I am currently in Denmark, one of the Scandinavian countries which boasts some of the world’s highest breastfeeding rates. It is illegal for baby formulas to be advertised or promoted. No ‘samples’ are ever given from a hospital. As a result, some 98% of mothers leaving maternity wards are breastfeeding their babies. Moving to Denmark while 6 months pregnant, this was one of the many policies that I was looking forward to, having no idea that there could be anything negative about it.
On Tuesday, Kim Chen, a grieving father and widower, shared his late wife Florence Leung’s struggles with postpartum depression and breastfeeding on a Facebook page dedicated to her memory. He encouraged new moms to get help and to not succumb to pressures to breastfeed.
Chen wrote,
“For all the new moms experiencing low mood or anxiety, please seek help and talk about your feelings. You are Not alone. You are Not a bad mother. Do not EVER feel bad or guilty about not being able to “exclusively breastfeed”, even though you may feel the pressure to do so based on posters in maternity wards, brochures in prenatal classes, and teachings at breastfeeding classes. Apparently the hospitals are designated “baby-friendly” only if they promote exclusive-breastfeeding.”
Our thoughts are with Mr. Chen, his family, and their son, who now has to grow up without his mother. We’ve reached out to him to offer our support and resources during this impossible time.
When I was pregnant, I was determined to breastfeed. It was going to be easy, it was going to be natural. Formula was for lazy people, formula was for selfish women. Formula was poison for my baby. The breastfeeding groups I joined on Facebook only reinforced these mantras even further. Whenever people asked if I was going to breast or bottle feed my baby, I proudly told them that I was going to breastfeed. Nothing was going to stop me.
I had no idea how ignorant I truly was. Continue reading
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When our son was born, he weighed 6 pounds 5 oz., and we had issues with him latching from the start. Part of the problem was I had flat nipples, so the nurse gave us a shield and showed me how to use it, and he seemed to do much better. He seemed to be a very content and alert baby. He lost almost 10 percent of his birth weight during our hospital stay, and we were discharged to see our pediatrician for a follow-up.
Weighing 9.5 pounds at 4 months
My fourth baby ended up hospitalized for failure to thrive and required a nasogastric tube to feed her. Despite constant breastfeeding, excellent milk supply and milk transfer, she never gained enough weight and then began losing weight. She was born weighing 8 pounds and when admitted to the hospital she weighed 9 pounds, 5 ounces.
I worked in labor and delivery and postpartum units as a tech and then a registered nurse for 6 years at a BFHI designated hospital and I was so indoctrinated by “Breast is Best” that I truly believed “a hungry baby wouldn’t starve” and every mother can exclusively breastfeed, including me.
During the hospital stay my baby was subjected to a profusion of invasive tests, and it was determined my breast milk lacked sufficient fat, calories and nutrients to nourish her. I was in absolute shock and disbelief!
Elena’s doctors ordered her to begin feedings with a 24 calorie formula for the first 
months and then she was fed a 22 calorie formula to help her gain enough catch-up weight. We were able to remove her feeding tube after a month when she began to gain weight and thrive and eventually she was transitioned to a regular 20 calorie formula.
With my first 3 babies, I fed them a combination of breast milk and formula. My twins always received more formula than breast milk because I couldn’t keep up with their demands. My 3rd baby was called “slow to gain” at four months so I increased the amount of formula he got and by 6 months he was solely on formula. In hindsight, my milk was probably insufficient then too but my other babies always took a bottle so it was easy to supplement them with a bottle.
Thankfully my sweet baby is now almost 2 years old and perfectly healthy but I will never ever spread the “Breast is Best” myth again!
NG tube removed, thriving
I am now a staunch #FedIsBest advocate and will be joining The Fed Is Best Foundation’s Nurse Advocacy Team so that we can educate other health care providers and provide them with current, clinically safe and evidence- based infant feeding practices.
~Karen Creecy, RN
For more information about breast milk composition deficiencies, please read my blog interview with: Dr. Shannon Kelleher and Dr. Shannon Kelleher 2
You can become a Fed is Best Advocate and wear our charm to spread our message by making a donation at:
https://www.generosity.com/…/the-fed-is-best-fou…/x/15553740
