Chris and Jenni

I received a comment on my last post about Guenna’s eye infection/doctor’s appointment that I thought I would respond to, and that might help you understand a little better where I am coming from. Here’s the comment from Amy:

I am not writing this to be mean spirited but, just to share an opinion. I have 2 children. My daughter will be 3 in Novemeber and my son is 5 1/2 months old. i nursed my daughter for 10 months at which time she seemed to lose interest. I then switched her to formula, for which I thought was goingot be a short term thing (2 months) My daughter, however, is very petite and showed little interest in food and threw up often, usually twice a day. So we kept her on the advance formula until she was 2. She then seemed to outgrow her aversion to food and started to eat more. She is still very petite 23 pounds and 33 inches…but, has a wonderfully healthy appetite. If it weren’t for that formula, she would not have kept ANY weight on. Sometiems what is “easiest” is also good for some children. Step back and try to see it from the medical perspective, they aren’t always wrong. Let go of any guilt you may feel about trying to do it all ‘ naturally’. It doesn’t always work out that way.

As far as the eye infenction goes, my son also had the block tear duct. it was given eye drops at 2 weeks. We were also not crazy about using the antibiotic drops either. His infenction just kept coming back. I finally used the drops 4 times a day for a month (advised my fantastic doctor) And, low and behold it is gone. Medical intervention isn’t a bad thing. There is a time and place for everything. But, there are reasons why the life expectancy has increased rather than decreased.

Again, I do not mean this to be mean spirited or insulting in anyway, it sometimes helps to hear another perspective, not one that someone thinks you want to hear. Best of Luck!!

Amy, thank you for your response and perspective. I had to respond to your comment because I think that you might have commented based on a lack of understanding of where I am coming from and just not knowing me.

First of all I want to say that I am not against formula, I’m not against doctors or medical intervention. I believe that all those things have their place. And what I wrote yesterday about formula was not meant to offend anyone who has had to or just chosen to use formula for their babies. We all make our own decisions for our children based on what we feel is right for them, that is why God has placed them in our care, He trusts us with them, and we have to do what we think is best. Anyway, all of that said, I was not upset that she even suggested formula, it was more that that was the first recommendation. There are many things that we nursing mom’s can do to increase our milk suppy. It can be a little more work (that’s what I meant by formula being an easy answer), but in the long run it can be well worth the effort. I know many ladies who have been in my shoes and with a little effort had plenty of milk for their babies, along with baby food as the baby got bigger. There are also plenty of women who don’t have enough milk, or who’s milk just dries up when they are pregnant, that is not the case with me, I still have plenty of milk but I think my body could use a natural “boost” to help me produce a little more. I think my frustration with this particular doctor is that she didn’t seem to have much knowledge of the nursing mom-which in my humble opinion has a lot to do with pediatric care. We have not been impressed with this doctor, she is new and we just haven’t had a chance to find a doctor in this area that we are really happy with. We prefer a pediatrician who has a good balance between natural and unnatural intervention. When Aidan was a baby we had an excellent pediatrician, he had a broad understanding of the body, both infant and mother. We appreciated how he would explain things and how he helped me understand my body better as I was a new mom and new to nursing. Maybe not every doctor is going to be as great as this doctor was but we’ve just not been happy with the care we have gotten from our current pediatrician.

Here is what Chris and I believe about medical care(for those of you who want a little better picture into our hearts. :) First of all, God has designed our bodies to heal themselves, secondly God has provided us with good healthy food to maintain our health, thirdly God has provided many things in nature to help cure our bodies when things go wrong. We try to make this our goal and abide by all the provisions that God has already placed at our fingertips with a little effort. And then if I’ve done all those things; eating right, and sought the natural means to get healthy and I or my family is still dealing with the symptoms whatever they may be, we then look to a doctor to discover what our other options may be.

Our plan with Guenna? Well, my midwife has suggested several different solutions to help me make sure my milk supply is good, avacados, brewer’s yeast, fenugreek seed, and some of my friends have suggested a few other things. Tried the brewer’s yeast and it made me want to throw up :) So far avacados are my favorite, but I think I will try some of the other herb solutions to see if they help, along with making sure I get enough water. We also plan to offer her more solids as she gets used to them and I am sure this will help as well. And monitor her weight to see if she is gaining. Most importantly we give our children into the hands of our loving Father every day and ask Him to give us wisdom in how to help nourish them both physically and spiritually, and when to turn to medical help. If she doesn’t start gaining we will proably consider supplementing with a little goat’s milk, our food co-op here sells raw goats milk and it tastes really good it’s just pricey, $4 a quart so I’m holding out for my milk to kick in :) It’s a much cheaper option!

About the eye infection, it will be interesting to see what the specialist has to say about it. Who knows, maybe he will suggest the month of antibiotic treatment, that would be something different at least. So there you have it, we’re going to the specialist who will hopefully have some answers for us :) I think he or she probably will! And that will be good, I can stop complaining about it then ;)

Thanks Amy for the opportunity to share my heart a little deeper, I hope that helped explain a little better where I am coming from.

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