Seriously, we hired one for a session and went to several free clinics when my wife had some problems with BF.

I can provide more details if required… lol.

Mike

I tell ya… the whole thing just doesn’t seem natural to me. When will we become pod people?

My only defense is (1) I’m a guy; and (2) both of my lovely children are adopted.

And FFB, I remember Tonka trucks with great fondness.

Onto the 70′s. I had to laugh at your counter top incident. I grew up in the same type of household. Remember when Tonka trucks were made out of metal and the corners would get all scraped and sharp? I remember a time my folks let me play with a soda can, a nail, and a hammer. You can say I never played with that combination of “toys” again. I miss those days….

But to reiterate, a lactation consultant is not outsourcing parenting.

Is not.

At all.

In the least.

You try and figure out how to get a screaming uncooperative upset freaked out confused baby to take your breast and get milk out of it without a little help, DR. Good luck.

Not everyone needs one (my daughter was a natural at it) but without the help of an LC I would never have gotten my son to nurse, ever.

And that same son…. who at 3 1/2 is still not potty trained (and believe me, we have tried every method I can stomach) I’d probably pay a lot of money to get someone who knew a method that would work for him. Heh.

Don’t judge til you are in those shoes. Like, seriously. let Mrs. DR proofread from now on.

(This was the nice version of my original comment btw. )

The Lactation Consultants, at least where I work, aren’t a part of outsourcing parenting. In a non-communal society, they’re quite important, they take on the role of the older women.

I hear so many new moms saying, despairingly, “I don’t know if she’s getting enough….I don’t even know if she’s getting anything…what am I doing wrong?” LCs help the moms figure out the nuts and bolts of feeding, give them tips, and reassure them that “yes, the baby’s getting enough to eat” (or not).

As a baby, I almost died from not nursing right (lost 25% of my birth weight in 2 weeks), so this is very personal to me. One doesn’t like to see one’s lifesavers belittled by the Post.

My parents had to get a consult to discuss how they were going to fix this without putting me on an IV. They weren’t looking for an easy way out, they didn’t want their daughter to starve to death. Most people probably don’t have as dramatic motivations, but getting a checkup with an LC at the hospital can prevent this kind of thing from happening.

If Ms. Shin thought or implied they were wet nurses, she obviously didn’t do her research.

There’s a lot of ridiculousness that parents pay for (potty training consultants?) and there’s a lot that kids can do fine without. But despite my occasional fights with LC’s over who gets the baby first, I think they’re immensely valuable.

Then again, we’re raising our daughter with the “watch where you’re going next time” mentality as well.