This is a letter addressed to all my healthcare partners who dedicate their profession to the care of babies and the health council for mothers and fathers: 'Let's do something, we are loading the lactations'.
I arrived at my job as a pediatric nurse 10 years ago, just a few months after my son was born and, consequently, with the information regarding the very recent care of children (taking advantage of the fact that he had been a father and that he would be In pediatrics I began to recycle myself in everything related to the health of babies, breastfeeding, feeding, etc.).
Armando, stop saying "weird things" to mothers
They spent only a couple of weeks in my new position, when I realized that the message I offered to the mothers and fathers did not match what other professionals at the center were giving: the nursing assistant called me to his office and He asked me to stop saying "weird things" to mothers, because I was creating "a reasonable doubt."
I had already been working in pediatrics six years before, just a few weeks ago, back in 2000, when we told mothers to give orange juice to babies with 3 months and at 4 they started to eat a lot of things. At that time, my knowledge about breastfeeding was reduced to what I had learned in college: breast milk emanates from women's breasts and, if they have problems, they can always give artificial milk in a bottle.
But now it was different. He had learned to assess the correct and incorrect grip of a baby to the breast, it was clear that breastfeeding is at the request of the baby, he knew some common problems and their solutions and was aware of the recommendations of the WHO and the Spanish Association of Pediatrics at respect. So the surprise was capital when I discovered that I was saying "weird things" to mothers. Things that the pediatricians then modified on a next visit, correcting "the wrong advice" that I gave.
Obviously, I had to tell him that I didn't know how to say "normal things", that at the risk of being like "the nurse who does not know, that is new", had the moral obligation to continue explaining things according to current recommendations and not guiding me in outdated indications, often negative for mothers and babies .
So since that date I have seen them of all colors: with fellow nurses, fellow pediatricians, doctors, gynecologists and even midwives. If I even had the good intention of doing some breastfeeding sessions for my centermates and they almost took my head off... all to say that breastfeeding every 3 hours is obsolete, that breastfeeding should be exclusive for the first six months and that from that age we can not say that give a bottle, because no, milk is not transformed into water .
I have seen pediatricians about to load breastfeeding in front of me and have to bite my tongue so as not to intervene and contradict them in front of the mother, trying to redirect the situation on subsequent visits (and see how, despite explaining that what they had just finished to say it was dangerous, they kept saying it with other mothers). But above all I have been reading and participating in the internet, forums, blogs and social networks for 10 years.
I have interacted in these years with thousands of mothers and have read and known their stories, their joys, and their sorrows. And I have read thousands of erroneous advice from us, health professionals. Many of them so old, that they were already 10 years ago.
We are loading their lactations
- We are not helping them, and we are in evidence, when we tell them that they should not have enough milk and instead of looking for the cause (an incorrect grip most times, an uncontrolled hypothyroidism, a Sheehan, a prolactin deficit, a retention of placenta ...), and give solutions we jump directly to the bottle.
- We are not helping them, and we are in evidence, when they have cracks and the only solution we give them is that they put on Purelan, and that if it continues to hurt, give a bottle.
- We are not helping them, and we are in evidence, when we tell them that the breast must be given following a certain schedule to let the breasts fill with milk between doses.
- We are not helping them, and we are in evidence, when we explain that a baby should not be on the breast for more than 10 minutes.
- We are not helping them, and we are in evidence, when we tell them that the moment the teeth come out, we must wean.
- We are not helping them, and we are in evidence, when we explain that beyond the year, breast milk no longer makes any sense and it is better that they give cow's milk.
- We are not helping them, and we are in evidence, when we tell them that if they have diarrhea (they) cannot breastfeed the baby.
- We are not helping them, and we are in evidence, when we tell them that if they have diarrhea (babies) they cannot breastfeed.
- We are not helping them, and we are in evidence, when the mother needs some medicine and is not prescribed because she breastfeeds, or is told to take the milk and throw it away, when it turns out that the treatment is compatible with breastfeeding, or There are alternative treatments that you can take.
- We are not helping them, and we are in evidence, when we explain complementary feeding as explained ten or twenty years ago.
- We are not helping them, and we are in evidence, when they tell us they want to do BLW and we tell them that we have no idea what that is.
- We are not helping them, and we are in evidence, when we tell them that they have to give the tit only to eat, because if not the baby will confuse them with the pacifier, when it turns out that it was before the tit that the pacifier.
- We are not helping them, and we are in evidence, when we tell them to take breastfeeding to give the food, or to first give the food and the breast is for dessert.
- We are not helping them, and we are in evidence, when we tell them that with six months they have to sleep all night and not give them a tit.
And I do not follow because there is no need to continue. They are many the pediatricians, nurses, doctors, midwives and gynecologists who are doing a wonderful job helping women to have an informed motherhood so they can make their own decisions, and provide them with effective solutions to their problems. But there are many of them who remain anchored in the past, giving erroneous advice that not only does not help, but also hurts.
Many mothers they are lying to us for years (I myself did it in a review of my children's pediatrician to save me some sermon), and this is unfortunate because at that point we lose confidence and run the risk of hiding important things. But many mothers have reached a point where are more up to date than us on these issues, and prefer to hide what they know knowing that our advice will not be the most aligned with the latest recommendations.
Thus, when they have a problem with breastfeeding, they no longer come to us: they look for support groups of nursing mothers, or they look for a specific professional who knows that it is up to date.
But not all mothers are so trained and informed. Many blindly trust us because they believe we have the knowledge, the maximum evidence, and many close the door of the office crying, feeling bad mothers for something that turns out that they are doing well, or with advice for their problems that not only do not help but that, unfortunately, they are helping to destroy their lactations.
Let's do something. Begins to be hard to hear that nurses and pediatricians, doctors and gynecologists (and some midwives) have no idea of feeding or breastfeeding, but it is not easy to answer the opposite and one can only say that of "not all", because I keep hearing old-fashioned advice even today. It is urgent.
Photos | iStock
In Babies and more | Ah, but is it that pediatricians are not lactation consultants?, The AEP publishes a report in favor of breastfeeding in older children (yes, those who already walk and run), The natural age of weaning: Until when breastfeeding the baby? Who supports and who criticizes prolonged breastfeeding?
