I recently had a pleasure to speak at the pediatric department meeting where I announced the opening of a Breastfeeding Clinic at Providence Park Hospital. I will start seeing patients there in July 2010.
The clinic will be Michigan’s second pediatrician-led breastfeeding clinic. The big advantage of such an arrangement over the private lactation consultations is not only the evaluation will be provided by a doctor, but also the fact that the services will be covered by most insurance plans.
Each mother-baby couple will be given 45 to 60 min appointment with a team consisting of a pediatrician and a lactation consultant. Our intentions are to help mothers to achieve their goals, whether it is exclusive breastfeeding or partial breastfeeding, to increase the milk supply, to enhance transfer of the mothers milk to the baby, to assure growth in those children who are failing to gain weight. Breastfeeding is especially important for preterm or near term babies (35-37 weeks of gestation), and it also is often more challenging for these infants, so our services will be important for them.
I recently wrote about many advantages of mothers’ milk over formula. I want to add one more fact: as reported in Pediatrics June 2010 issue, breast feeding is associated with fifty percent decrease of incidence of fever after immunizations.
If you had a choice between a delicious and healthy dinner at the fancy restaurant FOR FREE or a regular fast food “meal” for the fancy restaurant’s price, which one would you choose? That is the choice between breastfeeding and formula feeding. But we still see many mothers who are not aware of the better choice they have, so they end up with “fast food”, because it is familiar. The whole culture of breastfeeding has been lost in our country: several generations have been brought up on artificial food. That is why now it takes extra effort to return to what should be (and in many other countries, is) the norm of life.
My husband and I decided soon after our son was born that we wanted to breastfeed him for the first year of his life. We knew it wouldn’t be easy, but with what we had learned about the benefits of breastfeeding, as well as learning the AAP recommends breastfeeding for at least the first year, it felt like a no-brainer decision for us. I was able to work through the initial cracked and blistered nipples and latching issues in the first few weeks, but found myself struggling with some unknown discomfort well into our second month of nursing. I was suspicious it was a thrush infection, and visited my OBGYN, but because my son and I weren’t displaying the tell-tale signs, my thrush worries were dismissed. Next I attended an LLL meeting, and the women there encouraged me to go with my gut feelings and see a doctor again. I made an appointment at the breastfeeding clinic at Providence Park Hospital in Novi, and was pleasantly surprised to see Dr. Strumba enter the room. She recognized me and my son from her pediatrics practice, which astounded me because she sees so many patients. I told her my problems and when she immediately said “You have thrush” I felt so relieved that someone had finally validated my suspicions. She gave me a prescription, and a few tips on how to eliminate the infection from my frozen milk, as well as my clothing, and the problem never reoccurred! I love all the doctors at our pediatrician’s office, but Dr. Strumba is my favorite to see because of her expertise in breastfeeding and her commitment to helping mothers nurse their babies, no matter what difficulties they may think stand in their way.
Thank you Tiffany!