# Share your uneducated doctor stories!



## atpeace (Apr 17, 2006)

What are some weird/ignorant/unhelpful things that you've heard doctors or other health professionals say about breastfeeding? This is just for fun, and to vent about how so many health professionals are clueless about breastfeeding...

One doctor asked me once if I drink milk. Before I could answer, she went on to say "Of course you drink milk, you're breastfeeding!"...huh? Perhaps I'll send that doctor a pamphlet to educate her about breastfeeding...







:

Anyone else?


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## CanidFL (Jul 30, 2007)

My doctor is great and very bfing friendly! I love him.

My friend once had a midwife tell her while she was pregnant that she needs to use formula for the first week because her milk won't come in and the baby will be hungry







:


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## rmzbm (Jul 8, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *atpeace* 
"Of course you drink milk, you're breastfeeding!"

Oh, THAT'S how the milk gets in there?!?! I wondered!









I don't drink milk, someone must pour it in my mouth while I sleep.


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## kosheng (Oct 22, 2005)

huh. must.go.buy.milk. i don't know _what_ it is that i'm producing since i am not drinking cow juice.







:

i had my babe's pediatrician tell me (at his 2 day checkup) that i should not be nursing my son every 1 1/2 to 2 hours. i replied that i was feeding him on demand, and my milk was just coming in. he then informed me that i was just making things harder on myself and everyone around me.

at this point i snapped. (gotta love those pp hormones!) i asked him how many babies he had breastfed. i then handed him the feeding guideline produced by the freakin' formula conglomerate that even states how frequently newborns nurse. the very brochure sits in their waiting room. it's pretty bad when the companies that want you to buy their product inform mothers about breastfeeding more accurately than the "professional" whose interest is supposed to be the health and welfare of your child.

i have never been a lactivist. i nursed all my babies, regardless of the reactions of others~ thankfully 99% positive and encouraging. i have always had a "to each their own" mentality. but jeez, this guy inflamed me. ugh.


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## attachedmamaof3 (Dec 2, 2006)

Dr says (at 15 mo checkup maybe??) with DS#1 (upon finding out that we're still nursing):

"Anyone who is still breastfeeding past age one is doing it for selfish reasons. There is absolutely no reason why you should be doing this."

Hmm. Doc got fired. We nursed to 3.5 yrs.


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## mama_ani (Aug 2, 2007)

When I was breastfeeding my second child (and very ignorant about everything breastfeeding) and got an infected milk duct when she was 8 weeks old ... "The only way to cure it is to IMMEDIATELY stop breastfeeding or the baby will get infection from the milk."







A nasty bout of mastitis later...


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## Woodland (Mar 6, 2006)

My lo is 4.5 months, everytime I go to my family doctor he says that its great that I am still breastfeeding but I shouldnt breastfeed for too long because, "when the child gets too old they start carrying their mom around like a blanket" I was like, huh? I am very happy with him otherwise, he is completely okay with my lo non vax status and he offers a lot of natural options instead of abx etc. So I will just put up with the comments and eventually I might give him a snappy line.


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## Pumpkin_Pie (Oct 10, 2006)

Not a doc, but a nurse:

I went in for my six month checkup for WIC, and when the nurse offered me cereal for DS, I declined (politely), and she goes on to say, "well, you are breastfeeding, and you run out of iron in your breastmilk to 6 months, so you HAVE to give him cereal"

I tried to inform her (politely still...) that no, I did not "run out of iron" and that my son was perfectly capable of absorbing the small amounts of iron in my milk so well that he was just fine. I ended up promising to have his iron levels checked at his 6 month wb visit.


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## AwakenedMama (Apr 16, 2007)

Our former pediatrician, at the 2 month check-up, gave us a prescription for Tri-V-Sol (iron, fluoride, and vitamin D) because our daughter was exclusively breastfed. And we lived in sunny Miami! And, since then, I've seen on the AAP's web page that they recommend AGAINST fluoride before 6 months.


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## Breastfeeding Insomniac (Jan 15, 2007)

When I was working on peds as a nurse, I had a 13 month old admitted w/ gastroenteritis, well the ped was appalled by the fact that baby was still bf and complained to me of all people! I told her about the WHO guidelines and that it was great baby was keeping breastmilk down when she was throwing up everything else. Even after that this ped still went in and lectured the mom on still bf and told her she can't breastfeed, baby needs pedialyte or else







:"she will get no nutrition"







: So in her eyes, breastmilk is air I guess. I still work w/ this MD often and se is still as close minded to bf as that dat, despite all the educational materials I have provided her with and discussed w/ her.


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## MotheringHeart (Dec 18, 2005)

Had a dr tell me that my 12 mth old needed to be drinking whole cows milk, instead of breastmilk. "whole milk has the fat in it that your child's brain needs to grow"
uhhhh what about the breastmilk???


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## Boobiemama (Oct 2, 2002)

when my 9yo was born, we were both sick and in hospital for a week, he was nursing but very sleepy and ineffective suck, so i pumped afterwards.
Once after pumpng, baby woke up so I said hand me baby please, he wants to nurse. The nurse insisted threre was no milk left since I just pumped it all out!!! OY!


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## somanyjoys (Mar 14, 2006)

When I went in for an annual when my dd was about 13 mos old, my OB was surprised that I was still nursing because "her kids just lost interest" and then she was really shocked that I had just gotten my period back because she didn't think that happened very often when you were still nursing!!!!!!!!!!!! Guess she doesn't have many patients nurse for more than a year (or even nine months).


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## MeepyCat (Oct 11, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Breastfeeding Insomniac* 
When I was working on peds as a nurse, I had a 13 month old admitted w/ gastroenteritis, well the ped was appalled by the fact that baby was still bf and complained to me of all people! I told her about the WHO guidelines and that it was great baby was keeping breastmilk down when she was throwing up everything else. Even after that this ped still went in and lectured the mom on still bf and told her she can't breastfeed, baby needs pedialyte or else







:"she will get no nutrition"







: So in her eyes, breastmilk is air I guess. I still work w/ this MD often and se is still as close minded to bf as that dat, despite all the educational materials I have provided her with and discussed w/ her.

Ack! We got through our bout with stomach viruses on EBF (so we could skip the drama with separating DS from the boob before he overworked his poor tum). I can't imagine that Pedialyte (which is what, formula with electrolytes?) could have done as well, or that it would be as easy for a sick LO to digest.


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## turnipmama (Oct 29, 2006)

I have a history of depression and anxiety before DD was even born. After she was born it set in again. An OB, my pshychiatrist, a 3rd doctor and my own research all agreed on a medication for me to take safe with BFing (and we are still BFing and doing great!)
However some random doctor I saw at a clinic for something couldn't believe I was on it. She said it was better for me to take an ANTHISTAMINE for my anxiety. Yeah lady...knock me out and make me groggy AND dry my milk up...that's so much better for BFing!


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## wendylady (Jun 14, 2006)

DS was born at home. We went to the pediatrian a few days later (state law my midwives had to follow). DS had lost 6 ounces from his birth rate, and the doctor agreed this was normal, no problem, could have lost more and been fine. Then he said that we should come in the next day -- if the baby wasn't gaining we'd talk about supplementing with formula. First I was freaked out, then I was furious. He himself said everything was fine and normal -- why was he suggesting formula? It was so lame, and I felt lucky that I was the kind of person who wouldn't have considered formula unless things were dire. It made me see why so many women give up so early.


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## heggie (May 15, 2007)

At DS's 4 month visit yesterday, the "nurse" (medical assistant) asked what he was eating, and I said he's breastfeeding. She then asked how much he was taking at a feeding.







: I said "as much as he wants". When we got to the car, DH said that I was too nice and that he would've told her that the boobs aren't calibrated.


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## jazzybaby9 (Feb 27, 2007)

A doctor said (not to me, to my grandmother), "Breastfeeding is for cows, not for people." Poor grandma got mastitis a few weeks later and quit bfing.







She's VERY supportive of bfing and nursed her children as long as she could. Her doctor was a jackass tho.


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## CathMac (Jan 10, 2006)

My stories are relatively tame.

In the first trimester with DD2 my OB told me I would need to wean DD1 at 7 months. It didn't become an issue until DD1 was still nursing vigorously at that point. When the time came he researched the issue but he told me he couldn't find anything on the topic and ultimately he called the hospital LC and simply took her word that it was ok.

Our regular pediatrician told us that her son self weaned at 11 months.

We saw a different pediatrician when he was covering for the regular one and I was tandem nursing at the time. DD1 would have been 2+ years old. We got through DD2's visit ok but I asked a question about DD1. I don't think it was a question about diet but somehow it came up that she was still nursing. To his credit while he was clearly very surprised --actually shocked might be more accurate-- he didn't say anything about weaning her. But as we were going out the door he did ask with an air of concern if she was eating solids.

~Cath


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## MCatLvrMom2A&X (Nov 18, 2004)

I went to the Dr. for a major sore throat that had hung on for 2 weeks. I finally caved and went in. DS was almost 30month old at the time and the Dr. prescribed abx along with something else and I asked about bfing on it. He said was fine. Then smiling asked how old my baby was. I smiled







and said 30 months. His smile immediatly went away and the convo went like this:
Dr.: "You need to wean since bfing after 2yo will make him malnurished"
Me: "







: oh really, well he is very healthy.
Dr: "What does he eat?
Me: "Uh, everything and anything"
Dr: "You really should wean so that he will eat and get everything he needs."
Me: "Well he is 30 months and weighs around 30pds so obviously he is getting everything he "needs"

This is why I hate going to the Dr.







:


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## Llyra (Jan 16, 2005)

I always thought my first ped was pretty supportive of breastfeeding. She nursed her own for 18 months, and fought really hard to help me get DD1 back on the breast after battling nipple confusion. She told me colostrum was "a baby's birthright, and depriving a baby of it borders on abusive." She even told me that weaning DD1 during the winter (cold and flu season) was "taking risks with that baby's health." I thought that was the right attitude.

Then my twins came along, and all of a sudden she changed her tune. There was no way I was going to be able to nurse both, in her mind. Our first visit, she declared that I should only nurse each twin for ten minutes every three hours, and then offer a bottle afterwards. Mind you, these were low-birthweight, borderline premature babies who were still groggy from birth and having weight gain trouble. And I'm only supposed to nurse 10 minutes? Yeah, right.

That was the end of that ped. My new ped told me, when DS was dropping off their stupid curve, that formula would be "our very last resort," when I asked her what she thought about supplementing. She suggested nursing the twins "as often as you can get them interested, for as long as you can keep them awake" and suggested that I get household help so that I could nurse as often and as long as necessary.


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## mandib50 (Oct 26, 2004)

i took my son to the doctor when he was about a year old because he had had a fever for 3 days. the doctor asks me has he been eating or drinking anything? i said yeah, he's been nursing.

well. he laid into me about how the nursing is for me, not him, it's all about fulfilling my needs, not my baby's. then he proceeds to talk about how a child his age gets nothing from breastmilk blah blah blah. pretty much spent the entirety of the appointment arguing about the nursing.

i didn't really care because it was my fourth baby and i knew better. but if a first time mom encountered his arrogance, she might be inclined to stop nursing. THAT's what irked me.


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## guestmama9904 (Jul 6, 2002)

my son was hospitalized at 18 months with rota virus, it was only overnight but he was vomiting and had diareah and one MD in the ER told me that my breast milk was "curdling" in his stomach and making him sicker! he tried to liken the breast milk to cows milk and told me i should not nurse him when it was his only comfort in the hospital. needless to say i nursed him anyways.


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## mommaduck (Sep 13, 2005)

Not a Dr...but a RN (and my MIL).

With our first babies...SIL and I both bf'd, mine chunked up BIG time and her's didn't. MIL told each of us separately to quit bfing...apparently I was making my child obese by bfing and she was starving her child by bfing. Sure...(sil and I are different ethnicities and our children's weight reflected that).

We laugh about it now...even MIL who is proud that we ignored her and bf'd anyhow.


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## joy2bmom (Aug 3, 2006)

A long time ago when i used to take dd to a ped the dr told me babies hafta be weaned by 1yr so they know how to soothe themselves or else the baby would never learn to do it. I'm not the kind of person to stand up to the dr so i said nothing
 






:


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## hollytheteacher (Mar 10, 2007)

My ped told me my son might have a dairy allergy so i should quit bfing (this is when he was like 9 weeks old) and switch to a soy formula. I told her "no thanks, i'll just cut dairy out of my diet" she goes on to tell me how "hard" it is because a lot of stuff has dairy in it. LOL poor vegans must starve then...how can they get by without dairy? I basically told her that i teach preschool and have had many many dairy-free kids in my school and i'm fine reading ingredients and picking out safe foods. I just feel bad for other mama's who might be in the same situation and just give in and start a soy formula







I'm glad that i'm very educated in BFing lol


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## cschick (Aug 28, 2007)

Quote:

well. he laid into me about how the nursing is for me, not him, it's all about fulfilling my needs, not my baby's.
*bangs head on desk*

Yes, nursing my 16 month old who has three molars and three canines coming through, who is pinching my poor breasts black-and-blue because the damned teeth are changing his latch on an hour-to-hour basis, is all about fulfilling my needs.

Well, maybe my need to stop him from screaming his head off for hours.


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## Cyann (Oct 18, 2007)

I heard today that my son's ped, whom I've generally liked, told someone else to give her baby water. The baby is 2.5 months old, and she's exclusively pumping. The baby is eating significantly more than average (35 ounces per day), which could mean he's being overfed by bottle. So I understand her suggestion to cut that back to a maximum of 32 ounces per day. But to give bottles of water? Isn't that potentially dangerous? Plus, she misdiagnosed a milky tongue as thrush. If the mother hadn't questioned her, the baby would have been treated for no reason.

I really like how supportive of breastfeeding this doctor is -- she's always complimentary toward the appearance and healthiness of breastfed babies, and even suggested exclusively nursing my almost-year-old baby for the duration of an upcoming trip to India, as a preventative against diarrhea -- but I'm beginning to think that her actual knowledge about breastfeeding is less than impressive.


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## onelilguysmommy (May 11, 2005)

i was in the hospital at 5 mo pregnant for lots of issues (not really pregnancy related, but made worse because i was pregnant0
anyway
lets see..i kept having issues about them trying to take my son, or trying to force my mom to take him...
well, i said i was bfing and one yelled at me, a couple said it was disgusting, and was that why he doesnt drink "real" milk...
a social worker asked me lots of stuff kinda hinting at sexual abuse because of it.
one doctor told me i was killing my little one i was pregnant with because my older was taking all the nutrients i had left...(i was literally almost dead but thats besides the point)







: (he had that kinda backwards..!!)

one kept trying togive me medicines that are bad for nursing babes...if its bad for a nursing babe, what the heck is it for an unborn one? they did NOT like me around there! i questioned *everything* they tried to give me and basically ended up being booted out and yelled at by some doc id never met, over the flippin phone who i couldnt understand because i woudnt take something that was the class below c, i dont remember what that is.

oh and another one with the "if he is sort of allergic to dairy, how is he breastfed, shouldnt he have been put on some regular formula?" (umm..DUH??? breastmilk isnt cow milk..and HELLO, cow milk is what regular formula is made from!!







: )

on the great side, the ped i have taken them to looked at the paper, it has a box for bf/formula/both. i checked bf, but it didnt say when he was weaned,which was the next line. he asked and i said he hasnt and he grinned at me and said his youngest (whos a few months younger than me) didnt wean until right at 4








(just thought id try to balance it lol)


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## onelilguysmommy (May 11, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *MeepyCat* 
I can't imagine that Pedialyte (which is what, formula with electrolytes?)

no, its water with electrolytes and sucralose.


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## jenak (Nov 6, 2007)

My GP referred me to a surgeon for a procedure I'm having done soon. I told the surgeon I was nursing and asked how this would work. He said no problem, just pump some for the first day - ok, sounds reasonable.

He then prescribed me meds to take until the surgery, i asked if they were ok for nursing and he said, "yeah it's fine." Pharacist that I double checked with STRONGLY disagreed - mostly because it has been known to cause babies to die.

When I told the surgeon that I wouldn't take it and why, his response was, "Well, you know what you should do, you should stop nursing. 5 months is plenty of time for a bond." (what, no apology for trying to kill my child??)

I was too flabbergasted to have a good comeback, but I did tell him that I would not be weaning. My own research tells me that I should have no problem getting through this and BFing in less than 24 hours.


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## PiePie (Oct 2, 2006)

when dd was 1 day old, the ped taught me the nursing upright position. i already had traumatized nipples, and that made it impossible for me to see the latch. so things got worse. all better now, but yowzers that hurt.


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## atpeace (Apr 17, 2006)

Wow, I never expected that there would be so many uneducated, anti-breastfeeding people who call themselves health care professionals!

Did any of you think of informing the doc/nurse/etc. about how untrue the things they said were? I've been thinking of mailing an anonymous pamphlet to my university health clinic about breastfeeding, so clear up these misconceptions...


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## user_name (Jun 8, 2005)

When exclusively pumping for my preemie ds1, during the first ped visit outside a hospital for him, the dr was not supportive of my pumping and told me everyone would be better off if I just gave up and fed him formula. After all we had been through, all we were going through, and all we had to lose by just "giving up," she had the nerve to say that!! And then she gave quite a zinger of a wrong fact to boot: did you know that pumped breastmilk is only good for 24 hours before it goes bad? Huh. So I guess most of that milk I pumped while ds was in hospital - that the nurses, pediatricians, neonatologists applauded me for getting and gave to my son - was actually 'bad'?!







:


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## Dandy (Oct 7, 2006)

I've been lucky with peds and breastfeeding advice (I've gotten other kinds of bad advice from them ... )
But when I had a checkup at my midwife, 6 months post-partum, I was told that I must have written the wrong date for last menstrual period, because it was, well, 15 months prior. And she said "oh, you're still breastfeeding?!" like it's THAT uncommon to breastfeed a 6 month old >.<


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## chlaal (Jun 28, 2006)

I have heard so much inaccurate/uneducated crap about bf from my ped, it's amazing I have stuck with her so long. (family politics, long story) The last straw was a week ago when I took dd for a checkup. My dd is totally healthy and doing fine, anyone can see that from looking at her, but she had dropped a few percentiles from her last checkup 8 months ago. (gained about 3 pounds) The dr had the nerve to tell me that it's because of the nursing and that I shouldn't nurse dd so much because it "fills her up" and then she doesn't eat enough "real" food. ugh! I am looking for a new ped now, finally, only 4 years late.

I still remember the time I was in her office at just a few weeks postpartum with #1, when I was a clueless new mom...she made some disparaging comment about people who nurse 3-year-olds and I, in my cluelessness thought "wow, yeah that is weird," well needless to say I wised up







and nursed DS till 2.5 and hope to go a lot longer with dd! But I always think back to that day and wish I had known enough to tell her off.


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## goodearthmama (Nov 7, 2006)

OUr ex-ped told us on ds 1st and last wbv, that I would definitely have to stop bf by 4 months because bf would not fulfill a baby boys appetite and he would need rice cereal and pears. To which I replied, "no, he'll be ebf for at least six months," and dh replied "yeah bmilk has everything he needs". THe dr. says oh you must have heard that from one of these new, young peds who think it is okay to nurse for the entire first year. Yeah, wow! Those crazy kooks...wonder what he'll think when dh's aunt who is one of his nurses tell him that ds will be nursing as long as he wants to.


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## sparklett (Nov 25, 2006)

We have a great ped, so no problems there.

.....but the hospital staff drove me NUTS!!!!!!

After 20 days in the NICU they moved us up to the pediatric ward. I convinced the neonatologist to change the orders to indicate breastfeeding ONLY, not pumped milk from a bottle, and my babe could eat whenever the heck he wanted to.

So I got all settled into our new room in pediatrics and DS started to act hungry, so I fed him. An hour later, he acted hungry again, so I started to feed him again. Mind you, at this point he weighed a whopping FOUR POUNDS. The nurse saw what I was doing and said, "I'd rather you not feed him. We have an obesity epidemic in America right now."







: Then she tried to make me wait another two hours to feed him again, becuase that fell into their stupid bottle feeding schedule. I got rude and told her to check the ORDERS and then sat down and fed my baby. Jeez! I was trying to BF my baby, not take him to Mc Donalds!

Oh wait, there's more! On our last day in the hospital, after spending days and days struggling to get my milk to come in and figure out how to BF my tiny baby, the discharge nurse tried to give me a diaper bag of formula to take home! I asked why I needed it, and she said, "just in case"!!! She kept saying, "but it's free!!!" The neonatologist walked in and I asked him why in the world they would even CONSIDER offering me formula when a) I had tried so hard to breastfeed and b)bottlefeeding made my son pass out and turn blue!!! The neonatologist laid into the nurse, and that was the end of that!









Bunch of crazies!!!


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## Petronella (Aug 22, 2007)

I bf my dd until she was 28 months or so, she only saw a pediatrician a couple of times in the first 6 months, I don't believe he or any nurse ever hassled us or said anything silly about breastfeeding, maybe because dd absolutely GLOWED with health and energy and hit every landmark on time or early. This pediatrician practiced in a trendy part of Brooklyn and had a very educated clientele, so presumably he was used to dealing with confident and well-informed mothers.

However, dd was born in a hospital in Queens (no choice whatsoever thanks to my choosing the cheapest HMO that my job offered...I was young and single when I chose my plan and maternity options were the last thing on my mind!) where we had to FIGHT to get any respect and where nobody there had even seen a birth plan before.

Not only did *every* baby born there get fed a bottle of sugar water (there was some theory going that this was necessary in order to test that the baby was swallowing, digesting, and eliminating properly!?). I went along with this, I'm ashamed to say, just making sure to have dd with me every waking moment so I could nurse as much as possible...may have been the only mother on the ward who did this.

The most shocking incident, was getting unsolicited feeding advice from a nursing assistant who informed me that I should be giving dd a bottle of sugar water after EVERY breastfeeding session! She seemed to think this would help dd "wash down" the breast milk or something...who knows...I ignored her completely, at that point I was just counting down the minutes until checkout time. How sad to realize however, that probably some mother might think that this woman knew what she was talking about, because she worked at a hospital, and might actually take that horrible advice!

ps. not trying to be snide about Queens in case any of you mamas are from there! From what I have since gathered, the same sort of callous care and lack of knowledge would have been on equal display in most large hospitals


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## beru (Nov 19, 2007)

My son gained 2lbs by his 1 month appointment and my ped told me I should schedule feedings every 3 hours cause he is gaining too fast. At almost every appointment she made a point to "supportively" tell me that it would be okay for me to switch to formula if I was having any problems with breastfeeding. At least that let me know I shouldn't ask for any help if when I had breastfeeding problems...The thing that made me the most angry though was her sleep advice which for me was directly related to nursing. At the 6 month appointment, she asked how is he sleeping? I said "great" and that's it. I didn't want to discuss it because as far as I am concerned that is not a medical question, its a parenting question and I am not interested in unsolicted parenting advice from her...Anyway, she wouldn't let it rest at that point and asked how many times per night does he wake up? I said once and sometimes twice when he had a cold (It was true and don't you guys agree that that is great?). She immediately told me to let him cry it out-he should be sleeping through the night. Not only was I perfectly happy waking once per night, I actually dreaded it ending because I was having a difficult time providing enough breastmilk for him. Finally, at 12 months, she asked how much milk he was getting (cow's milk). I said something like he drinks some and he is still nursing. She ignored me and said "he should be getting 16-24oz of cow's milk". I was screaming inside my head. What other mammal "requires" the milk of another species?! I am too non-confrontational to say anything though. And I liked her as a medical provider. She was holistic and didn't over prescribe. She was confident and humble too. She would often leave and ask her colleagues their input on medical questions. I really respect that.

I didn't expect her to be this way. When I interviewed her she said she nursed her 3 kids. What I found out later is that she nursed them all for about 6 weeks before she returned to work.


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## lacondora (Jul 21, 2005)

I had PPD after my first, but put off going on meds until I couldn't take it anymore (at 8 months PP). The psychiatrist looked at me like I had 2 heads when I told her I was still BFing. She said, "You know, he can take a bottle now." I said, "I know he can, but I'm not quitting." (As an aside, she also told me my depression would be better if I cleaned the house more and smiled at my husband when he came home from work - because a man needs to see a clean house and a happy wife at the end of the day, and if he was happy, I would be happy.)

Needless to say, I never went back to her.


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## spmamma (Sep 2, 2007)

We met with a ped (not her regular one) for DD's first WBV two days after she was born. The ped told me not to BF her more than every two hours because "she might become a grazer."







: Good thing I figured out pretty quickly that it's best to feed her on demand!!


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## Thalia (Apr 9, 2003)

Fortunately, the family doctor who sees DD is VERY supportive of breastfeeding and very knowledgeable. So no problems there. And the nurses at the hospital where DD was born were amazing. I remember weeping when I couldn't get DD to latch after she'd been in an oxygen tent for two days and I'd been pumping like mad. One hugged me and rubbed my shoulders and said, "It's okay to cry: it's very frustrating, but you can do this!" And the other told me her how her first DS didn't latch on until 2 weeks so she fed him EBM by syringe. And her third baby had to be fed by gastro tube: she pumped for him for something like 14 months. Wow.

The only uneducated advice we've gotten is from DH's psychiatrist. So it was totally unsolicited. The doc used to be a pediatrician before he was a psychiatrist, so he feels entitled to dispense parenting advice, apparently. Anyway, he asked DH how I was doing with the new baby, and DH said we were doing great, and that breastfeeding was going well although it was challenging at times. And he told DH that DH should make sure to give me "permission" not to breastfeed, because "some women just feel too much pressure to breastfeed", and since "bottlefeeding is just as good as breastfeeding" it would be okay if I didn't want to do it.







: DH knew better of course, but jeez! He also told DH recently that we could rub BOURBON MIXED WITH POWDERED SUGAR on DD's gums for teething. She is three months old.


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## veganone (May 10, 2007)

DD was 5 weeks early so we worked out a feeding plan with the lactation consultant before leaving the hospital. She also took a long time to start pooping yellow poops and had jaundice, so she neede to eat and she had the preemie sleeping issue.

At our first ped. appt. she was gaining well - I mentioned that we'd been really careful to make sure to wake her up to eat every 2-3 hours AND that we were triple feeding. He asked "why? She's gaining fine." Um, duh, that's WHY she was gaining fine!!!

This ped. also forgot to age adjust her growth measurements at her 8 week appt. and was all worried that she was only in the 25th percentile for growth. I said "really? Even though she was early?" He looked surprised and clicked the "age adjusted" button on the computer and surprise - she's fine! How could you not notice that an 8 week old baby was 5 weeks early?!

We are switching to a PPO in January so that we can get away from this practice!


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## Awaken (Oct 10, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *sparklett* 
So I got all settled into our new room in pediatrics and DS started to act hungry, so I fed him. An hour later, he acted hungry again, so I started to feed him again. Mind you, at this point he weighed a whopping FOUR POUNDS. The nurse saw what I was doing and said, "I'd rather you not feed him. We have an obesity epidemic in America right now."







: Then she tried to make me wait another two hours to feed him again, becuase that fell into their stupid bottle feeding schedule. I got rude and told her to check the ORDERS and then sat down and fed my baby. Jeez! I was trying to BF my baby, not take him to Mc Donalds!


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## tonimk19 (Feb 7, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *wendylady* 
DS was born at home. We went to the pediatrian a few days later (state law my midwives had to follow). DS had lost 6 ounces from his birth rate, and the doctor agreed this was normal, no problem, could have lost more and been fine. Then he said that we should come in the next day -- if the baby wasn't gaining we'd talk about supplementing with formula. First I was freaked out, then I was furious. He himself said everything was fine and normal -- why was he suggesting formula? It was so lame, and I felt lucky that I was the kind of person who wouldn't have considered formula unless things were dire. It made me see why so many women give up so early.

That sucks! DD went from 7 lbs 5 oz at birth to 6 lbs 10 oz. three days later. Her ped was never concerned about her weight- he just wanted to make sure she was starting to have yellow poopie diapers. She even had a mild case of jaundice 9but never needed tratement) and not once did he mention formula! I think it's funny when you go to the Dr.'s how some of the MA's or nurses ask you how many ounces she's drinking. Umm, if I knew that- it would be scary!


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## sunshine's mama (Mar 3, 2007)

The first ped we had (we are still in the same practice, just made a lateral move) almost went as far as to diagnose dd1 as failure to thrive bc she wasn't gaining weight according to the charts etc....So she told me I would have to stop breastfeeding and start using formula....went so far as to shove 2 of the larger ready made jugs of Similac IN MY DIAPER BAG......

I told her that my milk was fine, I may have a touch of oversupply but how on earth could she say that about my sweet girl when she had a few tiny rolls on her?????? That I would get a pump from my friend and I would supplement with my own milk if I needed to do anything at all....

When we got downstairs, I was waiting for Dp to come back with the car and saw a mom with a baby who I had seen in the practice with a bottle of the formula pouring it into the bottle...I handed her the 2 jugs that the ped gave me and said I wasn't going to use it, would she like it.....she thanked me (IF I had been who I am now, I wouldn't have done this...






























We go back in a week later for a weight check and saw a different doctor who praised us on the weight gain....I explained what had happened the week prior and he was none too amused to hear it (i did it in a nice way).....he looked at her chart and got a look on his face...

SHE HAD BEEN GOING OFF BIRTH WEIGHT and not the discharge weight......if dd had gained her birthweight back in 4 days, I'd be amazed....LOL....

With dd2 she was the MD that came to check her out in the hospital and she saw me and said, "Oh, haven't seen you in a long time, I didn't know you were still with us..." I told her that yes, we had been....







She's been pretty nice to me ever since....

But I'll never forget that....

Our current ped at the practice nursed her LO's well past 2...and the head of the practice's wife is one of the better LC's in town!


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## cancat (Jun 15, 2004)

I really have so many, but the best was when I asked dd1's doctor's nurse why she was having green poops and was told "oh, its nothing, probably from you eating broccoli or spinach..."







:


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## kalynnsmom (Dec 3, 2004)

On one hand, I'm amazed at the ignorance but on the other hand, I'm not surprised..

Here's mine:

My twins were 6 weeks premature and I was pumping for them. While I was still in the hospital, the pedi came in and said that I needed to supplement. I said fine but it was important to me that I BF them. OMG, she went on a tirade "Well, I FF'ed and my daughter is smart and at the top of her class! I see sick BF'ed babies ALL the time". Then she told me that most of the moms with twins in her practice don't BF.

One of my boys had trouble latching on, and she told me that he would never breastfeed.

After they were discharged, and we went for their checkups, she told me that I couldn't exclusively nurse, it's just too much of a hassle. At their next visit, I had been exclusively nursing them, and they were gaining weight very well. She was SHOCKED. HAHA!! In your face!!

My mom is an RN, and she's tried giving me some doozies. Just recently, my boys had some stomach virus (vomiting and diarrhea). I asked about what I should do for the vomiting. She said "no milk" I said "Oh that's ok, they don't like milk anyway". Then, my mom said "No, I mean, no breastmilk". I told mom she was way wrong and the BEST thing to do was to nurse them (I have a blog and put links about why it's good to nurse while they're sick)


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## evlu (Oct 14, 2006)

My MIL (a nurse) kept trying to give ds ice cream once he turned 5 months old. I told her the AAP guidelines (exclusive bf for at least 6 months) and that ds wasn't to have anything dairy until at *least* 12 months, if then. My husband has Crohn's disease, so we were super-strict about adhering to feeding guidelines with ds. MIL responded that ice cream couldn't be that bad, she started giving dh COW'S MILK at 3 MONTHS OLD on the advice of the pediatrician who said that "formula wasn't enough for him."







: MIL said, "And he turned out fine!" Helloooooo, he has Crohn's, he is *NOT* "fine"!







:


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## trailblazerbarbie (Mar 19, 2005)

When dd was five weeks old she was diagnosed with thrush. The physician's assistant said babies get thrush when they pick up pacifiers off the ground and put it in their mouth.







:

My dd is having issues with slow weight gain and we just went to a pediatric gastroentoligist. They want me to supplement with 2ozs of formula after every feeding







and now that she's 6 months feed her solids 3-5x a day.









wait it gets better...

got a call today that she "may" be lactose intolerant due to one stool test being questionable and that I need to stop bfing for two weeks and pump and switch her to hypoallergenic forumula to see if she gains weight faster .


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## pantufla (Jun 7, 2007)

My family practice doc told me I should switch DS#1 to formula because we had a resistant case of thrush.

At DS#1's 18 month checkup the pediatric ARNP asked me how much rice milk DS was drinking (DS is allergic to cow's milk). I said he was drinking one sippy cup, maybe two. She said he needed to be drinking at LEAST two. I said, "Why? We're still breastfeeding." Which led her to ask, "How often does he nurse?" I counted them up -- about six, maybe eight times a day. Her eyes got big. "Wow, that is a lot."







"But I still want him drinking more rice milk than that. He needs the calcium."







: At this same appointment she told me that DS wasn't gaining enough weight and that if it kept up something would need to be "done" about it.

My best friend is a speech/language pathologist and she often sees kids who have trouble swallowing or have severe food aversions. I think she sees so many of these kids she forgets what "normal" is. She told me that breastmilk isn't nutritious after 12 months of age. So what exactly comes out of boobs then, water?







: Oh, and you have to start feeding babies solids at six months or they will never learn to eat. And according to her it's "normal" for babies to have a tongue thrust reflex at six months and if you don't feed them solids they will never grow out of it.

Why is it that people want all kids to grow and behave the SAME? I mean, they have these weight charts because babies aren't all the same, but they want my long, lean kid to be exactly the SAME as every other long, lean kid.


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## MamaRabbit (May 26, 2005)

Our ped (great about no-vax and UCing so I don't complain) is also one of the 2 LC's in the whole country. With my 1st DD, I mentioned that it was not comfortable nursing, baby was throwing up her whole mean, and I heard clicking. Wasn't clicking a sign of poor latch? I needed help. She just said, Oh, she's just a noisy eater. aaargh. That was at 5 weeks old. Took a visiting LLL woman from Canada who happened to run into that solved our latch problem.

Same ped. I'm nursing DS past 1 year and she says it's only for the mother's attachment/enjoyment and not for the baby.


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## MCatLvrMom2A&X (Nov 18, 2004)

I went to the Dr. for a sore throat that just wouldnt go away. I asked the Dr. if the meds were safe for bfing he said yes then asked how old my ds was. I told him 26 months he got this look on his face looked me right in the eye and said "You need to wean him because bfing after 2yo he will become malnurished" I probably looked something like this







: and told him that ds ate just fine along with bfing and he weighed nearly 30pds at the time. Yea poor little guy was starving to death







:


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## HappyFox05 (Apr 11, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *MamaRabbit* 
I'm nursing DS past 1 year and she says it's only for the mother's attachment/enjoyment and not for the baby.

OT, but isn't it interesting how, half the time, you hear stories that go, "Everyone told me breastfeeding is way too hard, too painful, too time-consuming, etc." and the other half of the time it's "Extended breastfeeding is only for the mother's enjoyment." How can it be a pain in the butt *and* for the exclusive enjoyment of the mother *at the same time*? The breastfeeding naysayers really need to get their acts together!


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## didkisa (Jun 15, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *momtokaili* 
Our former pediatrician, at the 2 month check-up, gave us a prescription for Tri-V-Sol (iron, fluoride, and vitamin D) because our daughter was exclusively breastfed. And we lived in sunny Miami! And, since then, I've seen on the AAP's web page that they recommend AGAINST fluoride before 6 months.

Prescription?? This seems a little confusing...my ped recommended Trivsol so dd could get vitamin D....but it only has vitamins A, D, and C, and it's not a prescription. Could you be mixing it up with something else?


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## Dov'sMom (Jan 24, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *rmzbm* 
Oh, THAT'S how the milk gets in there?!?! I wondered!









I don't drink milk, someone must pour it in my mouth while I sleep.









Well, that's what my 12 month old supplemented son thinks too! He gets a bottle at bedtime in between nursings, and lately he started trying to pour from the bottle into my breasts


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## Dov'sMom (Jan 24, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *onelilguysmommy* 
no, its water with electrolytes and sucralose.


And lets not forget the food coloring







: (except in one flavor which I could never find when I wanted to buy some just to have around in case)


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## Dov'sMom (Jan 24, 2007)

Okay, I clearly haven't learned how to multi-quote









Anyway, my story, now that I've read everyone else's, sounds kind of tame.

There was the nurse in the hospital who insisted that DS was starving because I clearly wasn't giving him anything through nursing because, after all, my breasts weren't hard. I actually believed her and gave DS an ounce of formula, after which he refused to nurse for 10 hours, which she thought meant I should just formula feed.







. No, it meant poor 2 day old DS got virtually nothing for 10 hours until he agreed to nurse again; no way was I going down the nipple confusion path. When my midwife came in that morning it was just after he agreed to nurse for the first time all night and I was a nervous wreck. She heard the story, grabbed my (still soft despite no nursing all night breast) and squirted.

When I realized I was pregnant with #2, #1 was 6 months old. I called the ob/gyn to get a script for an u/s because I had been bleeding a lot and because I had no idea how old the pregnancy was (exclusively breastfeeding). She told me I would have to wean right away. Why? Well, it hurts to nurse when you're pregnant. I told her it wasn't hurting me now and besides, wouldn't that be my decision? "Well, but won't you want to nurse the new one?" So I have to wean now, in order to be able to nurse the new one when it shows up in 8 months?







:


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## Sheal (Apr 19, 2007)

His gastro specialist (pediatrics specialist) told me that breast milk at 6 months of age does not contain enough vitamins and in specific vit D and iron so I have to put him on vit drops and iron drops...uhhh...NOT.

I almost laughed in her face.


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## clicksab (Oct 15, 2006)

My MIL is an RN and she started asking us when we were going to star DD on solids when she was only 2 months! She also asked me how much I was nursing her per day and was shocked when I told her. She said " Babies don't need to nurse so often. I had Nate (my DH) down to 4 times a day when he was 3 months old...He had breakfast, lunch, dinner, and a snack." My pooooor DH! He was a starved little baby








Needless to say, I ignored her.


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## MarcyC (Jul 4, 2005)

This was with my second child. I had bottle-fed my first and didn't know a lot about breastfeeding, but knew I did want to breastfeed my second. When I had my second, my first was only a year and 3 days old. I'd had a difficult pregnancy and quick, but difficult labor. The first night in the hospital was horrible with people coming and going all night long. So the second night the nurse offered to keep DD in the nursery. I told her I was breastfeeding and I had read about nipple confusion (nipple PREFERENCE, actually). She said not to worry because a baby this young cannot get nipple confusion. She was wrong! Maybe *some* babies don't get confused...my daughter certainly wasn't "confused" she knew what she wanted - she wanted what was easiest for her and it WASN'T breastfeeding.


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## HappyFox05 (Apr 11, 2007)

I had an RN tell me that if I drive a car w/standard transmission, the cord will get wrapped around the baby's neck.


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## Paeta16 (Jul 24, 2007)

_"Of course you drink milk, you're breastfeeding!"..._

LOL - this reminds me of my 4 y.o. niece! When I was nursing one day she asked me how the milk got in there. I explained it to her and she said "Oh, I just thought you drank a glass of milk and it went in there (meaning my breasts)so the baby could drink it!" LOL

I had a horrible doctor who was incredulous that I wanted to be on anti-depressants and nurse. She told me that she didn't nurse her kids b/c she always found it gross







:


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## Magali (Jun 8, 2007)

At the 6 week check up, the doc told me I need to give ds the vit d drops 'cause I am breastfeeding. It was summer and we spend a lot of time outdoors and I said it wasn't necessary because we were getting our vit d au naturel. She looked really perplexed to find out that vit d comes from the sun







: And I ended up "promising" that I would at least give him drops 3 times a week. 7 months later that bottle is still unopened. I really don't like saying bad things about this doc though, because she is a sweet person, just IMO she needs to expand her horizons.


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## Magali (Jun 8, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *HappyFox05* 
I had an RN tell me that if I drive a car w/standard transmission, the cord will get wrapped around the baby's neck.

How? From all that shifting???


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