Last week I had the honor to be a part of one of the most beautiful VBAC (Vaginal Birth After Cesarean) hospital births I have ever witnessed. I would like to share that couple’s story with you today as both a feel-good tale of personal triumph and a story of inspiration for all those moms planning a VBAC out there that might stumble upon my blog. Since this is a blog about “a nurse’s view from the inside” this story is probably much different than any other birth story you might have read from the mother or father’s point of view. But then again, maybe that isn’t so bad! Enjoy!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was ten to 11 o’clock am as I walked through the lobby doors of the hospital I work at, rushing towards the elevator so I could punch in on time. As the elevator doors started to close, a hand shoved through the crack, forcing the doors back open. “Please make room!” said the woman, a phlebotomist who works in the hospital, in a shaky voice, “Woman in labor here!!” Following behind was a very pregnant woman, huffing and puffing as she waddled into the elevator, followed by what looked like her husband and her mother. “Don’t touch any buttons!” said the phlebotomist, “We’re going right up to labor & delivery!” Since that was where I was headed too, I smiled at the husband and said, “Don’t worry, you’re here now and she won’t have the baby in your car! I work up on L&D so I’ll show you were to register.” Something told me that if this woman was truly in labor then she would be assigned to me since I was just starting my shift. But she had to “pass” triage first, so after helping the family to the registration desk, I hurried into the locker room to change into my scrubs.
Fifteen minutes later the triage nurse came to the main desk, “I’ve got a term mom, 40 weeks 5 days, who’s five centimeters,” she said, “We’re gonna need to put her in a room…. And she’s a VBAC with a ‘birth plan’.” “I’ll take her!,” I said excitingly, knowing that I have my best days when I can assist a woman through labor, as opposed to getting stuck on the OR team or in the high risk ward running magnesium. (Not that those women don’t need a lot of TLC too, it’s just that I like labor the most!) Birth plans, natural unmedicated labor, and getting my patients out of bed…those are my specialties! I quickly set up the room across the hall as the resident finished the patient’s history and physical in the triage room. Then I quietly knocked on the triage room door and let myself in. The patient, Alyssa*, was standing by the bed, rocking her hips back and forth, as the continuous monitors strapped to her abdomen traced the baby’s heart rate and her contraction pattern. It looked like she was contracting every 3 minutes, and the baby’s heart rate was beautiful and reassuring. Her husband, Jared, was leaning nervously against the wall and her mom, Deb, was sitting quietly in the corner. I could really tell that Alyssa was lost in “Laborland” and I wanted to make the transition to her room as seamless as possible as to not break her rhythm and concentration too much. I quietly introduced myself and with the help of Jared and Deb, moved all of their belongings across the hall as Alyssa waddled behind.
I could tell that Alyssa was coping well with the contractions while standing but a quick glance at her prenatal summary revealed that she was Group B Strep positive and would need IV antibiotics (our hospital’s policy) and hence, and IV. Now I feel that I am pretty skilled at starting IVs, but I have not yet mastered starting an IV with the patient standing and swaying! So in the two minutes between the contractions, I explained to the Alyssa what I needed to do before the admission process was complete: get 5 more minutes of continuous monitoring on the baby (to equal the “20 minute strip” my hospital’s policy requires before we can switch to intermittent auscultation), take a set of vital signs, draw three tubes of blood, start an IV, and ask a few more questions. “Give me 8 minutes sitting on the bed,” I said, “and I can have everything but the interview done. The rest of the admission can be done with you standing up.” “Okay,” she said, “I can do eight minutes.” Eight minutes later the IV was in, antibiotic running, labs drawn and sent, vital signs done, monitors were removed, and the patient was helped out of bed (Phew!! That was close!! J). And it wasn’t a moment too soon because Alyssa was having a lot of back labor and sitting in bed was just making it worse!
Then there was a knock at the door. Here’s how the subsequent conversation went down…
Me: “Who is it?”
Med Student: “It’s just the medical student,” (said as he walked right into the room)
(I hadn’t yet gotten a chance to ask Alyssa if she was okay with medical students so I just kind of looked over at her and Jared and tried to judge their reaction.)
Med Student: “Hi I’m Michael. I have to ask you a few questions.”
(Have? How about “Is it okay if I ask you a few questions? Sheesh!!)
Med Student: “Are you being induced today?” (asked as he stared down at his paper)
Alyssa: “INDUCED! DOES IT LOOK LIKE I AM BEING INDUCED!”
Med Student: “Okaaaaay. Umm, any problems with this pregnancy?”
Jared: “Do you really need to ask these questions right now? The resident already asked her that stuff.”
Med Student: “Umm yeaaaah, I do. There is a lot of repetition but we have to ask again.”
Deb: “Doesn’t her prenatal summary tell you all of that?
Med Student: “Ummmmm….”
Me: “With all do respect, Michael. But I think they are trying to tell you that they do not want any medical students. Or anymore residents for that matter. Okay? So I think we are done here.”
Med Student: “Ummm, what am I supposed to tell the resident?”
Me: “Tell her I said that the next induction that comes in is all yours.”
As the med student left, Jared, Deb, and Alyssa all looked at me simultaneously and said “THANK YOU!” “I don’t think he was getting the hint,” said Jared. “Yeah,” I said, “I figured he needed it spelled out.” In hind sight, I think this was one of the moments that really helped me to bond with this family because after all, I understand how difficult it must be for families to come into the hospital and have to work with a nurse that they have even never met during one of the most intimate experiences of their lives!
I spent the next fifteen minutes finishing up the patient’s admission assessment as quickly as I could. I told Alyssa that if she was having a contraction to just ignore me, and asked Jared to help answer any questions he knew the answers to. (Unfortunately, our hospital’s pre-registration does not include performing an admission assessment and hence, it has to be done on arrival to the hospital. Usually, if a patient comes in for false/early labor a time or two, it gets done then but Alyssa had not been to the hospital her whole pregnancy, which is great, but it meant that I did have to bother her with some silly questions during labor. Kind of a bummer, but with the help of Jared, it went pretty smoothly.) It was during the admission interview that I found out some of the details of Alyssa’s pregnancy and prior cesarean section. Alyssa had an unremarkable health history and a normal, healthy, uncomplicated pregnancy. She was a G2P1, but since her first baby was born by cesarean section, she technically was considered to be a “primip” (healthcare slang a woman who is about to deliver her first baby) regarding a vaginal delivery.
Jared told me that when their son was born two years ago, Alyssa was persuaded into an induction at 39 weeks for “LGA” (a.k.a. large for gestational age, which by the way is NOT recognized as an appropriate indication for induction of labor by ACOG), was first given a few doses of misoprostol to “ripen” the cervix, followed by pitocin to stimulate contractions and continuous external fetal monitoring to monitor those contractions, then given a couple doses of Stadol and eventually an epidural for the pain, followed by artificial rupture of membranes to place a fetal scalp electrode after the epidural dropped Alyssa’s blood pressure and caused a prolonged fetal heart rate (FHR) deceleration, then an intrauterine pressure catheter to assess if the pitocin induced contractions were “adequate”, and eventually a cesarean section after 1 hour of pushing in a back-lying position for “failure to descent & cephalopelvic disproportion (CPD).” Thirty minutes later baby Kevin was born at approximately 2:00am, weighing in at 7lbs, 5 oz.
In my opinion, Alyssa was a victim of the “cascade of interventions.” Many maternity interventions, including elective induction, pain medication, artificial rupture of membranes, epidural anesthesia, back-lying positions for labor or for birth, etc. have unintended effects. Often these effects are new problems that are “solved” with further intervention causing a domino effect that ends up creating yet more problems. This chain of events has been called the “cascade of intervention” and unfortunately often leads to vacuum extraction/ forceps delivery, episiotomies or 3rd or 4th degree tears, and even cesarean section. Many of these women are often also then mislabeled with diagnoses like “CPD,” “failure to progress,” “failure to descent,” and at the end of it all, the obstetricians turn around and say, “Thank God we were in a hospital; look at all the technology we needed! So when will your repeat cesarean be??”
This time, however, things were different. After the birth of their son, Alyssa and Jared started to research more about labor and birth, VBAC, and natural birth. They interviewed and chose a doctor (Dr. Z) that was supportive of natural birth and VBACs, with the statistics to prove it! And here they were now, at my hospital, ready and rearing to go! Alyssa said that for the past few days she had been having contractions “on and off” but that they really started to get going at 8:00 am. When the resident had checked her on admission, her water spontaneously broke during the vaginal exam at 11:15am. It was now 11:45am and Dr. Z’s midwife entered the room. Although it had only been 30 minutes since her last vaginal exam, the midwife decided she would check Alyssa again since she seemed pretty active. And boy was she ever! The midwife’s exam showed that Alyssa had progressed to 7-8 centimeters! “I don’t think I can do this anymore,” Alyssa softly whimpered to the midwife. We all reassured her that she was doing so well and that things were getting more intense for a reason and to stick with it!!
The midwife then offered to help Alyssa into the shower to help alleviate her back pain. Alyssa seemed skeptical at first but we assured her that if it wasn’t helping, that we could get her right back out. So Alyssa agreed and the midwife and I, along with Jared, helped the patient into the shower. What happened for the next hour was one of the most beautiful displays of love, perseverance, hard work, and dedication I have ever witnessed. Alyssa turned her back to us and rested her hands on the grab bar on the shower and her head on the shower wall. Her cadence was this: Between contractions she would sway side to side, as if she was slow dancing. During contractions she would squat up and down, up and down, moaning in a low tone as she carried out her ritual. She just moved with the rhythm of her labor, listening so instinctively to what her baby and her body were telling her to do. Jared used the hand held shower head to spray Alyssa gently with a stream of warm water up and down her body, concentrating mostly on her lower back. I quietly entered the bathroom a few times that hour to check the baby’s heart rate with the portable doptone, trying hard not to disturb Alyssa’s concentration. Mostly, however, the midwife, her mother, and I stayed outside the bathroom door as to give Alyssa & Jared the privacy they needed to facilitate the progress of her labor.
At 12:35pm Alyssa told me that she was starting to feel a strong urge to push. The midwife entered the room and as Alyssa knelt in a hands and knees position in the tub, the midwife checked her cervix. To everyone’s surprise Alyssa only had an anterior lip of cervix left to go (this means she was about 9 ½ centimeters dilated)! After the next contraction, Jared and I helped Alyssa out of the shower to the toilet where we both used warm towels to dry her off. Then Alyssa walked over to the bed, “Can I kneel on my hands and knees?” she asked. “Sure!” we all said in unison, as we helped her up onto the bed. “I feel like I have to push!” Alyssa said convincingly and when the midwife checked her cervix, the anterior lip was gone…Alyssa was fully dilated at 12:45pm, only 1 hour and 55 minutes after arriving at the hospital! “You can start to push anytime,” said the midwife.
One of the best things about being a part of this experience was the fact that it was one of the only times that I have been present at a delivery where that a birth attendant has allowed the mother to use spontaneous or mother-directed pushing, as opposed to directed pushing. I knew that Alyssa was interested in using a variety of pushing positions for the second stage of labor from her birth plan and for the next hour and a half the midwife, Jared, Deb, and I helped Alyssa get into a variety of positions including right/left side lying, squatting, hands and knees, and kneeling.
(Side Note: I would like to digress for a moment to point out how important it is to be physically fit during your pregnancy whether you are planning for a natural birth or not. Many a woman I take care of blindly fills out a “birth plan” they find online where they can click on the boxes for options that sound “good” to them, without actually researching or thinking over what they are writing down. For example, they say that they want to try squatting during labor and birth, but couldn’t even do a squat at the gym pre-pregnancy. Although it is definitely true that a woman can sum up and realize an incredible amount of strength during labor and birth related to not only hormones but also sheer will power, it should also be known that labor is HARD WORK and pushing out a baby is HARD WORK which both require a great deal of physical strength and stamina. This is yet another reason why it is so important to follow a modified exercise plan and eat a healthy well balanced diet rich in protein and omega-3 fatty acids before, during, and even after your pregnancy.) Let’s continue with Alyssa’s story…
What was so amazing was that although there were plenty of times during the labor and pushing phase that Alyssa would doubt her ability to go on (“I can’t do this anymore!” “The baby isn’t moving?” “Is the baby moving?” “I am so tired!”), she never gave up on herself. Each time she made a comment like that, we all took it as a request for more support. And every time we gave her more encouragement, cheers, and reminders of her progress and goals, (“Keep going!”, “You are doing so well!”, “We can see so much more of the baby’s head!”, “She has lots of hair!”, “Just a few pushes more”, “You are so strong, you are going to do this!”, “You can do this!”), she found the ability to keep going! Towards the end of the pushing stage Alyssa was (understandably) exhausted and was pushing in a modified lithotomy position while Jared and I supported both of her legs. Then all of a sudden Alyssa popped up and said (and I quote) “I need GRAVITY! I need to be UP!” as she sat upright into a full squat and pushed her baby’s head out with one gigantic roar! “Whoa, whoa!” the midwife and I said almost simultaneously, “Easy, easy, baby pushes.” “Blow like you are blowing out birthday candles,” I said. The midwife checked for a cord around the neck (which there was none) and cleared the baby’s mouth and nose. And with only a few more “baby pushes” Addison Joy was born at 2:27pm!
The room erupted into cheers of excitement and tears of happiness J! I put the baby skin to skin on mom as I dried her off with warm blankets and cleared her mouth and nose with the bulb suction. A quick palpation of the baby’s cord revealed that her heart rate was nice and strong and she was pinking right up! Jared and Alyssa kept hugging and kissing each other and talking to their new baby girl, “Hi Addison! Hi baby girl! I am so glad to finally meet you!” The midwife waited until the cord stopped pulsating before she cut it (per mom and dad’s birth plan) and checked Alyssa for any tears. Except for some swelling, she only had a small tear on her right labia that didn’t even require any stitches!! We kept mom and baby skin to skin for a full hour after birth and baby Addison nursed almost the whole time. When she was an hour old, I weighed her to satisfy mom’s curiosity and to everyone’s surprise the baby weighed 9 lbs 3 ozs!!! So much for “cephalopelvic disproportion” huh!!
And it was as I handed baby Addison back to Alyssa that she looked up at me and said softly, “I needed to know my body could do it. I knew my body could do it! I really needed this. Thank you.” So as you can imagine, I started to well up. I have never felt so honored to be a part of something so special. What a privilege to have a job where I witness the miracle of birth and the miracle of motherhood every week!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
So let’s recap shall we. Alyssa, after having a cesarean section for her 7 lb 5oz son two years earlier for “CPD” and “failure to descent”, pushed out a 9lb 3oz baby after a 6 hour and 27 minute labor, including 1 hour and 42 minute of mother-directed pushing, without any pain medications or an epidural, monitored by intermittent auscultation, needing not a single stitch to her perineum! Her tools included good and relevant labor & birth preparation, appropriate and helpful family support, sheer strength, determination, and will power. The midwife’s arsenal included extensive knowledge of and experience with natural birth and labor support, a doptone, a trust in birth, and a belief in Alyssa’s ability to do it! No medications, no vacuums, no scalpels, no scissors, and no doubt!
Boy how I love my job sometimes J
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
*As always, names and any identifying information have been changed to protect privacy.
For more information on VBAC please visit: International Cesarean Awareness Network and Childbirth Connection
Why The Today Show Hurts America (or, Battling The Case Against Breastfeeding) March 18, 2009
Tags: American Academy of Pediatrics, baby, birth, breastfed, breastfeeding, Dr. Nancy Snyderman, Hanna Rosin, is breastfeeding really best?, labor & delivery, mother, Natalie Morales, nurse, nursing, research, The Atlantic, the case against breastfeeding, The Today Show
The Today Show hurts America. That’s right. And while I’m at it, so does Good Morning America, The Early Show, Fox & Friends, and every other American morning “news” and talk show that propagates careless, partial research and half-truths. And Monday, it got personal.
The American media has been finding itself in a heap of trouble lately. First it was the political media that failed us by not accurately and truthfully reporting the state of events leading up to the war in Iraq. Then it was the economic press, failing to appropriately and honestly alert us to the foreseeable consequences to greedy and dishonest deeds on Wall Street and in corporate America. And now it’s the morning news/talk show circuit (and I use “news” lightly) that is flooding American homes with irresponsible, half-assed, and poorly researched segments that can have a profoundly negative impact on the breastfeeding culture as we know it.
Case in point, Monday’s segment titled Is breast-feeding really best?: The case against breastfeeding, hosted by The Today Show’s Natalie Morales, advertised with the tag line, “Some women are questioning whether the health benefits are worth it.” When I saw this segment and read the “supporting” article on www.today.msnbc.com I honestly started to cry; my entire being was deeply saddened by the potential negative consequences this garbage could have on impressionable gestating and new mothers all over this country.
The segment starts by citing the American Academy of Pediatrics recommendation that mothers breastfeed their children exclusively for the first 6 months and continue to breastfeed while introducing solid foods for the first year. After this, the segment goes downhill fast. Dr. Nancy Snyderman, NBC’s chief medical editor, continues by apathetically listing an incomplete inventory of the health benefits of breastfeeding for both babies and mothers and then states (and this is a direct quote), “But some challenge the science is not so strong.” [I will get to that outrageous untruth in just a moment.]
Next to speak is Hanna Rosin, a breastfeeding (that’s right) mother of three who recently wrote an article for the current issue of The Atlantic magazine entitled The case against breastfeeding. Morales prompts Rosin with the statement, “You are not anti-breastfeeding but you do talk about the society pressures. Explain,” to which Rosin responds, “New moms are really vulnerable. You go into the doctor’s office, you read the magazines, and they make you feel like you are putting your child in grave danger if you don’t breastfeed them. And then you read the scientific literature and frankly, there isn’t the solid evidence you would expect to support this.”
Let’s take these outrageous statements one at a time shall we!
Bogus Claim #1 I believe Rosin is right when she says that new moms are vulnerable and because of this, I feel like we should be using our resources and energy in this country to increase support for pregnant and postpartum moms instead of going on television and touting why one shouldn’t breastfeed! In fact, pregnancy is a time when most women find themselves really starting to form a healthy obsession with researching everything they can about pregnancy, birth, and child rearing. And that is good! We have come a long way from the 1950s when women were given hormone injections to dry up their milk, left alone as their babies were taken from them for hours or days after birth, told that their breasts were either “too big” or “too small” to breastfeed, or worse, that breastfeeding was only for “poor” or “uneducated” women. It is sad that Rosin does not see how wonderful it is that magazines and physicians are finally on board with reporting on the benefits of breastfeeding and how to be successful at it! And if those articles make women feel “bad” about choosing not to breastfeed, that doesn’t mean that these articles are bad, it might just mean that these particular women might need more education and support during pregnancy and postpartum.
Bogus Claim #2 As far as there not being enough scientific literature supporting the benefits of breastfeeding, how about this: a meta analysis published by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (AHRQ) in 2007 entitled “Breastfeeding and Maternal and Infant Health Outcomes in Developed Countries,” which reviewed over 9,000 abstracts, 43 preliminary studies, 43 primary studies on maternal health outcomes, and 29 systematic reviews or meta-analyses that covered approximately 400 individual studies on breastfeeding concluded with the following:
“A history of breastfeeding was associated with a reduction in the risk of acute otitis media, non-specific gastroenteritis, severe lower respiratory tract infections, atopic dermatitis, asthma (young children), obesity, type 1 and 2 diabetes, childhood leukemia, sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), and necrotizing enterocolitis [for the child]. For maternal outcomes, a history of lactation was associated with a reduced risk of type 2 diabetes, breast, and ovarian cancer…Early cessation of breastfeeding or not breastfeeding was associated with an increased risk of maternal postpartum depression.”
An article posted yesterday on Motherwear’s Breastfeeding Blog originally referenced this study and I highly recommend reading the post as it is both informative and extremely well put! As far as Rosin’s article, she only cites 2, that’s right…two research articles to support her argument that there isn’t enough evidence that “Breast is Best.”
Bogus Claim #3 The segment continues with Rosin stating, “I feel like many people do feel like they’ve failed, if they can’t breastfeed or have trouble breastfeeding, or if they want to stop breastfeeding. They just feel like ‘I’m giving my kid poison if I give them formula’, and it really isn’t like that.” In Rosin’s article she also gaffs at the idea of a “lactation consultant” by writing “(note to the childless: yes, this is an actual profession, and it’s thriving).”
What Rosin fails to realize is that lactation consultants are a woman’s ally, not enemy. Their training and purpose is not to make women feel bad about not being able to or having trouble with breastfeeding, but rather to assist them in anyway so that they can become successful at breastfeeding! And if after their help a woman still cannot breastfeed (for whatever reason), then at least she can rest assured that gave it her best. Should other mothers now judge this mother? Of course not! But that doesn’t mean that the information and support about breastfeeding should not be provided to that mother first! Rosin alludes to the fact that in this country, women do not have enough postpartum support and yet she degrades one profession that seeks to do just that! And furthermore I’d like to shout, Hey NBC!!! How about next time you put together a panel to speak about breastfeeding issues, you include someone who actually is an expert in breastfeeding or breastfeeding education, like a lactation counselor, La Leche League leader, pediatrician, nurse, midwife, or obstetrician, instead of an Otolaryngologist (a head and neck surgeron) who specializes in head and neck cancer. (That’s right, Dr. Nancy Snyderman is an otolaryngologist). To me, that’s downright irresponsible journalism.
Bogus Claim #4 Both Snyderman and Rosin stress the inconveniences of breastfeeding throughout the segment as well as pointing out the societal pressures against it. “If you want to clear a zone of inhibition around your lunch table [at work], breastfeed your baby in public,” squawks Snyderman. By this point in the show, I began to think to myself, what is this segment’s main argument? Is it that some mothers know the benefits of breastfeeding, but question whether the benefits are worth it to them? OR Is it that breastfeeding does not offer health advantages for both mother and baby over formula feeding? I hate to break it to the Today Show, but the former statement, although very saddening, is probably true…but the later statement is just blatantly FALSE!
Is it that mothers should support each other, even if situations beyond their control arise that prevent their ability or shorten the length of time they’re able to breastfeed? OR Is it that formula is just as good as breast milk and therefore breastfeeding isn’t worth the “bother and inconvenience?” Because again the former statement is true…but the later statement is blatantly FALSE! Sadly, the Today Show automatically promotes both of the later statements with its sensationalized hooks and trailers for the segment, which were repeated before every commercial break for 30 minutes before the piece aired. Oh, and by the way Snyderman, formula might not be poison, but I certainly don’t think it is conscientious to go on national television and call it “wonderful” and “as healthy of an alternative.”
Bogus Claim #5 On www.today.msnbc.com, Mike Celizic recaps the segment by writing, “After decades of indoctrination delivered with evangelical fervor, American women have come to take it as an article of faith that if they don’t breast-feed their children, they’ll grow up to be underachievers plagued with health problems and lacking a bond with their mother.” Oh the drama! (…Give me a break!!)
In reality, if an organization or health care provider details and promotes the benefits of breastfeeding it does NOT mean that they are telling women that not breastfeeding their child will result in harm and danger. It’s about RISK REDUCTION. The truth is, research supports the belief that breastfeeding might lower your child’s risk for a variety of illnesses and reduce a mother’s risk for things like postpartum hemorrhage and postpartum depression. That doesn’t mean that every woman who bottle feeds will get postpartum depression and her baby is guaranteed to be plagued with frequent diarrhea and ear infections. It just helps decrease their risk!
Furthermore, when I go to the dentist and the dentist looks at my teeth and says to me, “Have you been flossing twice a day?” and I say “No…” and then he goes over the benefits of flossing and the risks of not flossing, what is wrong about that interaction? True, I might be a bit embarrassed and feel a bit guilty about not flossing, but that doesn’t mean that the dentist should NOT tell me about the benefits of flossing! It would be irresponsible of him as a health care provider to not at least make sure I knew all the risks and benefits and then if I still decide that flossing isn’t something that’s “worth the time”, then I have the right to make that decision for myself as an adult. But throughout her article, time and time again, Rosin writes negatively about providing women with counsel and educational information regarding breastfeeding, NOT just about the unfortunate judgment that some women might face from their peers if they make the decision not breastfeed. When I ask a patient if she is going to breast or bottle feed during my admission interview as a labor & delivery nurse, and she tells me she is going to bottle feed, it is my responsibility as a health care provider to ask her about her reasons and provide her with educational breastfeeding materials so that I know in the end, if she decides breastfeeding is not for her, it is not because of misinformation, old wives tales, misguided pressures from family, or a lack of education, but because it is just her decision.
Bogus Claim #6 As for the time commitment argument, on the show Rosin stated “…and we all know what a time commitment breastfeeding is… I mean it’s a pretty serious commitment to breastfeed. It’s not like taking a prenatal vitamin.” She elaborates on this position in her article by writing, “[Breast-feeding]is a serious time commitment that pretty much guarantees that you will not work in any meaningful way. This is why, when people say that breast-feeding is “free,” I want to hit them with a two-by-four. It’s only free if a woman’s time is worth nothing.”
First I personally know women who work in offices, restaurants, schools, parks, and hospitals, in white collar jobs and blue collar jobs, as doctors, nurses, teachers, farmers, bus drivers, waitresses, and stay-at-home moms, who would like Rosin to know that they believe, as well as myself and many others, that their work IS meaningful. And if you are a mom who feels differently, who feels “miserable, stressed out, or alienated by nursing, or who feels her marriage is under stress and breast-feeding is making things worse”, then perhaps you are right. Perhaps you shouldn’t be breastfeeding and perhaps you should also honestly consider obtaining counseling or joining a support group for new mothers because breastfeeding probably isn’t the root of all of your problems. But for goodness’ sake, for Rosin to go around writing and stating on national television that “the actual health benefits of breast-feeding are surprisingly thin” and that breastfeeding is just “instrument of misery that mostly just keeps women down” [both direct quotes] is untrue, misleading, and hurtful to gestating and new mothers everywhere, both planning and not planning to breastfeed.
Second, I would like Rosin to know that MANY healthy practices in life take a time commitment. Our primary care physicians and cardiologists often tell us Americans about the health benefits of eating a well balanced diet low in saturated fat as well as the benefits of exercising regularly. Everything we do in our lives to better our health takes time, but that doesn’t mean that our doctors and other health care providers shouldn’t continue to educate people on these healthy practices just because people might feel “guilty” if they don’t do them! And it also doesn’t mean that if you don’t exercise three times a week and eat a balanced diet that you are guaranteed to die of a heart attack. It just helps to reduce your risk!
In conclusion, the state of maternity care and postpartum support in this country is in a crisis, and if we don’t even have the media reporting good research and promoting healthy living for ourselves and our children, it is only going to continue to get worse. Shame on NBC for being so irresponsible; it’s one thing for The Atlantic to publish an opinion piece (no matter how outrageous), but it is another thing to put this woman and her bogus research on national television and try to pass it off as news. The unfortunate thing is that for some people, shows like Today are their only source of news! As a society, we should be focusing our energy towards making things better for new mothers by using the power of the media for good, like airing segments on breastfeeding/new parent support groups and tools for breastfeeding success or helping to pass legislation that makes appropriate break time, a clean & quiet place to pump, and an adequate place to store milk something that is available to ALL working mothers! But instead the Today show decided to throw their hands up and agree that things are never going to change by providing unchallenged air time to this sorely misled mother. And if shows like Today continue to propagate and support such astounding untruths on national television, they are going to continue to hurt America.