grrrrr silly doctor comments

I had to have a very minor procedure done under a general anaesthesia this morning. When I asked the anaesthetist how long I should wait before BFing my 18-month old girls he responded that I shouldn't still be BFing them at this age, and if I was, then it was only for my benefit not theirs. Oh and given their age, they can wait until tomorrow to BF.

Silly man :angry: . Given that he was about to put me under, I was very restrained in my response and politely suggested there was rather a lot of evidence to the contrary and anyway that wasn't what I'd asked him - his views on extended BFing. It amazed me that he somehow felt that, just because he was a doctor of anaesthesia, he could pass judgement or expound upon an entirely different subject...

Fortunately I found a more helpful (female) anaesthetist who told me I could BF them in the evening - calming my fears of engorgement and cranky babes unable to fall asleep on top of the op today...

lisa

Sorry this sounds like a vent against men. It's not supposed to be, just that I suspect it meant he knew even less about BFing than your average woman.

 

That was totally uncalled for and probably could get him in trouble for making such a blatent statement like that! :hug99: Glad you found someone else who could give you a clear answer!

eta: Great response given the circumstances though! :winking0009:

 

That is unacceptable...I am sorry that he is so narrow minded and expressing his views on you at such a rotten time! You are suppose to be relaxed when being "put under" how dare he say that to you!


I am sorry you had to go through that!

Missy

Oh yeah, and when you get his bill...I think I would be inclined to call and complain to whomever his superior is. There is no need for him to do that.

 

Oh I think I would have smacked him! Totally uncalled for. I would say something to your doctor that was doing the surgery. All you wanted was a simple answer, not his opinion on extended bf. I'm glad his more educated colleague was able to help!

 

Uninformed people The world is way tooo full of them, glad we are intelligent :winking0009:

But it does anger me when I meet or hear about health professionals who are so ignorant!!

 

Grrr. That would have really ticked me off too.

You should definitely complain to his boss about that. He was WAY out of line criticizing you like that. Sounds to me like he also just didn't know the answer to your question, and was bullying you to cover it up.

 

That is crazy!

 

You have got to be kidding me! That is totally unacceptable! I would definitely complain about that to hospital management. What a total idiot!

Michelle

 

:icon_eek: WOW!! :icon_eek:

I'd have been pissed!! Esp since I was about to be put under by that as$!!!

SO sorry!

 

Ooooh, I feel your pain. You're giving me a flashback. I had Lyme Disease, and DS2 was 15 months and still nursing. The dr gave me an antibiotic incompatible with bfing. The pharmacist warned me. DS2 screamed for 6 solid hours. The dr was a real jerk about switching me to something else, same reason. I made him do it anyway.

I'm glad you found a reasonable answer, and don't be shy about complaining. Maybe that guy needs a little refresher course on bedside manner and human development.

 

Very unacceptable! I had a female breast cancer specialist tell me that there is now evidence that exteded bf'ing is damaging to kids. I didn't ask her for specifics because it was in my interest to not have her p'd off at me. I had another doctor of young children ask me how long I planned to nurse the twins, 3 months? UHHHHHH. Try 2 years, if possible.

When dealing with medical situations and breastfeeding, I usually call the pediatricians office and the hospital LC and choose between their responses. They are more used to dealing with those concerns than the specialists, usually.

 

How sad for him that he is that ignorant about the benefits of extended breastfeeding... Good for you for keeping your composure, I am not sure that I would....

 

QUOTE(Take Luck! @ Nov 1 2007, 03:43 PM) [snapback]477092[/snapback]
I had a female breast cancer specialist tell me that there is now evidence that exteded bf'ing is damaging to kids.

:huh: Yeah, that's why nature cuts off the milk after three months--to protect the children! <_< That doesn't even make sense. If it were bad for babies, it wouldn't happen. Formula hasn't been around all that long. I am grateful to live in a time when there are truly good formulas as an option for moms who either can't or don't want to bf, but we are able to bf past a year because it's beneficial. That's just basic biology.

 

That's truly sad that you had to deal with a doctor like that especially right before he was going to put you under! I have been lucky to not get those responses just some strange side looks but nothing that overtly rude!

 

You are all so right. Sadly I’m not in the USA and most of the doctors’ attitudes here are stuck decades ago, particularly with respect to breastfeeding or patient rights. I've yet to meet a medical professional here who doesn't think BFing after 6 months is weird, at the very least. Even the GI doctor (female) blamed Tal's lack of weight gain in the last year on my BFing her.

Anyway, it's hard to find anyone to complain to. The anaesthetist's boss struck me as an even more appalling doctor. During the 38th week of my pregnancy my liver enzymes rocketed and three OBs told me to deliver immediately as the babies were potentially at risk. The appalling doctor should have been responsible for the delivery except that, when we went to him with all the results / referrals etc, he told us: “my gut feeling tells me everything’s going to be OK” and he refused to deliver for over a week until we really forced the issue. I still wish I’d told him that I wanted evidence based medicine, not his ‘gut feeling’…

Hmm, what am I doing still attending this hospital :unsure: ?! (no choice…)

QUOTE
Oh I think I would have smacked him!

This was very tempting except I was wearing one of those backless gowns and was afraid that I'd bare all if I sat up.

 

Uggh, how uncalled for! But unfortunately, it doesn't surprise me. I am just really saddened how the medical community is so ill informed about breastfeeding and even more so on extended breastfeeding.

 

See it just proves that ignorance is everywhere, even in the medical community. Sad, so sad.
My friend who is a pedi said they litterally only got a one hour lecture on breastfeeding in all of medical school.
She learned much more in 5 minutes as a nursing mom than that she did at Harvard on breastfeeding.