Then, a meeting with an inner-city ministry leader, to organize the "Youth and Sports" section of the program. (I vaguely remember writing my name on a piece of paper with that heading at a training event for this ministry because it was the closest thing to something that fit my interests and talents, and now find myself heading up this section of the program. What on earth do I know about youth and sports?!)
Next, a failed nap attempt. They both fell asleep in the car on the way home. At 11:30. Go figure. Needless to say, neither one made the transfer to their beds. AAAARGH! I would have just left them there and leaned my seat back for a little shut-eye myself, had it not been that I really, really had to pee. (Despite the gallon of cranberry juice, diluted and sweetened with stevia so I could choke the stuff down, the UTI was only worsening.) So, after a quick visit with a friend to try to reclaim my sanity, I headed off to the doctor's office to confirm what my body has been telling me the past couple of days.
Reading over my antibiotic information, I was reminded of a pet peeve of mine that I thought would be appropriate to share in this forum. Namely, the following instructions: "This medication passes into breast milk and may have undesirable effects on nursing infants younger than 1 month old. Consult your doctor before breastfeeding" (found on the drug pamphlet) and "Warning: breastfeeding not recommended while taking this drug. Consult your doctor or pharmacist" (found on the pill bottle). At first glance, these instructions might seem fairly innocuous. After all, everyone knows that some drugs aren't safe to take while nursing a baby, right? And nobody wants to harm their infant inadvertently by breastfeeding while taking a drug that would be dangerous to their baby's health. Now, never mind that it didn't occur to my doc that I might still be nursing my toddler (as I am) and that he didn't feel it was important to reassure me that it's fine to nurse her and take these drugs because she's old enough that they don't pose a threat to her (which they don't). What troubles me about the warning labels on these meds (and on any that are not deemed compatible with nursing by the medical community--I've read several of these kinds of labels) is the implicit assumption that if it's a choice between breastfeeding and taking medication, then breastfeeding is clearly out. These kinds of assumptions drive me crazy, especially when you consider the horror stories some women live through in order to be able to nurse their babies--everything from latch problems to severe mastitis. Women often initially sacrifice comfort, time, energy and sleep in order to cultivate healthy nursing relationships with their children. Where does the medical community get off thinking we're just going to toss that all away in order to cure some ailment?
I'd like to see a label that reads: "This drug may not be safe to use while breastfeeding. If you are breastfeeding, see you doctor for an alternative medication." There. That wasn't so hard, was it? And if there's no alternative, well lets work to find one. And in the meantime, let the woman in question decide which she wants to give up, rather than treating breastfeeding as the expendable item on the table.
No comments:
Post a Comment