Did Your Ob/gyn Discuss The Benefits Of Breastfeeding With You During Your Pregnancy?
December 29, 2009 by Guest Author
Filed under Breast Feeding Supplies
If yes, please share your experience. Did your doctor initiate the discussion? Did you find it helpful? Anything you’d like to share would be appreciated.
If no, do you feel that he/she should have? Why or why not? Do you think it’s important that breastfeeding be discussed with your ob/gyn during pregancy, as it is proven to be beneficial to womens’ health?
Your thoughts, please. No debates. This is a serious question, not an invitation to argue.
Thanks!
Breastfeeding should always be discussed since it is the best food for babies, and don’t health care providers want to advise what’s best for babies?
That being said, mothers are free to choose whatever feeding option they want and should not be pressured or bullied into either nursing OR bottle feeding.
They should just be given the info and support they need.
No, my OB did not discuss breastfeeding. That would be the job of the pediatrician, or of the prenatal course. A flyer handed out at the hospital when you’re giving birth distributed by the local Health board would also be prudent.
I’m the one who expressed concern to my OB about wanting to breastfeed as soon as possible after birth, because I was having a C-section (breech birth). I did not expect him to educate me about breastfeeding. It is my job to educate myself about breastfeeding, through prenatal courses, books, lactation consultants, health board and community health nurse visits.
The OB’s specialty is what happens before and during birth, not after.
With my first pregnancy they told me that it was important. I then attended a breastfeeding class and it was excellent on explaining how incredibly important breastmilk is to both your child and yourself. I breastfed my daughter her first year of life, and currently my son is almost 8 months old and I plan on breastfeeding him until he’s a year as well. I definitely recommend breastfeeding your child if the option is there. It has major health benefits for your baby and for you as well
Not to mention it’s free (formula is SPENDY) and in the middle of the night you can just roll over and feed, lol. 
But yes I feel it’s very very important that Dr’s or midwives explain how incredibly important breastfeeding your child is.
Yes! My midwife asked if I was breastfeeding and I said Yes. Immediatly after Noah was born she helped me latch him on and gave me a lot of encouragement and information. She even came at the end of the day to check up on me and Noah and answer any of my questions about breastfeeding, this was at the Hospital! She also made sure I scheduled a Lactation appointment within a week of delivering just to make sure I was still doing ok. I LOVED going with a midwife for my second pregnancy! It also helped that my midwife was IBCLC certified. With my daughter, I was much younger and went with a OB and the subject was not even brought up!
I think breastfeeding is something that should be brought up, especially to new mother’s because it is the best food for a baby. But also, a mother’s decision should be respected if she chooses not to breastfeed. I never felt that I was pressured into breastfeeding which is how these professionals should handle this matter. Don’t pressure your patients into feeding a certain way, but do offer plenty of CORRECT information and support into whatever method the mother decides.
MY OB (is my also my GYN) never discussed it with me while I was pregnant, just after birth when I was getting my postpartum check up. It would of been nice for him to talk about before I delivered, especially since it is good for the women’s health. I never brought it up, I am sure he would have if I did menion it.
My daughter’s pediatrician did discuss it with me when I was interviewing him. We also discussed bottle-feeding.
The nurse from my Lamaze classed gave me lots of information about it and the same with the nurses from the hospital.
Yes, she did. But I was already very educated about the benefits of breastfeeding, so we did not talk about it much. But she was very supportive. I do think it is the OB/gyn’s place to talk to a woman about breastfeeding, because it helps women to succeed in breastfeeding if they are educated about it before the baby comes.
However, I ended up with the doctor on call instead of my regular OB when my baby was born, and that idiot was saying “give that baby a bottle of formula” literally minutes after the baby was born! Luckily, I had my husband trained to resist any such ridiculous suggestions. Even all of the nurses in the room were saying “NOOOO! She’s going to breastfeed!!” We never gave him any formula and now, 7 months later, we are still breastfeeding.
Why would you see an OB/GYN if you are pregnant? Are you high-risk? You know OB/GYN is a SURGICAL specialty.
With my first pregnancy I was my own caregiver, I speak to myself quite often. I’m not sure if it was me or myself that brought up breastfeeding but I felt pretty well prepared at that point. Of course I was always there if I wanted more info from me. *tee hee*.
With my second pregnancy I did decide to consult with a midwife as my hubby turned out not to be very helpful to have around when in labour. As I was still breastfeeding the midwife and I probably had a few discussions about it, but she knows I know almost as much about pregnancy, birth, and more about breastfeeding. I also know more about certain parts pregnancy than herself.
Ironically my second birth the midwife didn’t make it and hubby was fine. I had a few bad moments (mentally) during transition but we got through it.
Yes she did…and I actually liked her so much that she now is my regular gyn post-baby (I switched to her)
It was the Dr.’(s) AFTER I had my daughter that were not supportive. When she was sick they told me that switching to formula (a hypoallergenic form) was BETTER then breastmilk and I cried and cried…switched. When I agreed to switch they said “thank you” I was accused of being hard headed by the team at Children’s National & her 1st pediatrician.
My obgyn was very supportive in my relactation efforts and so was her “now” pediatrician. It was the others that helped in my poor decision making.
I am NOT, NOT downing formula feeding momma’s! It is just something I really wanted to do…breastfeeding…and I know that I made a bad decision for myself and my daughter.
My midwives assumed that I would breastfeed, so there was really never a discussion. I assume that if I had asked for help, they would have pointed me in the right direction.
I don’t think healthcare providers should push a mom to breastfeed, but I don’t think that there is anything wrong with mentioning some of the medical benefits that it provides – to mom or baby. The idea shouldn’t be to force a particular feeding method, but rather provide women with facts so that they can make an informed decision. Once a woman makes that decision, then the discussion should be over.
Hopefully you will not mind a male answering. During the first visit to my wife’s ob/gyn after finding out we were going to have a baby, he never mentioned anything about the various ways of nursing newborns. My wife was reluctant to raise the issue so I asked for the doctors input on breast feeding versus bottle feeding. His answer was very well put and informative, he suggested numerous sources for self study and placed no special emphasis on one form or the other. After our daughter was born my wife was unable to nurse due to lack of milk so we went through various formulas until we found one that was best tolerated by our daughter. For our next two children my wife changed her diet before she became pregnant and we had an over-abundance of milk. We became contributors to the La Leche foundation as a way to help other mothers who wished for breast milk versus canned formulas. She was so full that she sometimes had to pump as much as 6 times a day during our 2 boys first year.
They are all healthy young adults now with my daughter being 24 and newly married and my sons age 22 and 20. My youngest just told me I will be a grandparent in July and his mother and I look forward to a new baby.
No. Quite opposite, he was surprised when I told I was breastfeeding my 4 months old baby. He said that most American mothers breastfeed only 3-6 months, because after that time breastmilk becomes less beneficial for babies. I was mortified by such ignorance! I am breastfeeding my 9 months old baby and enjoying it enormously! I am going to do it as long as she is willing to suck. Yahoo answers were most helpful in educating me how good and useful breastmilk was and were one of the reasons why I toughened it out and continued to breastfeed after initial struggle.
My Dr. asked me if I would be breastfeeding or bottle feeding or both.
I wasn’t sure because it was my first baby and I didn’t know much about breastfeeding. All I knew was that it was supposed to be good for the baby. You hear that a lot but you don’t know details as to how it’s good or healthier for you and baby until someone tells you.
Since i wasn’t sure,she gave me some pamphlets about breastfeeding and I was also refereed to a class about it so that I would understand it and then from there decide weather I would pursue breastfeeding or bottle feed instead.
I was never told how how it could be to try to breastfeed on your own though.
I had to have a consultant help me with the latching and all. It was a bit of a struggle so I only did it for the first few months of my sons life along with pumping and all.
After wards,I just switched to formula.
He’s absolutely healthy and smart.
Weather a mother chooses to formula or breastfeed her baby,she should just know about both decisions and from there she can decide whats best for her and her baby.
My ob/gyn just asked if I was going to breastfeed and left it at that. He was glad to hear I was planning on it. I don’t know if he had any advice to give because he had never done it himself. I think he left it where he did because I had told him that I was reading up on breastfeeding and that I felt like I had a good understanding of the concept. When my son was born we had a few latch issues but worked through them quite easily with the help of the on call LC at the hospital. I think that Ob/Gyns should discuss it more with expectant moms. I think it would help women give it a better try at breastfeeding or at least give them something to think about if they’re up in the air about breast or formula.
I initiated the conversation early in my first pregnancy because I knew I’d had breast reduction surgery and that it would impact if was able to breast feed and how much. At the time of my surgery I’d been told there was a 50% chance of being able to breast feed at all, and if I could it would probably only be about 50% of the time. This was echoed by my OB along with that there would be no way to tell until I tried. I was unable to. During my second pregnancy I asked if there would be any chance I could nurse the second time after not being able to the first time and told no, so that was the end of that.
With my first baby?
No, he did not discuss it with me. One of the MANY reasons why I didn’t go back to him to have my second baby. I went to the midwives instead and I could not have been happier about my experience.
Yes, he should have brought it up, mentioned how it prevents breast, ovarian, endometrial, and uterine cancers. He should have suggested a few books I could read and answered any of my questions. But again, this kind of failure to take basic care to the next level was just part and parcel to my entire experience with him.
wow i saw the responses and was immediately taken aback. we are currently being taught in medical school the utmost need for breast feeding, and there are physicians out there who aren’t pushing the facts and urging mothers to breast feed, or at least pump milk? I think this is because those physicians haven’t been educating themselves on the new findings and benefits of breast feeding. Breastfeeding benefits that mothers should double check for themselves b/c my memory probably isn’t entirely correct: faster return to prepregnancy weight, sIgA and IgG (immunoglobulin G) immunoprotection, better balance of carbs and necessary proteins, has lactoferrin – better absorption of iron, bacteriostatic proteins, less need to supplement with other vitamins such as iron, mother and child contact (how much of the CNS/PNS development of the child is due to mother stimulation through contact not quantified or verified)
there are a few more added benefits, but I can’t remember them off the top of my head. But plz, BREASTFEED! For the sake of the health of your precious child!
My doctor worked with a midwife and she asked wether or not I would breastfeed. I said no because I didn’t know anything about it and thought the experience would be a little weird. She then asked if I could read up on it a bit before making my decision because it’s so good for the baby and myself.(Very politely, no pressure) I agreed that was a fair request and I’m so glad because I changed my mind quickly and breastfed both of my children.
Nope, When I said I was going to breastfeed she thought it was great that I was going to “try”
Yes, although I had researched breastfeeding on my own I would have liked it if she had discussed it with me too. I’m sure many women don’t know about breastfeeding and their Dr should be talking to them about it.
no she did not.
she did ask if i was planning on it and i said yes, so that was the end of the “discussion”
no, i dont think there needed to be a discussion about it. its a personal decesion, and one only the mom can make.
for me, if people are constantly hounding or pushing their ways on me, i do the complete opposite.
however, just about every single person at the hospital i delivered at (which, i will never be a patient at nor anyone in my family be a patient at ever again.) who walked into my room asked me if i was going to. it got really annoying
yes she did i found it very helpful in making my decision in not breastfeeding.
i think it is very important to breastfeed but my doc put it like this if you dont think you can do it in public this is not for you, she also let me know that with all the different kinds of formula that your baby will always get the nutrition they will need.
later on i found out that neither of my kids would have been able to drink breast milk due to major digestion problems.
My doctor has not talked to me at all about breastfeeding yet. In fact the only person at the hospital who has asked me about breastfeeding was the nurse. I am planning on breastfeeding. I am looking for a Doula right now because honestly I dont like the traditional Doctor-Patient relationship where the doctor isnt personal and just makes sure youre ok and then its see ya next time.
EDIT
The nurse asked if i planned on it. That was the end of any discussion.
no she didnt and i saw a mid wife so you would think she would have mentioned it…..she did refer us to a birthing class which was awesome, the lady focused on all natural birth and breastfeeding all info that i used and was grateful for….i think its very important your OB or midwife discuss nursing since its VERY important to your baby…..so my advice is if your doc doesnt speak with you about get yourself someone who can offer you advice and knowledge
No. He never mentioned it once. I think he should have, although I had already made up my mind to breastfeed and did as much research into the subject as I could. I think it should be their responsibility to mention it, dispell any myths and educate the mother BUT should drop it completely if the mother states she is not going to breastfeed and is not interested in being educated about something she is not interested in pursuing.
My midwives both assumed (correctly) that we would be nursing, and helped me plan accordingly.
With my first, my midwife provided great reading materials and requested that I attend a full cycle of LLL meetings before my son’s arrival.
With my second, we had a brief conversation about nursing experiences with my first, and since I wasn’t worried about it (and was still nursing my first) there wasn’t a need for much more discussion.
Yes, my midwife and I did talk about breast feeding. I wanted to breast feed but it didn’t work out so well. I did pump as long as possible.
If you are thinking that breast feeding is the way to go for you AND you work you might want to discuss with your boss about pumping while at work. I was lucky as my boss was VERY understanding and helped me in any way she possibly could.
No she did not.I was asked if I was breastfeeding or bottle feeding.I said bottle & that was the end of it..I don’t think it should be discussed with your ob unless you want it to be.That is just my opinion.It is funny that everyone who said no or that they didn’t breastfeed got thumbs down..
My doctors never said anything for or against breastfeeding to me, which I believe they should, because a baby gets more than enough nuitrents while drinking mothers milk, and it also has something than wards off anykind of sickness or infection, so I would say that mothers milk is magic!!! Also it gives you a great time to bond with your baby, which is very important!!
My doctor asked if i would be breastfeeding or bottlefeeding. That was about it. I tried breastfeeding for the first month. it ended up not working out for many reasons mainly due to not being prepared and informed on breastfeeding. I am now bottlefeeding.
I was asked if I planned to breast or bottle feed and when I said “breast” that was the end of the discussion
I would like to think had I said “bottle” — there would have been a lot of info thrown my way and referrals to La leche and such — but I doubt there would have been.
No, she didn’t. It really isn’t part of her job though, since after delivering the baby, they are pretty much done with you. OB’s don’t go to school for education on babies and beneficial things for your infant such as breastfeeding. It would be nice if they did, but that is what a lactation consultant is for.
well, my doctor just asked me whether or not I’d be breastfeeding. for me, it was an easy answer – with only 8 weeks maturnity leave, I couldn’t do it. In the hospital where I had my baby, though, they have classes for new moms on how-to breastfeed and all the benefits. if you can afford staying home for at least 3 months – do it!