To read Part One Click Here
To read Part Two Click Here
We were between feeling safe and scared.
Safe that we were right that Sugar's health was just fine and we had professionals who would back us up on that.
Scared, of course, that our "family" doctor would take our last phone conversation as good reason to tell C.A.S. we were being negligent parents.
We were in total disbelief that all of this was happening because we refused to give our child something that was not as good for him as breastmilk!
With our appointment with her cancelled, and another appointment with the Newman Clinic scheduled so that Sugar's weight gain could be monitored, we decided it was time to formally end our 'relationship' with our family doctor.
I had very few 'kind' words to say and felt that if we were to terminate this relationship via letter I wanted it to be short and sweet: "After being in your care for these few months now, we can see that we have different values and philosophies of health care and we insist you please remove us and our son from our roster immediately. We also would ask that you refrain from contacting us."
DaddyOat on the other hand wanted them to see the error of their ways and make sure they knew EXACTLY what they did wrong. After failing to agree on what type of letter to write we decided to each write our own and send them together.
The letter DaddyOat wrote was five pages long. Detailing every single threat and insinuation they made at our visits, and describing the different care and opinion we received at the Newman Clinic. More importantly though, while DaddyOat was writing this letter, he discovered a key piece of information that set this whole thing up...a clinical error that went unnoticed by our family doctor.
Remember how I mentioned that at our first visit they weighed Sugar twice? Once at 8lbs the second time at 7lbs? On the chart we received from our doctor that had the growth curve plus Sugars weight, DaddyOat noticed that the first and starting weight was the 8lb weight, putting Sugar in the 50th percentile. However, his actual weight, 7lbs, put him in the 3rd percentile, where he'd been remaining throughout all our visits. Given the 3rd percentile is at the bottom of the chart, but it still is normal, and Sugar was.is also very bright and strong, so no cause for alarm.
With this 'evidence' at our hands we finally felt completely safe that if anyone were to come accusing us of anything, we had proof that the doctor made an error, resulting in her making rash threats.
Now, before anyone thinks we took this too far, and that to err is human, we completely agree! DaddyOat even included it in his version of the letter. But error or not this doctor failed to see two very obvious things:
#1 - Sugar was bright, healthy and strong. Clearly not a malnourished child.
#2 - We were clearly loving parents who wanted to be educated about their child's health and in doing so chose to exclusively breastfeed.
Clearly reasons to withhold threatening to call C.A.S.
Now a month has gone by since this chaos. We've re-visited the Newman Clinic several times. Sugar remains on the 3rd percentile, but no one is concerned. Their only suggestion has been to maybe start solids a little sooner than 6 months. Sugar now LOVES his 1/4 banana in the morning and a little sweet potato at night.
I shared this story with you all not for any sort of sympathy or shock value but merely to encourage those of you out there who want to breastfeed and are coming up against opposition from anyone there IS support out there.
Contact the Newman Clinic
Visit their website
Watch the videos
Search until you find a doctor or pediatrician who supports breastfeeding.
And if all else fails contact me and I will do my hardest and best to help you in whatever way I can, because, like I said, we believe breastfeeding is the best option for babies.
To read Part Two Click Here
We were between feeling safe and scared.
Safe that we were right that Sugar's health was just fine and we had professionals who would back us up on that.
Scared, of course, that our "family" doctor would take our last phone conversation as good reason to tell C.A.S. we were being negligent parents.
We were in total disbelief that all of this was happening because we refused to give our child something that was not as good for him as breastmilk!
With our appointment with her cancelled, and another appointment with the Newman Clinic scheduled so that Sugar's weight gain could be monitored, we decided it was time to formally end our 'relationship' with our family doctor.
I had very few 'kind' words to say and felt that if we were to terminate this relationship via letter I wanted it to be short and sweet: "After being in your care for these few months now, we can see that we have different values and philosophies of health care and we insist you please remove us and our son from our roster immediately. We also would ask that you refrain from contacting us."
DaddyOat on the other hand wanted them to see the error of their ways and make sure they knew EXACTLY what they did wrong. After failing to agree on what type of letter to write we decided to each write our own and send them together.
The letter DaddyOat wrote was five pages long. Detailing every single threat and insinuation they made at our visits, and describing the different care and opinion we received at the Newman Clinic. More importantly though, while DaddyOat was writing this letter, he discovered a key piece of information that set this whole thing up...a clinical error that went unnoticed by our family doctor.
Remember how I mentioned that at our first visit they weighed Sugar twice? Once at 8lbs the second time at 7lbs? On the chart we received from our doctor that had the growth curve plus Sugars weight, DaddyOat noticed that the first and starting weight was the 8lb weight, putting Sugar in the 50th percentile. However, his actual weight, 7lbs, put him in the 3rd percentile, where he'd been remaining throughout all our visits. Given the 3rd percentile is at the bottom of the chart, but it still is normal, and Sugar was.is also very bright and strong, so no cause for alarm.
With this 'evidence' at our hands we finally felt completely safe that if anyone were to come accusing us of anything, we had proof that the doctor made an error, resulting in her making rash threats.
Now, before anyone thinks we took this too far, and that to err is human, we completely agree! DaddyOat even included it in his version of the letter. But error or not this doctor failed to see two very obvious things:
#1 - Sugar was bright, healthy and strong. Clearly not a malnourished child.
#2 - We were clearly loving parents who wanted to be educated about their child's health and in doing so chose to exclusively breastfeed.
Clearly reasons to withhold threatening to call C.A.S.
Now a month has gone by since this chaos. We've re-visited the Newman Clinic several times. Sugar remains on the 3rd percentile, but no one is concerned. Their only suggestion has been to maybe start solids a little sooner than 6 months. Sugar now LOVES his 1/4 banana in the morning and a little sweet potato at night.
I shared this story with you all not for any sort of sympathy or shock value but merely to encourage those of you out there who want to breastfeed and are coming up against opposition from anyone there IS support out there.
Contact the Newman Clinic
Visit their website
Watch the videos
Search until you find a doctor or pediatrician who supports breastfeeding.
And if all else fails contact me and I will do my hardest and best to help you in whatever way I can, because, like I said, we believe breastfeeding is the best option for babies.
Wow, such a crazy story - I am so glad you were able to persevere, stay true to your values and find a solution in the end!
ReplyDeleteAnd... wow your baby is cute :P