Maja's reactions to vaccination - my reactions to the doctor

[frualeydis]

Maja is having a slight temperature and her left leg is a bit swollen due to a shot she got yesterday. She was also a little cranky yesterday and cried a lot compared to what she normally does (not at all). Hopefully she will be better tomorrow.
I got quite upset when we went to the doctor's yesterday. Apparently her growth curve has flattened out (she's still a big baby though, 69 cm and 7945 grams) and the doctor apparently saw breastfeeding as the source of this "problem". Well, in a way it is, because those curves are based on statistics from my generation , the generation who got nursed the shortest time (if at all) in swedish history and are therefore not totally relevant for babies who are breastfed. But instead of acknowledging this they make it a problem when breastfed babies follow the weight development that is natural and not the one you get from giving them "välling" (a cereal based thick liquid, tastes quite good if you like the sweet whole grain taste). Maja also only eats one meal "normal food" and she's really only on the try-out stage, which means that she eats food more the get into the habit and like of it than to provide nourishment. This apparently also was a problem, she really should eat two meals of "grown-up food" every day, otherwise she wouldn't get enough nourishment, according to the doctor. I actually had to put down my foot and point out that the WHO recommendation on breastfeeding is that babies should eat _only_ breast milk the first six months and then you should slowly introduce solids while still breastfeeding for at least two years (because of my arthritis it will probably only be one year). So by trying to give me guilt trips about breastfeeding Maja too much (she thought Maja had to much milk) she is actually breaking those recommendations, which are also ratified by the swedish health department (or whatever it's called).

The nurse also suggested, when I explained that the reason we had already introduced some solids was that Maja was so interested in what we ate, that the reason was that Maja was hungry, that she didn't get full enough from milk only. Excuse me! If a four months old baby shows interest in what her parents are eating it is out of curiosity, not of hunger, because she doesn't connect feeling full and content with solid food but with mother's milk. To her it is not clear that mummy's breasts and mashed potatoes belong in the same category.
Well, I'm going to do what I know is best anyway, but it annoys me. And if I hadn't read so much on the subject I might have been persuaded to diminish the nursing, to Maja's loss.

Comments

[guyelfkin.livejournal.com]

Well done! You stick to your plan and do what's best for your child!

Teddy

[brambleberry.livejournal.com]

Hmmmm... Let's see, breastfeeding increases Maja's immune system, making it less likely that she'll get sick. Gosh, bottle feeding is obviously the way to go! Who cares that human milk was carefully formulated by nature to be the perfect baby food with the exact balance of nutrients needed for the developing brain.

It really appalls me when members of the medical community fail to stay apprised of current mediacl theory.

-Christina

[marymont.livejournal.com]

Bah! Bah humbug on the medicalization of childrearing!

My son is 21. It was already old news when he was an infant that, "if breast is best, everything else is worse!" He refused all non-breast food until he was 9 months old, at which point, he chose as his first food (by grabbing it and stuffing it into his mouth)...CURRY. He may be an odd person, but he has never had a serious illness.

My daughter is 16. I had every intention of holding off longer with her, too, but she was, like Maja, interested, curious, and started reaching out for other stuff at about 6 months.

Michael nursed, off and on, mostly comfort sucking after a year and a half, until I cut him off, cold turkey (hard on both of us), when he was 3 1/2 yrs old. Kat lost interest at age 3. I don't regret the extended nursing time. My two are much closer to me than many kids are to their moms. They are secure, brave, healthy, strong, intelligent kids. At least some of that has to be from the close contact they got from nursing.

La Leche League ( http://www.lalecheleague.org/ ) is an international organization, primarily made up of nursing mothers--the rest are people who support them. If you need additional support, look them up. Although I don't see anything about having local contacts in Scandinavia on their site, I'm sure their site will give you ideas as to where to seek additional information.

Hold to your instincts. Maja is better off getting human food from a human source she loves. You'll know when it's time to expand on that.

[frualeydis.livejournal.com]

The La leche league have affiliated groups in Sweden too and I'm actually planning to get active there, I went to my first meeting two weeks ago.
It was just so stupid.

Eva

[sckaye.livejournal.com]

Well good for you, Eva. At least you had done the research to back up what you know to be true. (Isn't it sort of intuitive that breast feeding would be best?) Stupid doctor.

[serenalyons.livejournal.com]

I always ignored all that tripe they tried to feed you about your baby is getting too much milk! I figured me and my babies knew what was best for them. I breast fed all of mine as well. They all are turning out just fine. They were nice pudgy squishy babies like babies ought to be. They are curious about food at that age. Its more play and exploration than eating, I totally agree with you on that. Sometimes I wonder about people's common sense. My children stole solid food off of my plate long before they had teeth, they did get their teeth late but they were never interested in "baby" foods. They wanted stuff that tasted good!

[pinque.livejournal.com]

I'm just sitting here shaking my head about this.

Much like when a woman on a plastic surgery show said she'd rather have the scars of her breast enlargement around the nipple than under the breast. Because breastfeeding isn't that big a deal basically.

!!!!!!

There is so much ignorance about breast vs formula..... it's not about choice, it's about the health of the baby! That said if there are strong medical reasons a mother can't breastfeed (like for my mum when she had me) she shouldn't be made to feel guilty, but that's a different argument altogether.

Good on you for sticking to your guns.

[lilithsheeba.livejournal.com]

Breastfeeding is the beat thing to prevent allergies in the future. I'm sure I have all my allergies because my mother only breastfed me for 9 month, the doctors told my mother it wasn't healthy (yeah and I'm healthy now?). I'm swedish and born 1975 and thats the story of all kids from the 70's, and many of us are allergic like hell.