I first want to say that today is Sunday, August 5, 2012, and my son walked his first real steps by himself! The smile on his face said it all-- he looked so happy and proud of himself as he walked into my arms. It also must be (hopefully) coincidental that today his behavior is just completely OFF. We learned he has a temper (must come from his father, heh), is chock full of energy and right now, as I write this, is screaming in his crib. Husband and I already went in twice, and we drew the line. It's now CIO time. I forgot how awful this felt. Also not looking forward to cleaning the dried snot off of his face tomorrow morning...10 minutes and counting...
OK so what am I really writing about tonight?
This article.
Mayor Bloomberg is implementing a program in NYC hospitals (which is voluntary, btw) whereby hospitals keep formula out of sight from new mothers to help encourage them to breastfeed. If mothers insist on formula, the nurses need to 1) sign out the locked up formula, and 2) give a speech to the new mom about why breast is best. Kinda like when you're at Bloomingdales and the lady asks if you'd like a free cup of Nespresso coffee, and you have to stand there and listen to her schpeel about why Nespresso kicks Keurig's ass (this is jean, it really does!). Imagine that, but add raging post-labor hormones, exhaustion, frustration and perhaps humiliation to the picture. Sounds lovely, doesn't it?
[btw, 15 minutes, and the baby is finally sleeping. *PHEW*]
I gotta give it to Mayor Bloomberg-- he's just looking out for the greater welfare of his fellow New Yorkers. First, he targeted the obese New Yorkers by cutting down the soda in-take, and now (of all people), he's targeting new mothers and NYC's newborns.
As many of you ummas know, when you go to the pediatrician, your OBGYN and the hospital, they all offer free gift bags, often in forms of baby-stuff-organizers which also include coupons and free samples of formula. Free baby food? Sure! Yes, all of my doctors, nurses (and my mom, who is a labor and delivery nurse), the posters on the walls of the offices and hospitals, my instructor in my childbirthing class, and all hundreds of books and online articles that I read reminded me that "breast is best." I had full intention to breastfeed, but I also heard about how difficult it could be and how some women had little to zero supply, so I managed my expectations. It took some time for my milk to come in, and hence, took some time for Logan to latch on. During our 2nd night at the hospital, Logan was SCREAMING while hardly anything came out of my breast-- just a few precious drops of colostrum. He was also tearing up my girls (literally) so he would cry out of frustration and I would cry out of pain. Poor husband felt so helpless watching the two of us. That night, we asked the nurse to give him just a little bit of formula since nothing seemed to appease him. I was so scared he would get nipple confusion but after just a few sucks of formula, he was happily dozing off, and we felt it was the best decision at the time. As we were discharged, the nurse offered us a big pack of formula which we accepted, and we were on our way home.
Conveniently, Hurricane Irene hit during our first night home with Logan. I breastfed Logan in the dark with candles. We woke up to feed him about every 2 hours. I didn't dread coming to him when he cried/woke up-- I dreaded his mouth attempting to latch on to my already torn up girls. My milk clearly hadn't come in yet, he wasn't latching on, and my girls were torn up and bleeding. So, I decided to attempt to nurse him for as long as I could take it (and he could drink the colostrum which was the good stuff), and then the husband would "top him off" with a few CCs of formula via a plastic syringe (given to us by the pediatrician at the hospital) to avoid nipple confusion. While the husband fed him, I pumped to try to stimulate my milk production. At the next feeding, I would attempt to nurse, then we would feed him whatever I pumped from the last feeding and a few CCs of formula. At one point, my girls were REALLY torn and needed a break in between feedings to heal, so then I would just pump, and the husband would just feed whatever I pumped. Once my milk came in and Logan properly latched on (no more torn girls!), my mom realized it was still a pretty low supply (I was no
dairy queen like Jean!), so she encouraged me to supplement just a little with formula. Then at one point, I exclusively nursed for awhile, alternating sides. As Logan got bigger, I started supplementing again b/c I would nurse for a total of 90-120 minutes per session before he seemed to really stop. I felt like my body never had time to fully replenish the supply. I took lots of supplement to try to boost my supply, but in the end, I was just thankful that I was able to offer Logan some breast milk on a daily basis.
Logan's pediatrician encouraged me to exclusively breastfeed but was totally OK (and encouraging) when I decided to stick with supplementing. I think Mayor Bloomberg's proposal is great. NYU Langone Medical Center, which has already restricted access to formula, has seen its breast-feeding rate increase from 39% to 68% by doing so. But, while every mom is different and needs encouragement along the way, no mom should feel guilty if she chooses to give formula to her baby. Circumstances will arise when formula is a necessity, and I don't think hospitals should give moms a hard time if they request formula. I wonder what the lecture sounds like. Probably something like, "Breast feeding is great b/c of XYZ and provides XYZ for your baby. Are you sure you want you and your child to miss out on this? Please sign here indicating that you DON'T want to give your baby what's best for her. Don't say we didn't tell you so..."
I'm sure they phrase it a little bit better. :)
Anyway, what are your thoughts on this program?
