HELP! 9mo doesn't like formula

In article , Naomi Pardue says...

Most 'groups
like misc.kids.health have a resident group of doctors and others who will
contravene regarding erroneous medical advice given there.

And mkb has a large number of people who are extensively trained and
knowlegable about bfing (far more so than most doctors, really -- even the
best doctors), and so are able to answer question and help mothers with bfing
issues -- even those that involve medications. (No, we can't prescribe
medications, but we can read and interpret information about them, and
sometimes offer advice.)

But that's limited. You are not physicians who are familliar with other
systemic effects, the importance of examining the pt, or anything on that order.




People are *not* told to
take a medicine without a prescription, which in effect is what a bf mother
can
be doing with respect to her infant if she'd reassured by lay people
contradicting medical advice she's

gotten.


How on earth could we do that? We can't write a prescription!

No, you can't write an Rx. But you can tell a mother that xx or yy medicine is
OK according to Hale's, then she *takes* it. That's the scenario I'm referring
to. You're potentially effectively medicating the *baby*, without training
examination or knowledge of the medical history, while if she follows her doc
she'd only be medicating herself, the pt he examined and prescribed for.

People do a lot of amazing things. They borrow Rx's from friends; they confuse
one kind of prescription for another. They don't bring up conditions to their
doc because they want a scrip and they want insurance coverage. I've seen posts
on mkb concerning whether or not nursing should be brought up to a doc.

When you come along and say "this great reference written by a PhD, Dr. Hale,
tells us that this med is OK" - many women will take that as a go ahead to
swallow a medicine.

I'm not knocking Hale. But it needs to be presented carefully (as the LLL
review of Hale urges strongly!), and urge a nursingmom to take the information
to her doctor, who has examined her, who should know her history, it won't come
off as an OK to take what she has in her hand, however or whyever obtained.

I'm saying - yes, give your knowledge. I've seen mkb show caution in a lot of
cases. But not always.

What we had here in this thread crossposted to m.k. was, when someone mentioned
that, in the far past, she had stayed away from medicines marked clearly DO NOT
USE WHILE NURSING, a response saying medicine labels are just CYA and don't mean
anything. Excuse me? I'd hope that that poster had only mispelled "many such
warnings are overly conservative, so it's worthwhile contacting your physician
about them, and also posting a question on mkb so that you can be informed when
you do so".

A very common
scenario on mkb is that a mother goes to her doctor with a problem (say, PPD,
or migraines) and is told "Sorry, I can't give you anything as long as you are
nursing. Come back after you've weaned the baby." Now, we certainly can't
PRESCRIBE the mother Zoloft or Imitrex, but we certainly tell her that Hale
says both of these are safe while nursing, and she can then bring that info
back to her doctor. (And if he still refuses, she can always try to find
another doctor or a second opinion, if that is her choice.)

She should *always* be told to go back to her doc with the info. *Same for
non-prescription medicines*.


Now, in the case of, say, an antibiotic, where the doc has given her a
prescriptiion for Amoxicillan and told her to go home and pump and dump for 10
days while she takes it, and she posts for a Hale's look-up and we tell her
that Hale says that this is catagory L1, commonly used in infants and children,
with less than .7% of the adult dose getting into the milk ... well .. IMO,
she's a big girl, and she's capable of making her own medical decisions,
including ignoring her doctor's advice if she wishes. She may chose to call
her doctor back and ask him why he told her she had to pump and dump for this
perfectly safe drug. Or she may conclude, for herself, that the Hale's info
sounds reasonable to her and decide to go on nursing. OR she may decide to
trust her doctor and pump. We give the information. She makes her own choices.

That can be very dangerous. I'm not saying *never* appropriate, but it can be
inappropriate - there are a LOT of people out there will just medicate
themselves for whatever. If she is told you party line about how docs don't
know anything anyway, that can encourage a bad decision - perhaps her doc has a
serious concern! If you are cautious in your advice, she is more likely to
weigh the factors more seriously.

Banty