Blog Entries 2008
by Barbara Dehn -
2nd January 2012
Recently I read about a mom who found herself in the hospital with her infant because he had been given too much water and not enough calories.
The mom didn’t understand that she couldn’t stretch her babies powdered formula by adding more water to the bottles. Finances were stretched thin, and it seemed...
by Barbara Dehn -
19th December 2011
The holidays are here and if you’re reading this, then you may be elated with the joy that comes from getting up throughout the night, not to look for Santa and the reindeer, but from taking care of your little sugar plums, sometimes known as your beautiful children. Did you try to keep your eyes pried open as they gleefully tore...
by Barbara Dehn -
14th November 2011
My friend Pec Indman, who co-wrote the book, Beyond the Blues, has helped me better understand many of the triggers that can lead to postpartum depression. Not surprisingly, when the reality of an experience doesn’t match up with our expectations, many different emotions can arise including depression, anger and shame. Combine...
by Barbara Dehn -
31st October 2011
I have a patient who is pumping 4-5 times each day, and producing about 1 ½ ounces each time. Her 9 week old baby is drinking 3-4 ounces at each feeding, and as you can imagine, she has to supplement her milk with formula. Instead of feeding the baby all formula or all breastmilk, she wondered if she could mix the two...
by Barbara Dehn -
17th October 2011
As maternity leaves come to an end, moms who must return to work outside the home must try to prepare for every scenario and contingency. One of the most worrisome is how and what to feed their baby. Have they been pumping and storing milk? Is the baby taking a bottle? Are they using formula? When preparing to return to...
by Barbara Dehn -
10th October 2011
I’ve read some new statistics that breastfeeding rates in some areas decline at 4 and 6 months, reaching as low as 14%. Why does this occur? Is there not enough education? Perhaps, but my feeling is that if moms could, they would. There are many factors that influence whether a mom can breastfeed her child exclusively...
by Barbara Dehn -
3rd October 2011
I saw a mom the other day, who delivered her second healthy baby 8 weeks ago. She was in the office to follow up on some postpartum issues and naturally the subject of how the baby was feeding came up. She is going back to work in one month and has been trying to build up a supply of milk for the freezer. There’s only...
by Barbara Dehn -
30th December 2008
I just re-read the question on the site about insurance companies paying for medically necessary formulas for babies. This is one of those issues that just makes me crazy. I can’t tell you the number of letters that I’ve written or the hours I’ve spent on the phone arguing with the nameless operators from insurance companies...
by Kate Kahn -
21st December 2008
It seems that fewer and fewer pediatricians these days are pushing breastfeeding. According to a follow-up study (the original one was done in 1995) in the Archives of Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine pediatricians are less likely to believe that...
by Barbara Dehn -
17th December 2008
Here’s a question that comes up all the time. Can I mix breastmilk with formula? Yes, yes, yes. If you have pumped milk, but not enough for a full feeding. You can add it to formula that’s ready to feed or formula that you’ve mixed up with water according to the directions.
Please don...
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Do moms know best? We believe they do, but the government may not..
Your freedom to choose between breast and bottle-feeding could be in jeopardy.
