Maine Nesties
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
I wonder...(BFing related)
I am going to preface this by saying that I have no issue with formula feeding your baby.
I wonder what the percentage of EBF babies is. Thoughts?
Re: I wonder...(BFing related)
I'm not sure of exact numbers, but I had a breast-feeding class last week in maternity and the Lactation Consultant/RN presenter said that in 2000, Healthy People 2000 set a goal for 75% EBF in the early postpartum period; 50% at 6 months of age, and 25% at 1 year of age. The goals for Healthy People 2010 are exactly the same because they haven't met the goals from 2000.
Strangely, there are only 100 hospitals in the USA that are part of the "Baby-Friendly" program/designation (out of 3500 total hospitals nationwide). "Baby-friendly" IMHO is a poor choice of label for a program dedicated to encouraging BFing whenever possible-- it implies that women who choose not to BF don't care as much about their babies. Which is ridiculous.
ANYHOW, the interesting thing is that there are 20,000 "Baby-Friendly" hospitals worldwide, but only 100 of them are in the USA. Considering how much of the population gives birth without any medical care whatsoever, that leaves the USA very behind...
If you really want hard-and-fast numbers, I can find them out for you.
This is a page on Kellymom about it. Obviously it varies by age: http://www.kellymom.com/writings/bf-numbers.html#usa
That is interesting about the 'baby friendly' hospitals, although I would say there are probably many hospitals that don't have that designation that are very BF-friendly. I know I was pleasantly surprised at how BF-encouraging and supportive MidCoast was, and I'm sure they don't have that official title. But I also know it's not like that everywhere!
I agree with Megan about MidCoast - they were extremely supportive and always available to talk by phone or have you come in. They supported me as much as I needed them, too. I think a lot of times it comes down to the support that's available to you. I know there is a big drive to educate more women about bf'ing and how to get through some of the obstacles. As far as other cultures, I think a lot of that also depends on financial reasons - meaning it's cheaper to breast feed your baby!
It's funny to see the rise and fall of percentages, too. When we were growing up there seemed to be less support for bf'ing mothers. I know my mother's hospital told her it'd be easier for her to formula feed her babies. My MIL said the same kind of thing too - the first hint of issues with her breastmilk and she was advised to formula feed. Now obviously they know more, but you also see more women wanting to breastfeed and do as much as they can to make it work. I think if Nolan and I hadn't had as many issues, I would've made it longer. Oh well! He's a very healthy boy so I'm not concerned about the decision.
I'm sure our country's sh!tty maternity leave or really lack thereof contributes to a decline in EBF'ers after a few months too.
I do think our board probably has a higher percentage of EBF'ers than the US population, but I know there are more than 2 FF'ing or BF'ing/FF'ing moms on here, so maybe it's more like 50%? It would be interesting to see how our little nestie microcosm compares to the US. I'd set up a poll, but I'm lazy!
<waves hand> Me. I tried, but the boobies failed me.
me too... I tried... but I just couldn't keep up with two big eaters no matter how much I pumped and nursed!
And I agree with Megan that we are not probably an accurate sample, I think if you looked at other parenting things, we would also scew the data, think of how many of us CD.... I bet our percentage is way higher than the national level because I am pretty sure more of us CD than use sposies...
Same boat. Between kiddo being late pre-term and not wanting to eat, then my supply decreasing and then finally being told I'd have to stop eating protein finished it for me
I had so many private LC sessions, but no go. Hoping next one goes better, but if not I've finally accepted "ah well!"
I agree with you ladies that the early support is crucial. I also think there's a good amount of luck involved. Veronica is a great little "sucker" so it was me that had to do the learning. I also think more moms would BF longer if we had better maternity leave in the US. Six weeks is just not long enough. It should be 3 months minimum at 75% pay.