Cassie Mascari and her husband were frantic. In the three days since her birth, their daughter, Eliza, had been having trouble breast-feeding and was crying nonstop. They raced her to the emergency room, where they received shocking news: Their baby was starving.
Mascari, 35, was heartbroken that she hadn’t tried a bottle. But the new mother says that the lactation consultant at the Northern NJ hospital where Eliza, now a healthy 2-year-old, was born “just kept telling me to keep trying and never suggested I might need to supplement [with formula].”
New mothers hear over and over that breast-feeding is critical to their baby’s physical and emotional health. But some say the “breast is best” mantra at maternity wards is so forceful, signs that a baby may be critically deprived of nutrients are being ignored.
“[Women] are pressured by hospitals, doctors and themselves,” Amy Tuteur, an obstetrician and author of “Push Back: Guilt in the Age of Natural Parenting” (Dey Street Books, out now), tells The Post. “The business of breast-feeding — and it has become a business — tells any mother who won’t, or can’t, that she’s selfish, ignorant or a bad parent.”
‘The business of breast-feeding — and it has become a business — tells any mother who won’t, or can’t, that she’s selfish, ignorant or a bad parent.’
The health benefits of breast-feeding are well-documented, from reducing a baby’s long-term risks of some chronic diseases to helping postmenopausal moms maintain strong bones. That’s why organizations like the American Academy of Pediatrics call it the “best option,” and breast-feeding guidelines from the global Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative are followed closely by hundreds of hospitals in the US.
But for those having trouble nursing, the consequences can be tragic.
This February, California mother Jillian Johnson’s story went viral when she posted on the blog Fed Is Best that her son, Landon, died of hypernatremic dehydration when he was 17 days old because, she believes, she followed doctors’ orders at a Baby-Friendly hospital to breast-feed exclusively.
(Baby-Friendly USA, which did not return requests for comment, released a statement following Landon’s death that said guidelines allow for supplementation for medical reasons and when mothers have made an educated decision.)
Barbara Holmes, a lactation consultant and breast-feeding coordinator for NYC Health + Hospitals/Queens, one of 10 Baby-Friendly hospitals in New York City, says the goal of the initiative is to support a mother’s feeding choice.
Still, she cautions, “we rely on mothers to self-advocate.”
Hansa Bhargava, MD, the senior medical officer and in-house pediatrician for WebMD, who’s based in Morrow, Ga., says it’s essential that new parents trust their guts.
“The first seven days of life are critical,” says Bhargava. “If the baby isn’t producing enough dirty diapers, appears jaundiced, or loses more than 10 percent of their birth weight, they need supplementation.”
Lora Green is glad she switched to the bottle.
“The day after my son was born, his voice was hoarse from screaming, his lips were dry and his poop was a brick color,” says the 30-year-old Hoboken, NJ, mom, who gave birth this past spring. “Hospital staff told me to keep trying to get him to latch … I finally asked for formula, and he took to it immediately. It was as if he were starving.”
Green’s son, now 3 months old, is healthy and happy, she says. “I tell my friends to bring their own formula to the hospital just in case. You’re the mom and you know best.”