by Lindsay Matthews
We all know that “breast is best”, but is it always?
I recently participated in a debate on the merits of obtaining good breastfeeding advice and support. Some of you may be shocked to learn that a hospital in my hometown has a horrible track record for supporting women in the key first 24 hour period. They send moms who have made the decision to breastfeed home using a breast pump because they “have no milk, and you gotta pump to bring that in”. They also send nipple shields, and supplements of that handy free formula that they happen to have on hand (never mind the WHO regulations against this). With a basic training in breastfeeding you quickly learn that all of these methods are not effective, and are often counter, to breastfeeding as a goal.
During this debate two of my friends went head-to-head on breastfeeding. One friend, a mom named Pam, exclusively breastfed her 2 children for 1 year while the other friend , lets call her Shelly, had the misfortune of giving birth in the aforementioned hospital and came home with a pumping, feeding, and sterilizing schedule recommended to her by the postpartum care nurses. Shelly was also given Nipple Shields by her midwife to help ease the pain from all that damn pumping and sucking. Let’s just say that after weeks of working with a Lactation Counselor, supplemental feeding devices, and herbs, poor Shelly was still struggling to get her baby latched and made the choice to formula feed. Was Shelly being a lazy mom and taking the quick way out? It certainly doesn’t sound lazy to me.
I was chatting with Shelly later that week, encouraging her to write a letter to the hospital to inform them of her breastfeeding plight. How else is a hospital supposed to know when they are doing a poor job? They only see a new mother on the Birthing Floor for a period of a few hours to a few days. No follow up appointments, no after care. Just “Thank you, come again!”. How much of a vested interest do these overworked, hospital policy bound under informed nurses have in these new mothers? How many have received training in breastfeeding? Even midwives do not receive an appropriate amount of training. I was attending breastfeeding training course last year and I asked some midwives how much training they get during their degree in breastfeeding. I was stunned with the answer; one day. A 3-4 year education on how to take care of a Mother and Baby during pregnancy and birth and just 1 day spent on how to breastfeed.
I offer breastfeeding support to my clients. The lack of breastfeeding education amongst care providers has gotten so systemic that when a Mom calls me in tears and tells me her story, I can tell what hospital in my Middle-sized city she has birthed in and if she had a Dr or midwife (and sometimes who was her provider). Knowing that this is a road that so many new moms have traveled, is it any wonder why we see such a number of moms formula feeding that never intended to?
Shelly, my ‘formula feeding’ friend, now has to live with the guilt of not successfully breastfeeding her child, despite her best efforts under the support of those who “should” have helped her succeed. There are people like Pam, my ‘breastfeeding friend’, who judges people like Shelly, for not breastfeeding without thought to ‘why’ this situation has occurred.
How does openly accusing formula moms of being ‘lazy’, help the relationship between Moms? Why do we not instead ask them about their journey to formula feeding? Maybe they tried desperately to breastfeed; maybe they were given poor advice and no support. Why, as breastfeeding advocates, do we not take the opportunity to inform or educate these women so that if there is another baby in their future, mistakes made through accepting poor advice can be changed. You do catch more flies with honey than vinegar.
I was reading some online blogs on this topic after the debate with my friends. It seems that some women can get really nasty when hidden behind the computer screen. Sometimes the issue is not black and white; the path traveled by so many women is coloured by grey. We will solve nothing by attacking each other and touting “Breast is Best…No matter what!” and making those most vulnerable feel guilt. The problem is much bigger than a blame game between the sides of Extreme Lactavists and ‘Pro-Choice’ formula feeders.
I will be honest, I am a Lactavist. I do not agree that formula should be directly advertised to moms, as outlined in the WHO formula marketing guidelines. The studies have been done and formula feeding results in more allergies, more asthma, more Type 2 diabetes, more breast cancer, more ovarian cancer, and the list goes on. Formula advertising even says that “Breast is Best”. However, if moms were properly informed of the risks of formula, and had unlimited, free access to proper breastfeeding support, we might be a more breast-friendly culture and would not have this great divide. We would have compassion for the moms that must formula feed due to poor advice, poor support, and misinformation regarding the ‘benefits’ of formula feeding. Formula is a necessary drug, but as with all drugs, overuse and misuse leads to problems, like we are seeing with increased rates of certain diseases. If more Moms had better, unbiased, information, the choice would be more clear; Breast is Best, but formula does have a place.
Lindsay Matthews
Bellies2babies@rogers.com
Lindsay is a Certified Birth Doula in London, Ontario. She is an attachment parenting, ‘extended’ breastfeeding, co-sleeping, cloth diapering, home birthing, urban homesteader mother of 3 busy children, 6 chickens, a dog, a cat and a husband that just shakes his head at everything she does.
