January 21, 2011 4:32 pm

Type 1 Diabetes Prevention

This article is driving me nuts.

It talks about “special infant formula” that “may protect against Type 1 Diabetes” even though they are not sure exactly how the highly hydrolyzed proteins in that special formula actually help.

I object to the complete omission of the fact that breastfeeding protects against Type 1 Diabetes (among other things), and that protection is improved the longer you breastfeed. The conclusion of the study (above link) was that “longer exclusive and total breastfeeding appears as an independent protective factor against type 1 diabetes.”

You’d think the diabetes article might have mentioned this. Especially since it’s more natural and, from the sounds of it, more effective.

Instead, they offer this:

“Based on the current results, we think that it is justified to recommend weaning to a highly hydrolyzed formula for babies in families with a member affected by type 1 diabetes.”

…which makes it sound like they recommend stopping breastfeeding in favor of the “special” formula if a family member has type 1 diabetes. They also use the phrase “…feeding your baby a special formula when weaning off breastfeeding…” which seems to entirely omit the option of nursing your baby long enough that they don’t require formula when weaning and can go straight to real food and (possibly) cow’s milk.

I find the whole article very obnoxious.

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January 13, 2011 2:52 pm

Booby Traps

Best for Babes is calling for women to share their “Booby Traps” – stories of being set up to fail at breastfeeding. They will present these stories to the Surgeon General and the media to try to illustrate the setbacks and hurdles women face when they want to breastfeed.

Here are mine:

C-section and delayed breastfeeding

I was medically induced due to pre-eclampsia and ended up with an emergency c-section. I had awful edema (swelling) and compromised liver and kidney functions, and was put on magnesium sulfate and did not get an opportunity to breastfeed my baby for several hours after he was born.

Scare tactics from a brusque LC

The last Lactation Consultant I saw in the hospital was downright awful and used scare tactics to make me doubt my own ability to feed my child. I knew babies lost weight after delivery, and I also knew that their elimination habits are somewhat unpredictable very early on. The LC tried to scare me (into making milk? not sure what her objective was) regarding his weight loss, which was well within the normal range, and since I was pumped full of fluids during and after labor, his initial weight may have been artificially high. She also tried to scare me regarding his lack of dirty diapers after an initial few (also pretty normal).

I was only discharged from the hospital after I agreed to take the baby in for a weight check the next day. We were both healthy, recovering, and he was breastfeeding reasonably fine. I repeat: I was told I would have to spend another (expensive! unnecessary!) night in the hospital so they could monitor his DIAPER OUTPUT, or I could go home and then commit to keeping an LC appointment the next day to weigh him. No contest – I went home.

The LC I saw the next day seemed confused why I was there, since he was clearly gaining tons of weight and eating fine. Which I knew already, but was bullied into not trusting my body.

Nipple shields and other accessories

Wesley was not keen on opening his mouth very wide to nurse, which made nursing very painful. I was advised to use a shield to help him latch. I was not told that it might damage my supply (it didn’t, fortunately) and I was not told how to wean him off it, or even that I SHOULD wean him off it.

Consequently, I had to figure out for myself how to wean him off the shield, and just as we were almost down to not needing it, he received his 2 month vaccinations and refused to eat without the shield and we were back to square one. He still uses it today (at 9.5 months old), as I’ve been unsuccessful in attempting to wean off the shield since then – he simply doesn’t recognize my boob as food unless the shield is present.

I was also sent home with formula, empty plastic bottles (presumably for pumping, but they are Similac branded), a syringe and tube system for feeding, sugar water, and a Medela Special Needs Feeder (like a giant syringe with a nipple on the end). For what purpose? I have no idea. I found it incredibly wasteful. A special needs feeder? HE WAS BREASTFEEDING FINE. I am not sure what kind of special needs she thought he might develop whereupon I might need to use that, but sending me home with all that junk irks me, even now.

Being sent home with formula

This one in particular really infuriates me. The LC (the crap one, from point #1) clearly observed my baby successfully breastfeeding and receiving milk. Why pack my bag full of “just in case” formula as I’m leaving?

To make matters worse, it was the super-expensive Nutramigen kind, which means that if I did choose to supplement, I would have used that brand and been hesitant to switch unless my baby obviously didn’t tolerate it. If I’d done that, I’d be out FAR more money than if I had been sent home with the one of the normal varieties. Or none at all, which should have been the case.

On the other hand, I am incredibly fortunate for several reasons:

  • My mom is a Labor & Delivery nurse, and successfully breastfed three babies. She showed me how to use my pump. Daniel’s mom successfully breastfed four babies. Daniel was incredibly supportive and helpful, especially in the early days of figuring it all out. My family, extended family, and in-laws are very breastfeeding supportive.
  • My workplace has been very good at accommodating my pumping needs. They installed window blinds in a conference room so I could use it to pump, and do not make a fuss about my pumping breaks.
  • I respond well to the pump. A friend of mine is only able to pump if her baby is nursing on the opposite breast – she doesn’t experience the let-down reflex otherwise and is unable to pump any milk. I’ve never had a problem with let-down for the pump and I know how lucky that is.
  • I was good about trusting my instincts and not letting the crazy hysteric LC get to me. I think many other people in those situations would have given in and just used the formula to get her off their backs. Daniel still occasionally brings up how insane she was.

Clearly, there are significant hurdles to successful breastfeeding for new mothers. I mean, look at my list! And I would consider myself a success story! Think of all the other things that can go wrong – unsupportive family, pediatrician, husband, hospital; misinformation regarding cluster feedings and how often day-old babies need to eat (and how much); nurses recommending formula to resolve jaundice; the list goes on.

Do you have any stories of Booby Traps? Best for Babes is looking to receive as many stories as possible.

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January 12, 2011 9:26 am

Food at Daycare

What Wesley eats at daycare is one area in which I am continually annoyed, baffled, or unsure.

He was exclusively breastfed until six months, at which point we started giving him some of whatever we were eating. He seemed to hate everything except pears, so we didn’t push the issue.

Then a couple of the girls at daycare got pushy with us about starting him on rice cereal, and even though we had tried it at home in a last-ditch effort to find something he might like and he HATED it, I gave them the go-ahead to try some to see if he would eat anything for them.

They agreed that he hated it, and since then I’ve mentioned a few times that they could give up on the cereal because he hated it, but they still try some every day. Which… whatever. If he doesn’t want to eat it, he won’t, and it’s their cereal, not mine, so I am not too worried about waste, but it is still dumb.

Over Christmas, since we were traveling and more or less unable to make our own food while on the road, we bought several varieties of jarred food to test them out to see if he would eat any of them. To our surprise, he was willing to try pretty much anything and ate jars of food with gusto.

Once we started back at daycare, I was excited to report that we found several things he would eat and started sending a jar of food with him each day. He would eat about half of it, twice a day. This seemed okay at first, they would write down what he ate and send home the empty jar.

Yesterday though, we had brought two jars just for the sake of having options, and put both in the fridge for him. When Daniel came to pick him up, they reported that he ate basically nothing but handed him the two empty jars.

When he told me that, we were both like, WHAT? They… they were both EMPTY? And they said he only ate a few bites? WHERE IS THE REST OF THE FOOD?

I have no idea where it went. Maybe they throw out what he doesn’t eat? I think you’re supposed to spoon the portions into a separate bowl instead of feeding them from the jar due to bacteria, but either way – BOTH jars were gone! Did they dump out the whole jar into a bowl and when he wouldn’t eat it, they threw it all away? That stuff is EXPENSIVE. Only portion out half! If he doesn’t eat it, then only half is wasted instead of TWO. WHOLE. JARS.

AND, they are still persisting with the rice cereal. I don’t think the cereal is that good for babies and I don’t really want him eating it, especially not if he will eat other, more nutritious foods. Stop with the cereal already, daycare! Argh.

So: today, I brought in a jar I know he will eat, and wrote “½ jar of food, 2x/day. No rice cereal.” so hopefully they will adhere to that. I am just so annoyed that both of those jars were gone (in one day!) and one of them was the bigger, taller jar, and they reported that he basically ate nothing. Perhaps I just need to be much more firm with them?

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