When Pediatricians Undermine Breastfeeding
Pediatricians are not unique in dishing out some horrendously bad breastfeeding advice, and not all pediatricians give bad advice, but the number of pediatricians sharing terribly misleading and inaccurate advice is unacceptable. Pediatricians are supposed to specialize in the health and wellbeing of children, which makes their bad advice particularly offensive and inappropriate as it actively undermines the health of the children they are uniquely responsible for.
Breastfeeding is not only the biological norm for infant feeding, it’s the best option for supporting healthy infant development. Human milk provides tiny humans with species specific nutrition, bio available vitamins to support their needs, antibodies to fight germs their immune systems aren’t ready to fight on their own, and feeding at the breast supports proper oral development.
Artificial baby milk can meet tiny humans’ nutritional needs, and as a parent with chronic low supply who depended on formula to make sure my babies could grow and thrive, I’m a fan. The option for an alternative, easy to source, reliably accessed food source for tiny humans is a positive thing. There are downsides to formula though, with increased incidence of ear infections, gastrointestinal illnesses, respiratory illnesses, and higher rates of chronic illness. Partial breastfeeding does appear to reduce these rates compared to full formula feeding.
So, when a pediatrician makes the conscious choice to give out BAD advice on breastfeeding like....
“I looked in your baby’s mouth, there is no tongue-tie.”
“There is a tongue-tie, but your baby’s gaining weight, so we aren’t going to do anything about it.”
“Your baby only needs your milk for 3 months - after that it’s just for bonding.”
“Your baby is a year, it’s time to wean to cow’s milk because your milk isn’t enough.”
“Your baby must be allergic to your milk, here’s some hypoallergenic formula to fix that.”
“Your baby has colic from your milk.”
“Pumping isn’t breastfeeding. There is no need for that, just use formula.”
“Nursing hurts, just pump.”
These types of poorly informed statements actively undermine breastfeeding, and they show a lack of regard for the benefits to a baby’s health from receiving human milk. They demonstrate a lack of respect for the breastfeeding parent’s effort, and they disregard the parent’s intentions with infant feeding.
And WE ARE NOT going to hide behind supporting women in their choice to formula feed here.
This is not a lesser of two evils choice we are all being forced into. We can support both breastfeeding and a parent’s choice to not breastfeed simultaneously. It’s actually very simple. We provide evidence-based education, and then, allow the parent to choose. None of the aforementioned egregious advice served to support the parent’s right to choose how to use their own body. Supporting bodily autonomy requires us to provide evidence-based information that allows the parent to make informed decisions. When a person in a position of authority chooses to provide biased or inaccurate information, informed choice is compromised, and that parent’s choice is compromised.
So, what can pediatricians do to prevent this from continuing to occur?
They need to take the time to educate themselves on breastfeeding, check their personal infant feeding biases, and learn to refer their clients to skilled lactation care providers when issues with breastfeeding occur. Even if a pediatrician gets the training to support breastfeeding, rarely will they have the time with the client required to truly address the issue, but the training is vital to knowing how to triage these breastfeeding dyads to the appropriate support.
The families these doctors are charged with caring for deserve better than this.
