Pediatrician vs lactation consultant - conflicting advice to follow

[Anonymous]

I was prepared to say go with lactation consultant and ignore pediatrician.

Two weeks is really young, but in the next two weeks I'd start to try to soothe baby in other ways and not have him snacking constantly, try to extend the time between feeds. It just is too much for you. If he's gaining weight, your supply is good, and all else is going well, there's not reason not to try to extend him a bit to give you a break. Feeding a snacker on demand is very taxing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You have anxiety OP. Bad. Your baby does not have weight gain issues. It’s not normal to weigh a baby before and after a feeding. Nor is it normal to feed that often, even at 2 weeks. Your baby needs a paci.

This is extraordinarily unhelpful and unkind. OP, you are trying to be a good mom. You are using data to figure out a problem. This PP is right that sometime soon, you hopefully won’t need to weigh after every meal.

I haven’t gotten to the end of the thread yet, but has anyone mentioned reflux? Babies with reflux sometimes want to snack because it relieves discomfort between “real” feedings. A paci won’t give that relief because it’s not about sucking- it’s about soothing the burning reflux feeling.

No, PP was blunt but correct. The pediatrician likely sensed that OP is suffering from anxiety. It is not normal to feel like you have to nurse a baby 20x/day and weigh before and after. Especially when the baby is healthy, OP has a good supply, and the baby is gaining well. It really seems like anxiety, unfortunately fueled by the lactation consultant.

FWIW - when my baby had weight gain issues at the same age, the advice was NOT “feed on demand and obsessively weigh.” I was told to stick to a schedule of every 1.5 - 2.5 hours to ensure the baby got a full feed of foremilk and hindmilk, and my breasts were emptied. And then we weighed in *at the pediatrician* more frequently. Although this did not completely resolve the problem since I had low-ish supply, he started gaining better immediately.

At this point, OP is being driven by anxiety for a problem that *does not even exist.*. I think she needs a better LC.

OP bought the scale for the first two weeks. That’s a difficult time with many women have supply issues or trying to get your milk come in. Many babies have weight issues because of it. There is nothing wrong with OP weighing her baby for the first two weeks to make sure her baby is gaining. Now she knows. She said she only does it now because she wants to see how much he eats since he eats so much.

Disagree. It’s compulsive behavior to do weighted feeds after every feed for a baby with no weight gain issues, especially when feeding 20x/day.

Nobody cares what you think. Get over it.

NP Wrong. A lot of us agree with that poster and not you. Perhaps you should get over it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A ped is a real doctor. A lactation counselor has a class, not a degree and is wrong.

Guess how much lactation education pediatrician students receive? Zero. I've worked with enough to know most of them know jack. Go with the LC. It's not "a class", it's years of training and extensive testing.

Pediatricians likely see many more lacation issues that lactation consultants. They see multiple newborns every week, week in, week out. Feeding issues with newborns are extremely common in pediatrician offices.

I'm aware, as I am a pediatrician. Guess how much my colleague, who is a pediatrician with 25 years of experience, knows about lactation? Nothing. I see every single newborn with feeding issues. And this isn't an isolated experience. Most of my friends have one to two people in their office who ACTUALLY know about lactation. An MD/DO doesn't mean anything in this arena...just the simple truth.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thanks. I started slowly stretching out the feedings. He is still do everything 45-60 minutes but it’s better than every 30 minutes. I’m going to try to get him to 1.5-2 hours.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A ped is a real doctor. A lactation counselor has a class, not a degree and is wrong.

Guess how much lactation education pediatrician students receive? Zero. I've worked with enough to know most of them know jack. Go with the LC. It's not "a class", it's years of training and extensive testing.

Pediatricians likely see many more lacation issues that lactation consultants. They see multiple newborns every week, week in, week out. Feeding issues with newborns are extremely common in pediatrician offices.

I'm aware, as I am a pediatrician. Guess how much my colleague, who is a pediatrician with 25 years of experience, knows about lactation? Nothing. I see every single newborn with feeding issues. And this isn't an isolated experience. Most of my friends have one to two people in their office who ACTUALLY know about lactation. An MD/DO doesn't mean anything in this arena...just the simple truth.

Ok ... so you know about lactation, not sure what your argument is. Do you honestly think an LC ... which requires just six months of clinical experience ... knows more than a pediatrician? And of course, the baby isn't the LC's patient. LC has no dity of care towards the baby, and despite this, is engaged in activities that can impact the baby's health significantly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks. I started slowly stretching out the feedings. He is still do everything 45-60 minutes but it’s better than every 30 minutes. I’m going to try to get him to 1.5-2 hours.

great!

[Anonymous]

Pediatricians are not trained in breastfeeding.
You cannot overfeed a baby. You should feed on demand. Your infant will not be obese as an adult because it is a chunky baby. Trust your instincts. If your ped fat shames your baby, get a new one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Pediatricians are not trained in breastfeeding.
You cannot overfeed a baby. You should feed on demand. Your infant will not be obese as an adult because it is a chunky baby. Trust your instincts. If your ped fat shames your baby, get a new one.

Actually you can over feed and make your kid sick. talk to a gi.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pediatricians are not trained in breastfeeding.
You cannot overfeed a baby. You should feed on demand. Your infant will not be obese as an adult because it is a chunky baby. Trust your instincts. If your ped fat shames your baby, get a new one.

Actually you can over feed and make your kid sick. talk to a gi.

usually there is an underlying issue that is not being addressed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks. I started slowly stretching out the feedings. He is still do everything 45-60 minutes but it’s better than every 30 minutes. I’m going to try to get him to 1.5-2 hours.

OP, that’s awesome! I posted earlier about my similarly snacky baby and I just wanted to let you know she/I eventually got her on a normal feeding schedule (first thing in the morning and before naps) sometime around two months and slept though the night around one month I think? Anyway, she went on to be a great eater in general and a great sleeper — hope that ends up being true for you/your baby.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A ped is a real doctor. A lactation counselor has a class, not a degree and is wrong.

Guess how much lactation education pediatrician students receive? Zero. I've worked with enough to know most of them know jack. Go with the LC. It's not "a class", it's years of training and extensive testing.

Pediatricians likely see many more lacation issues that lactation consultants. They see multiple newborns every week, week in, week out. Feeding issues with newborns are extremely common in pediatrician offices.

I'm aware, as I am a pediatrician. Guess how much my colleague, who is a pediatrician with 25 years of experience, knows about lactation? Nothing. I see every single newborn with feeding issues. And this isn't an isolated experience. Most of my friends have one to two people in their office who ACTUALLY know about lactation. An MD/DO doesn't mean anything in this arena...just the simple truth.

Ok ... so you know about lactation, not sure what your argument is. Do you honestly think an LC ... which requires just six months of clinical experience ... knows more than a pediatrician? And of course, the baby isn't the LC's patient. LC has no dity of care towards the baby, and despite this, is engaged in activities that can impact the baby's health significantly.

Do you honestly think someone whose exclusive professional focus is breastfeeding would NOT be more knowledgeable about breastfeeding than a general purpose medical professional?!

Pediatricians aren’t omnipotent.

[Anonymous]

When my 2nd baby had reflex my ped sent me to a GI, who told me to do full dairy and soy elimination for 6 weeks (or switch alimentum) which didn’t help the reflux and killed my milk supply, which sent me to my beloved LC, who said why didn’t you come to me before - I could have told you this wasn’t dairy/soy. She got my supply back and the baby eventually grew out of the reflux but not until 12 months.

Doctors don’t know everything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When my 2nd baby had reflex my ped sent me to a GI, who told me to do full dairy and soy elimination for 6 weeks (or switch alimentum) which didn’t help the reflux and killed my milk supply, which sent me to my beloved LC, who said why didn’t you come to me before - I could have told you this wasn’t dairy/soy. She got my supply back and the baby eventually grew out of the reflux but not until 12 months.

Doctors don’t know everything.

NP. Here's the thing- medical professionals don't know everything and are occasionally wrong. That's why when you go see a different medical professional, usually a doctor, it's called "seeking a second opinion".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks. I started slowly stretching out the feedings. He is still do everything 45-60 minutes but it’s better than every 30 minutes. I’m going to try to get him to 1.5-2 hours.

That’s good, OP. Keep it up. There’s a balance between letting a baby cry and feeding every 30 minutes, which is simply too much for you and could lead you to wean too early compared with what you could have kept up with, simply out of exhaustion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Generally you measure feeds from start to start, not end to start.

If start to start it's every 30 minutes, that's near constant.

For your own sanity you want to try to space that out. That's going to burn you out really fast.

+1000

OP listen to DCUM, or other mothers. Honestly. The ped might be trying to save your sanity but didn’t want to say so.

He might want to suck but not eat. Offer a pacifier.

This is what I suspect was meant.