Comments on: I Never Went Back: On Psychiatric Ignorance of Breastfeeding

By: Support for Breastfeeding Can Make All The Difference | Breastfeeding Moms Unite

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 16:03:07 +0000

[...] is #4 in my series on Mental Health and Breastfeeding. The other posts can be found here, here and here. Ruth was one of the first breastfeeding moms I made friends with on Twitter. Her talent for [...]

By: Melodie

Melodie — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 22:14:52 +0000

@billie – Just out of curiosity how do you know you are physically unable to breastfeed? You very well may be, but many, many mothers have been told that for the wrong reasons, by well meaning but uninformed health care professionals, so I’m curious.
Obviously you should not give up your baby. If it’s the not being able to breastfeed part that concerns you, what good would it do to send the baby to someone else who is even less likely to breastfeed a non-biological child? It is possible to breastfeed an adopted baby but not many women do.
I personally think that formula should be made available to moms and babies who really need it. Afterall, it is a breastmilk substitute. My problem with formula is when parents are given faulty information about formula, when doctors and nurses push it when it isn’t warranted, when health care professionals personally don’t know the difference because they weren’t properly trained in breastfeeding education, when moms use it because they lacked sufficient support and/or resources and felt there was no other way, but the problem stemmed not from their failures but the failures of a system that doesn’t support or respect the breastfeeding relationship between a mother and her child. But if you NEED formula – that’s what it’s there for and I don’t think you should be made to feel guilty if that truly is your only option.

By: billie

billie — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 21:13:15 +0000

Things like this make me so mad and not for the reasons you think. So since I know I cannot breastfeed should I not keep the baby I’m carrying? I am physically unable to breastfeed so should I just give my baby to someone that can so I don’t damage her?

By: I Lied to My Shrink, and Other Hazards of Breastfeeding | Breastfeeding Moms Unite

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 17:55:23 +0000

[...] is Post #1 in my Mental Health and Breastfeeding series. The other posts can be found here, here and [...]

By: How Contradictory Medication Information and Advice Wrecks Breastfeeding and Moms | Breastfeeding Moms Unite

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 17:50:44 +0000

[...] is post #2 in my Mental Health and Breastfeeding series. The other posts can be found here, here and [...]

By: Kathy

Kathy — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:32:03 +0000

You had every right to be angry.
When the checkout lady at my OB office offhandedly sai “ah well you can always keep the formula samples just in case breastfeedign doesn’t work out” I definitely got a flight or fight response. My face got red, my heart raced and I still htink about it to this day with anger 6 months later. I said as calmly as possible that I would not need the samples and I would most definitely nurse for at least a year” She didn’t say anything to that!

By: Melodie

Melodie — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:04:47 +0000

@Arwyn,

I love that a food source is something you have found to work for you. There is a lot of scientific support for nutritional supplements, vitamins, etc to treat mental illness and yet in my own experience advocating for clients I have found that it is the least supported treatment method out there. I have never understood why.