Strollerderby

Wow... the hotel idea is kinda brilliant... don't need the heavy support of a hospital, and much less intrusive and presumably more cost-effective than a private night nurse coming to your own house.  

Kinda like group piano lessons.  :-)

There is at least one breastfeeding boot camp type of hotel somewhere on the east coast. There were a couple of articles about it last year!

She sounds great--the lactation consultant at my hospital was awful. She didn't even show up until about 5 minutes before I was being discharged, and she reached into my gown and pulled out my breast before my dad got a chance to leave the room, and then she didn't even have any useful advice. This after the maternity nurse actually *got angry* at my 5-hour-old daughter for falling asleep while nursing. My friends were more useful than any professional.

"breast and breakfast" - very funny.

Lisa S.

La Leche League has been wonderful to me!!  I'm sad to hear you characterize a group of such caring volunteers in such a nasty, offensive way.

The reason so many LCs are not into supplementing is that the early introduction of a bottle causes even more problems.  The LLL ladies I have met often suggest an alternative way to feed while things are being worked out - syringe, neonate cup, or SNS (supplemental nursing system).  Using these methods allows for proper caloric intake without  causing more latch problems as bottles tend to do in the early days.

The idea of a breastfeeding retreat hotel sounds wonderful - no distractions like laundry and dishes, and not stressful like the hospital.  

I had a (wonderful) night nurse who also wants to open a bed and breakfast for new parents where she would be on-call.  The nurse is in NYC...but, really, they should hook-up somewhere scenic and in-between the 2 cities.

Finally, a KNOWLEDGABLE LC that promotes formula supplementation.

@JENG1469: I'm sure you'd be hard pressed to find a single LC in the whole world that PROMOTEs formula supplementation.  

You also would never find a trained breastfeeding support person (LC, doula, La Leche League Leader...) who denied that formula supplementation had its place (to help babies and moms who were unable to produce/consume enough milk at a given time).

While support from non-trained individuals is important, always check in with a trained breastfeeding support person, especially an IBCLC (Internationally Board Certified Lactation Consultant - a designation it takes thousands of support hours and training to achieve).

I agree w/ Mama T, I've gone to La Leche meetings and another hospital based breast-feeding support group for a year and a half now and I have never ever encountered the stereotypical "nazi" so often maligned on this website (and others).  It's great to get tips from people who for sure have researched the heck out of nursing and nutrition, and then I pick and choose the ideas that work for me.  I wonder how the term "nazi" for breast-feeding advocates came to be, anyway?  It's extremely offensive to me.  

Hey, all. Just to be clear, I did not mean to imply that La Leche Leaguers are, in fact, Nazis. I was referring to the stereotype that exists (hence the quotation marks) and wondering whether it's really valid in the first place. It's great that Shelly is not judgmental, but I suspect that many consultants these days take a similar approach.

Just clarifying. Continue talking amongst yourselves...

I've met with 4 different lactation consultants over the course of my breastfeeding days with three kids (yeah, I had a lot of problems and a lot of denial).  I had a mix of unforgiving, breastfeed-at-any-cost-types, and supportive, more practical consultants.

I had one insist that after having perfected my latch, pump for hours a day, abused my son with wet washcloths to get him to nurse, taken herbs, then a perscription suggest that I see a cranio-facial therapist to mold the bones in my son's head.  She just wouldn't let me fail.  I had another look at me incredulously when I cried in her office and laughed at me when I questioned the difficulty/rigidity of her treatment plan.  Unfortunately, these are the experiences we tend to associate with lactation consultants, when the interventions fail, rather than the positive ones, who help us to succeed or support us when we decide breastfeeding isn't an option.

On the flip side, I did have support with other consultants, and finally had a pediatrician confirm after three babies and repeating issues of low milk supply, that I did have a fundamental physiological problem.  

I have found the support and "forgiveness" for moms has actually grown in the past six years since I started having kids.  Maybe they caught onto the feedback?

That being said, I would haved loved the hotel.

The first two weeks of breastfeeding were hell for me. The LC at the hospital was not helpful and I was a nervous wreck. The best help came from a free nursing support group. The LCs there did try to correct the baby's latch, and were pretty helpful overall, but the biggest help came from the other mothers, who kept me from throwing myself out a window. They did discourage formula supplementation in the first four weeks and when I was preparing to return to work no one had good information with regards to pumping. I would totally check myself into a hotel like this. The first few weeks were brutal and I was mostly alone.

My LC was FANTASTIC.  She helped me through my bouts with low supply, and when second baby was only hours old, was the only one who believed me that the reason it hurt so bad was because I had a thrush infection.  She was instrumental in getting the OBs to listen to me and treat me.

That said, there are some really rigid LC's out there.  So i think women who intend to breastfeed should try and meet the LC before giving birth, just to make sure your ideas jive with theirs.  No one needs to made to feel guilty.

who also had the same approach, so I wonder if those "La Leche Nazis" we often hear so much about are becoming a thing of the past. --- as an active LLL memember and a LC in training I found this remark veryinsutling.

For the record the term "nazi" when used to describe lactation consultants, and more specifically, LLL, isn't a term that Jen coined, it is one that has been used among breastfeeding mothers.  Of course, this isn't a universal opinion, but is isn't the opinion that exists in a vacuum.

Historically, consultants have balked at the use of formula and gone to great lengths to help mothers succeed in breastfeeding, sometimes leaving failing mothers to feel helpless and inadequate.  That being said, I believe a trend is shaping with more individualized treatment plans and a greater emphasis on the emotional needs of the mothers. So, the lesson: a good lacatation consultant is worth her weight in gold.

Thanks, lovedannygansle, for addressing my question about the origin of the term "breastfeeding nazi".  Are you sure it originated among breastfeeding mothers, though?  I've seen it used online a lot, but not on sites like kellymom.com that is dedicated to providing nursing support.  

Is this an old term, from when breastfeeding advocates were moving against the tide of public opinion about breastfeeding?  I would guess it was coined more recently, at least a couple generations removed from the 2nd World War.

I have been working on and off with a wonderful breastfeeding consultant who has a very supportive. Not only did she notice my babies unusually deep palate (which our Ped didn't notice until our 2 month appointment) but she actually did a phoner for for free when my daughter stopped latching at 5 days old.

I have heard stories of LC's who were judgemental with an all or nothing attitude. I think I would find that very difficult if I were having trouble feeding my baby. I feel lucky that I didn't have intense pain or true difficulties with breastfeeding.

Pat is an angel. I credit her patience and gentle encouragement (as well as her classes at the Breastfeeding Center) as major reasons that I stuck through the early days of learning to breastfeed with my first child. I am so thankful I did. Pat refused to be judgmental but was still fervent about expressing how fantastic breastfeeding is for a child and that it often took a lot of hard work.

Pat helped me believe that I could continue keeping up a milk supply during the most stressful time in my life, when my 2 month old daughter (my 2nd one) faced major life-saving surgery. I felt strongly about continuing to breastfeed her for as long as I could prior to the surgery and even through the time when the baby had to be put on IV feeds and could not nurse. Pat showed me that was indeed possible to keep up the milk supply to reach the goal of breastfeeding after the surgery. I did successfully and am still nursing my daughter! Pat showed me how to maintain my supply, jump start it and use supplemental feeding systems to keep the breastfeeding going. She was happy to advocate for me to explain to my daughter's doctors exactly why maintaining breastfeeding was so beneficial to her and important to me.

She is my hero!