We Need Your Booby Trap Stories for the US Surgeon General & The Press by Jan. 18

On January 19 and 20, U.S. Surgeon General Regina Benjamin is convening a briefing and press conference to announce the Call to Action for Breastfeeding.  Best for Babes co-founders Danielle Rigg and Bettina Forbes have been invited to attend this briefing and press conference as new members of the United States Breastfeeding Committee, and have been advanced as specialists on moms, the Booby Traps they face, and how to help them achieve their personal goals.  We aim to share our point of view with the Surgeon General and the media that the key to unlocking this stubborn problem is by focusing on eradicating the cultural and institutional barriers that actively prevent moms from succeeding, not simply educating about the benefits.   We are prepared to outline our plan of shifting the pressure OFF moms and on to the Booby Traps by aligning the business, non-profit, government, celebrity and citizen sectors behind a cohesive game plan that markets breastfeeding as mainstream and rebuilds the shattered breastfeeding infrastructure.   We will share our intention to build the mother of all causes and rally the masses, whether they breastfed, or not, were breastfed or not, behind this public health crisis that affects all of us.   We will talk about our specific strategy to harness the power of moms to bring about positive, constructive change so that our daughters, sisters and friends do not have to suffer as we did.  

We need your stories and your voice.   We have specifically been advised that the media will want to hear about real moms and real stories.   If you have been booby-trapped by your physician, hospital, health care professional, health care provider, insurance company, employer, restaurant, airport, school etc. and by the lack of public acceptance of breastfeeding, now is your chance!  Please leave your story below so we can direct the media.  Our goal is to have 100 stories by Tuesday, January 18th.  If we have a thousand, we’d be even happier! There are millions of moms who have been booby-trapped from wanting to breastfeed, trying to breastfeed, or achieving their breastfeeding goals.  Read our list of Booby Traps to refresh your memory . . . and feel free to speak to booby traps that we have missed.    

All we ask is that you keep your story personal, and that only moms who gave birth or breastfed in the US participate.  Please share this page with your friends and colleagues.  It is individual stories that inspire and motivate and bring about change, and the American public  needs to hear about the profound struggles and suffering by moms and babies who are being thwarted by a gauntlet of barriers daily.   The media, the Surgeon General and key stakeholders need to hear the degree to which moms are being pressured to breastfeed but set up to fail

The floor is yours!



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281 Comments | Last revised on 01/11/2011


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281 Responses to We Need Your Booby Trap Stories for the US Surgeon General & The Press by Jan. 18

  1. jenn says:

    A mere 30 hours after my baby’s birth…The nursery was trying to guilt me into giving my baby formula. She was a healthy 7 lbs 15 oz. I said no way and immediately asked for an early discharge to get out of there. She is now 8 months and has has nothing but mamas milk straight from the tap whenever she needs.

  2. Lisa says:

    I am so glad this issue is getting attention and hope real change can be made. Unfortunately I have a few stories to relate.
    1. When our first (former) pediatrician asked about my returning to work and I informed her I’d be pumping at work she said we had to give formula to make sure he could tolerate it because it wouldn’t be able to have enough milk. At 15 months I’m nursing and pumping and we’ve never used formula.
    2. Try another pediatrician. When I expressed concern about having enough milk when I went back to work, instead of offering advice or referring me to a LC he said we might have to give formula sometimes.
    3. Pediatrician #4 told me not to nurse when my son had a stomach bug.
    4. Pediatricians I had or interviewed had an assumption that I would nurse only for 12 months as if that’s what you do, just stop on the first birthday because some of society got this impression that we need to start drinking cow’s milk. One that I interviewed gave me a tour of the office including the formula room..
    5. The hospital gave us formula samples. They said they had to give them and we could choose Similac or Enfamil. I was sp relieved nursing was going well so I chose the one that came with a bag since I didn’t need the formula. I use the bag for my pump and coolers I got from formula companies to transport milk or baby food.
    6. A huge problem is having places to pump. In the office isn’t a problem, but there’s nowhere in public to pump. I read some places now have lactation rooms or stations which is great.
    I know this is a place to share negative experiences, but I want to say our pediatrician (finally found one after the first four!) is great. He encourages nursing and has a LC on staff. He commended me for nursing for 10 months (it’s now 15 but I met him then).

  3. Kerri Flesch says:

    My first was born via c-section and was in the special care nursery. When we finally were able to start nursing (his second day of life) I had much support. Then the women running the nursery said he wasn’t having enough wet diapers. We had a challenging time of pumping, nursing, and supplementing with formula. On the plus side the supplementing happened at the breast, but I broke down after my discharge class upon hearing about the wet diaper per day old the baby is. My son always had at least that many diapers but the special care nursery was looking for 6-8 at diapers immediately. We ditched the formula quickly and nursed until he self weaned at around 22 months.

  4. Kiitie says:

    Throughout my pregnancy, I received “sample” cans of formula and formula coupons in the mail. Luckily, I knew they were a Booby Trap and quickly donated them to get them out of the house. When we came home from the hospital, they sent us with a formula-sponsored “goodie” bag, which contained - you guessed it - a can of formula.

    Overall, we were very lucky in our breastfeeding journey. A good friend of mine faced a lot of Booby Traps - she was induced unnecessarily, then told to supplement because baby wasn’t gaining weight. After a lot of advice, she is now exclusively breastfeeding AND baby is gaining weight fabulously. I have no doubt that she would have stopped breastfeeding had it not been for my support and advice.

  5. Angela Bowers says:

    When i gave birth to my first son I had just turned 20 and was clueless about everything.I had him via csection and didnt get to hold him for awhile. When we had difficulty nursing, a couple of nurses squirted some formula on my breast and then tried to forcefully latch him on for me. After a day and a half with little success ,one nurse simply said”Its okay some women just cant breastfeed.” and i believed her.Now 10 years later with my 3rd child and help from a lactation nurse at the peds office and the internet lol, I have been exclusively breastfeeding for 9 months and will until she is ready to wean. Education is key. Its supposed to come so naturally but for alot of women like myself, it doesn’t.

  6. Brianna says:

    I ran into a lot of obstacles when it came to breastfeeding my son. I’m a younger mom and the nurses seemed surprised that I was even interested in it. The first obstacle was my son having trouble latching. I only saw an LC once the entire stay because the maternity ward was very busy and the nurses were less than helpful. I mostly remember them trying to smash my son’s face into my breast whenever he opened his mouth to cry, which only upset him even more. It was terrible. The first night my fiance insisted that I get some sleep so we had the nurses take him to the nursery. I told them specifically that I wanted them to bring him back and wake me up for feeds but instead they left me to sleep for TEN HOURS, gave my son formula the whole time, and a pacifier without asking me. The second day of our stay they wheeled a pump into my room and quit trying to help me get him to latch. I was sad but I thought at least he’s getting my colostrum instead of formula. I exclusively pumped for a week and slipped into a bad postpartum depression. Then someone mentioned trying a nipple shield. He took to it quickly and it helped my depression a lot. My son is five months now, three of which he’s been EBF and he no longer needs the shield.

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