Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Note on Breastfeeding

I have many, many things to say about breastfeeding.... and no time at all to say them. Thankfully many of you wonderful bloggers out there are saying them for me!

But in the meantime, here is a note on our non-culture of support for breastfeeding.

This afternoon I received a phone message telling me the protocol for pre-procedure fasting for our baby (age 15 months). It went something like this:

"Before the procedure, baby can have solids till 4 a.m., formula till 6 a.m., and clear liquids till 9 a.m. If for some reason he's still breastfeeding, he can have breastmilk till 8 a.m."(Emphasis mine.)

Do I really need to say anything more? The easy assumption that "of COURSE a 15-month-old baby is weaned" does not reflect well on our current medical culture.

We have work to do.
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3 comments:

  1. alissaDecember 2, 2010 at 11:32 AM

    I absolutely love this. (Love in a ridiculous sort of way). What hospital was that?

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  2. CrystaDecember 8, 2010 at 9:37 AM

    Lol, totally agree it was ridiculous -- but do you think they were generic orders for all kiddo procedures, and the person doing them just worded it very, very badly?

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  3. DianaDecember 8, 2010 at 10:43 AM

    For "Kids" - First of all, I love the pics on your blogs! What a sweet family you have! Love it! And yes, you are right, it's probably just standard script for all kiddo procedures. May I say that I was in a slightly over-reactive mood the night before baby's MRI? LOL!!! And also, breastfeeding beyond one year is just not that common here in America, so a huge majority of 15mo babies would be either on formula or weaned completely... so it's an understandable assumption, though a regrettable one. Breastfeeding just has a long way to come in this country! (Though I think it's making progress.... though very slow progress!)

    I don't want to blacken the name of this excellent hospital, so I will keep its name unpublished - but I must say that we had a great experience there! Top notch facility, staff, procedure, protocol, etc. - good stuff. You can hop over to my other blog to read about our experience, but it was a good one, and I'd go back.

    Thanks, all - for reading and for commenting! :)

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