During that time, people believed it was very important that the kid not imprint on anyone else, so instead of letting them breastfeed with whatever lactating woman was in the vicinity, they would feed the kid sugar water.
My first baby lost an alarming amount of weight because my colostrum and early milk wasn't nutritious enough for her (and despite a poster in my hospital room assuring me that it was good enough for the baby, which I'm still bitter about), at which point the doctor put her on formula for a couple of weeks. At which point I had more than enough milk, but I remember talking to my sister (a pediatrician) at the time being bitter about how I couldn't feed my own child and wondering how this worked before formula, at which point my sister was like, "Yeah, they died a lot, is what happened."
All that is to say that this just kind of viscerally upset me, like, you've probably got some sort of lactating woman around, including the own mom (which also! ouch! not breastfeeding when your breasts are totally primed for it is also painful and also I wonder how many of these women died from mastitis) and you're feeding this kid sugar water?? Poor kids :(
which also! ouch! not breastfeeding when your breasts are totally primed for it is also painful and also I wonder how many of these women died from mastitis
Wait, which women, the ones who were breastfeeding or the ones who weren't? Because I read your comment as the mothers who weren't, but that doesn't make a lot of sense.
and you're feeding this kid sugar water?? Poor kids :(
*facepalm* You'd think I'd know better after going through it a couple of times, but apparently I confused yeast infections (which can in fact happen with some frequency when you're not breastfeeding but your milk has still come in, because you're wet all the time until it dries up) with bacterial mastitis (the bacteria being introduced from the kid's mouth), the former of which is probably not actually going to kill you :P
Ahhh, okay! I was like--but mastitis is the thing you get from breastfeeding! I have to say, I was raised with the impression that breastfeeding is something you do if you can't afford formula, and while I've never heard anyone complain about not breastfeeding (I mean in terms of the symptoms--people complain about not being *able* to breastfeed), I've heard people complain a lot of about breastfeeding. It sounds massively uncomfortable and awful, and I decided early on I wanted no part in it, even if someday in the future I unexpectedly changed my mind about not wanting kids (spoiler: I didn't).
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Re: Various questions from Mildred
My first baby lost an alarming amount of weight because my colostrum and early milk wasn't nutritious enough for her (and despite a poster in my hospital room assuring me that it was good enough for the baby, which I'm still bitter about), at which point the doctor put her on formula for a couple of weeks. At which point I had more than enough milk, but I remember talking to my sister (a pediatrician) at the time being bitter about how I couldn't feed my own child and wondering how this worked before formula, at which point my sister was like, "Yeah, they died a lot, is what happened."
All that is to say that this just kind of viscerally upset me, like, you've probably got some sort of lactating woman around, including the own mom (which also! ouch! not breastfeeding when your breasts are totally primed for it is also painful and also I wonder how many of these women died from mastitis) and you're feeding this kid sugar water?? Poor kids :(
Re: Various questions from Mildred
Wait, which women, the ones who were breastfeeding or the ones who weren't? Because I read your comment as the mothers who weren't, but that doesn't make a lot of sense.
and you're feeding this kid sugar water?? Poor kids :(
Right? Ugh. POOR EVERYBODY.
Re: Various questions from Mildred
Re: Various questions from Mildred