Cassie Mascari and her husband were frantic. In the three days since her birth, their daughter, Eliza, had been having trouble breast-feeding and was crying nonstop. They raced her to the emergency room, where they received shocking news: Their baby was starving.

Mascari, 35, was heartbroken that she hadn’t tried a bottle. But the new mother says that the lactation consultant at the Northern NJ hospital where Eliza, now a healthy 2-year-old, was born “just kept telling me to keep trying and never suggested I might need to supplement [with formula].”

New mothers hear over and over that breast-feeding is critical to their baby’s physical and emotional health. But some say the “breast is best” mantra at maternity wards is so forceful, signs that a baby may be critically deprived of nutrients are being ignored.

Read more at New York Post.