Worst Doctor's Advice Ever

[Mazda Baiter]

So, my wife went to the doctors for her 6 week check up with my little boy. Everything was fine until the inevitable question came up of "have you thought about contraception?"

My wife explained what we are planning and he replied with (word for word according to SWMBO)

Doctor "Are you still breast feeding?"
Wife "Yes, apart from the odd bottle of readymix formula to use as a laxitive for the baby."
Doctor "Well if you are breastfeeding you can't get pregnant anyway."



He was serious too. My wife was too shocked to say anything. She has had training to advise teenagers on contraception through her work.

It's a good thing I wasn't there or I would have asked him if he was Catholic (Indian doctor), which probably wouldn't have gone down well.

In all seriousness though, who would be best to complain to about this? He is the lead doctor/practice owner.

[anonymous-user]

I went to my GP one Friday many years ago complaining of tingling in my fingers whenever I did my shoelaces up. I had been in a collar for about 6 weeks about 2 months previously after diving into a sandbank and being totally paralyzed from the neck down for about 30 minutes. I told the GP I was convinced something very serious was wrong and wanted to get an emergency appointment for the local Nuffield Orthopaedic hospital in Oxford. He told me not to worry about it!!!!

After a stand up argument he agreed to refer me. Turned out my neck was broken and they operated on me (bone fusion) the following Monday.

You know your body better than anyone else!

Edited by anonymous-user on Tuesday 7th September 14:49

[Deva Link]

Mazda Baiter said:

Doctor "Well if you are breastfeeding you can't get pregnant anyway."

Maybe he knows that you're not going to be getting any in the foreseeable future.

Actually, it must be true - surely?

[Broomsticklady]

I remember many years ago complaining to a GP of similar origin about period pains, PMS et al - and being told I should have a baby - it would cure everything!! Not quite as bad, but getting there!

[Z4monster]

I'm no doctor or even a woman but i'm pretty sure he's right. My female friend kept breast feeding as long as possible after the birth because it meant she wouldn't get any periods if her hormone levels were kept high enough.

Just stick a mac on if you want to be sure.

[Mazda Baiter]

Z4monster said:

I'm no doctor or even a woman but i'm pretty sure he's right. My female friend kept breast feeding as long as possible after the birth because it meant she wouldn't get any periods if her hormone levels were kept high enough.

Just stick a mac on if you want to be sure.

Sorry, but you are wrong. Breast feeding doesn't affect hormone levels enough to stop periods, let alone make the female temporarily infertile. It was/is advice given out by quacks and catholic priests in the middle ages.

[Mazda Baiter]

Broomsticklady said:

I remember many years ago complaining to a GP of similar origin about period pains, PMS et al - and being told I should have a baby - it would cure everything!! Not quite as bad, but getting there!

If you were diagnosed with endometriosis or poly-cystic ovaries then the known cure is getting pregnant. The symptoms can be held off with a hormone releasing coil, but it is not a permenant solution.

So your doctor could have been correct, depending on the diagnosis.

[Deva Link]

Mazda Baiter said:

Z4monster said:

I'm no doctor or even a woman but i'm pretty sure he's right. My female friend kept breast feeding as long as possible after the birth because it meant she wouldn't get any periods if her hormone levels were kept high enough.

Just stick a mac on if you want to be sure.

Sorry, but you are wrong. Breast feeding doesn't affect hormone levels enough to stop periods, let alone make the female temporarily infertile. It was/is advice given out by quacks and catholic priests in the middle ages.

Googling suggests that there something in it, but with lots of caveats. The extent of breast feeding appears to be quite critical. Wifey says a friend of hers got pregnant while breast feeding, 3 mths after the first baby's birth.

[Bill]

According to SWMBO (a GP FWIW) breastfeeding exclusively is 95 to 98% effective as a contraceptive. So on a par with condoms...

[2 sMoKiN bArReLs]

Mazda Baiter said:

"Well if you are breastfeeding you can't get pregnant anyway."

Perhaps he was thinking the baby would get in the way?

[c8bof]

Deva Link said:

Mazda Baiter said:

Z4monster said:

I'm no doctor or even a woman but i'm pretty sure he's right. My female friend kept breast feeding as long as possible after the birth because it meant she wouldn't get any periods if her hormone levels were kept high enough.

Just stick a mac on if you want to be sure.

Sorry, but you are wrong. Breast feeding doesn't affect hormone levels enough to stop periods, let alone make the female temporarily infertile. It was/is advice given out by quacks and catholic priests in the middle ages.

Googling suggests that there something in it, but with lots of caveats. The extent of breast feeding appears to be quite critical. Wifey says a friend of hers got pregnant while breast feeding, 3 mths after the first baby's birth.

The hormone produced by lactating women, prolactin, can cause infertility if present in the body in high enough levels, so there's a wee bit of truth in what he said? I've got a prolactinoma (see other thread) which is a tumour producing excess prolactin - I've had to take medication to reduce the prolactin before I'm likely to be able to get pregnant.

But yes, agreed, I wouldn't rely on it!

[Lemmonie]

I had to certainly reduce feeding before i got knocked up with my second.

Pregger first time on honeymoon !! It took fours months to fall pregnant again as i was exclusivly breatfeeding. It is actually a very good form of contraception. Its is natures way of preserving life and ensuring your baby is getting everything it needs form the breatmilk before gearing up for a second.

Incidentaly breastmilk aften changes flavour/consistancy when the female becomes pregnant again and babies can actually go right off breastfeeding. This happened with my child.

[968]

Mazda Baiter said:

So, my wife went to the doctors for her 6 week check up with my little boy. Everything was fine until the inevitable question came up of "have you thought about contraception?"

My wife explained what we are planning and he replied with (word for word according to SWMBO)

Doctor "Are you still breast feeding?"
Wife "Yes, apart from the odd bottle of readymix formula to use as a laxitive for the baby."
Doctor "Well if you are breastfeeding you can't get pregnant anyway."



He was serious too. My wife was too shocked to say anything. She has had training to advise teenagers on contraception through her work.

It's a good thing I wasn't there or I would have asked him if he was Catholic (Indian doctor), which probably wouldn't have gone down well.

In all seriousness though, who would be best to complain to about this? He is the lead doctor/practice owner.

I wouldnt complain as your GP may well be correct, if fully breastfeeding a baby less than 6 months. Look up lactational amenorrhoea. As stated elsewhere the contraceptive rate is about 95+% which is pretty good.

[mrmr96]

Mazda Baiter said:

Doctor "Well if you are breastfeeding you can't get pregnant anyway."


<snip>
In all seriousness though, who would be best to complain to about this? He is the lead doctor/practice owner.

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lactational_amenorrhe...

Wikipedia said:

The lactational amenorrhea method (LAM) is a method of avoiding pregnancies which is based on the natural postnatal infertility that occurs when a woman is amenorrheic and fully breastfeeding. If not combined with chemicals or devices, LAM may be considered natural family planning.

Wikipedia said:

For women who meet the criteria (listed below), LAM is 98% - 99.5% effective during the first six months postpartum.[1]

* Breastfeeding must be the infant’s only (or almost only) source of nutrition. Feeding formula, pumping instead of nursing[2], and feeding solids all reduce the effectiveness of LAM.
* The infant must breastfeed at least every four hours during the day and at least every six hours at night.
* The infant must be less than six months old.
* The mother must not have had a period after 56 days post-partum (when determining fertility, bleeding prior to 56 days post-partum can be ignored).

Best start backpedalling.

[Mazda Baiter]

Hmmm. How very odd. I have in front of me the info pack my wife had when she was training to advise her students on contraception. It clearly says that breastfeeding is not a replacement for contraception as it does not change the right hormones. It is a partnership programme with the NHS. I guess they put it in there to scare people into using something.

Still every day's a school day.

Thanks for the answers, I'll stand the army down

it'll be bareback from now on

[Silver940]

Wifey fell pregnant with number 4 while breastfeeding number 3. Great advice doc! LOL!

[968]

Mazda Baiter said:

Hmmm. How very odd. I have in front of me the info pack my wife had when she was training to advise her students on contraception. It clearly says that breastfeeding is not a replacement for contraception as it does not change the right hormones. It is a partnership programme with the NHS. I guess they put it in there to scare people into using something.

Still every day's a school day.

Thanks for the answers, I'll stand the army down

it'll be bareback from now on

Well, LAM is not a replacement for contraception as the conditions which require it to be 98% effective are quite specific, however it is true that breast feeding does affect hormonal levels to make pregnancy less likely. A lot of literature provided by the NHS and govt are rubbish, but they take the view that if they give all the info the public will make the wrong decisions. eg, in France, it is almost recommended that women should drink a small amount of red wine, whilst pregnant. However, in the UK, any drinking is viewed as punishable by death. The reason is the govt thinks that if we gave the French view, most people would use it as an excuse to get wasted whilst pregnant.

[Mazda Baiter]

968 said:

Mazda Baiter said:

Hmmm. How very odd. I have in front of me the info pack my wife had when she was training to advise her students on contraception. It clearly says that breastfeeding is not a replacement for contraception as it does not change the right hormones. It is a partnership programme with the NHS. I guess they put it in there to scare people into using something.

Still every day's a school day.

Thanks for the answers, I'll stand the army down

it'll be bareback from now on

Well, LAM is not a replacement for contraception as the conditions which require it to be 98% effective are quite specific, however it is true that breast feeding does affect hormonal levels to make pregnancy less likely. A lot of literature provided by the NHS and govt are rubbish, but they take the view that if they give all the info the public will make the wrong decisions. eg, in France, it is almost recommended that women should drink a small amount of red wine, whilst pregnant. However, in the UK, any drinking is viewed as punishable by death. The reason is the govt thinks that if we gave the French view, most people would use it as an excuse to get wasted whilst pregnant.

I fully agree.

This literature is designed to be given out to teenagers, so I'm not surprised it is fairly selective.

Thanks again.

[Lois]

Demand breastfeeding can keep hormones up enough to prevent ovulation. The problem is though though, if you go for more than 4 hours, hormones can drop low enough to ovulate. In today's society of regimented feeding and adding in bottles it is not effective at all!
It works well in less developed countries where the baby is practically attached to the mum all day and night.

[Deva Link]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Maybe that's where the OP is, and the doctor his missus went to see was in a mud hut with a bone through his nose? He omitted that detail.