I did have an LC tell me maybe I'm one of the ones who just doesn't make enough, but the lack of curiosity in the medical field as to why some women don't produce enough is really terrible.
I had breast surgery years ago and my dr's weren't sure if I would be able to breastfeed. Obviously, at the time of his birth and during our hospital stay, I wasn't sure if I was going to produce milk or not. I had to put up with MANY rude nurses, doctors, etc questioning me and my "inability" to breastfeed.
I remember the day I was discharged, a Dr from our Pediatriction's office came in and said, (rudely) "WHY on earth does his chart say bottle AND breast? You have TWO breasts both of which will produce enough milk!"
Umm, okay. Since you know MY medical history and met me all of 30 seconds earlier, thanks for the input.
Oh, and I did get a little milk in. 1/2oz a day. Yes, that's it. 1/2 oz. So obviously he is formula fed. And he is healthy and happy!
Oh my goodness, I'm normally an even-keeled person, but I think I would have lost it if a doctor had had the nerve to say something like that to me.
I once had a facebook friend tell me my breasts were abnormal because I'm one of the few who can't produce enough milk.
I agree with this article totally. I was just telling DH if I had problems with BF there really isn't a lot of places to turn to. I had great nurses in the the beginning trying to help me, but I still felt like I was alone. The weight is all on your shoulders to feed this child...nobody else. It felt like nothing was happening. Well, it was my first time and I had no idea what to expect. I had flat nipples so it was hard to latch. Eventually we worked it out. But I think a lot of women think that breastfeeding is natural and it will automatically happen as soon as the baby is here. That is totally not the case...you have to work at it. I cant believe how much work and frustration went into it. I just wish more women knew that so they didn't feel bad when it wasn't going well. Also, my mother told me in the beginning to give it three weeks.I was always worried my baby wasn't getting enough. She was growing but I was always paranoid since it's been such a long road. You're always going to question yourself.. My mom said that women will always make enough milk for their babies. I think that's what she always heard so she believed it bc she didn't have problems BFing. So I in turn asked, then why do women have supply issues. Anyways, sorry for the rambling....I just really liked the article.