Sinus Infections, Breastfeeding, and Kudos to Kaiser Once Again
I have a sinus infection. It started Thursday. After we took turns having the flu a couple weeks ago, I guess it didn't quite all the way clear out. Fortunately, it's not too terrible, and I went to the doctor yesterday and got antibiotics, so I should be feeling better soon.
I just wanted to say kudos to Kaiser for their breastfeeding support. At the intake with the nurse, they noted that I was breastfeeding. When she asked how old my baby is and I said 16 months, she said Great! I mentioned it to the doctor as well before he told me which antibiotic he was giving me, and he said amoxicillin was fine for breastfeeding (which I knew), but that I should probably stay away from decongestants (which I also knew), but that Benadryl was fine if I wanted to dry up some of the mucus. He mentioned it might make the baby a little drowsy, so maybe just take it before bedtime anyway.
I was super-impressed. It's one thing to get good breastfeeding support from the OBs and pediatricians. That should be expected (but doesn't always happen, unfortunately). But the fact that the general practitioner was informed as well was really impressive.
I mention this because there was an article on Kveller a few weeks ago that pissed me off. (http://www.kveller.com/blog/parenting/i-had-to-stop-breast-feeding-and-im-relieved/) Basically, she had a sinus infection, and the ENT told her she couldn't breastfeed on the medication he prescribed. She admitted to being relieved to have an excuse to stop breastfeeding, because as she nursed each of her four children, it became "more difficult to work breastfeeding into my family’s increasingly complex interlocking schedules". Okay. The reason the article pissed me off is not that she stopped breastfeeding because of the medication. What pissed me off is that she felt the need to write an article justifying why she was relieved to stop breastfeeding. Also, it's entirely possible that sh didn' "have" to stop breastfeeding, or that there was some other medication that would have been compatible with breastfeeding that the ENT could have prescribed instead. The point is, she wanted to stop, she stopped, and now she's happy about it. If she hadn't gotten her "excuse," would she have kept going? Maybe. Or would she have found some other excuse to stop? I'm not sure how old the baby is, but I think about three or four months. Look, if you don't want to breastfeed, then don't. You don't need an excuse. You don't need to write a whole blog article about why you're happy to stop. You don't need to justify it to yourself or anyone else. But you do need to be honest with yourself about it and not spread misinformation. First of all, if she's nursing her fourth baby, she should know that those few months of it being "more difficult to work breastfeeding into my family's...schedules" are fleeting and will pass. She should know that breastfeeding becomes easier and more enjoyable and less burdensome as time goes on. She should know how beneficial breastfeeding is to both her and her child. And she should know that just because a doctor says she can't breastfeed on a medication doesn't mean it's true, and she should double check or ask for a breastfeeding-friendly alternative. There are plenty of antibiotics out there.
So I was tempted to facetiously post on Facebook that I have a sinus infection, and maybe the doctor will tell me to stop breastfeeding while I'm on the antibiotic! Haha. But I was very pleased that they took the breastfeeding into account and gave me correct information with regard to safety and suggestions for what medications I can take for relief. He also suggested using a sinus rinse, which I was already doing, but I liked that he proposed a non-medication option! He was also really nice.
Hm, I sense a blog post in the works.
Speaking of which, I want to write a blog post about an experience I had on Saturday, but I'm not sure exactly what I want to say. Also, some of the people involved read my blog, so I'm not sure how to express myself without offending them (they're friends). Basically, we went to shul Saturday morning, and I was coughing and a little stuffy - I'm still getting over the vestiges of the flu from a few weeks ago. A couple people had their young babies there, including my friend whose baby starred in my YouTube video about buckling a newborn into a car seat. I wanted to tell her that the video has over 90 views, so I sat down next to her. She promptly jumped up and said, "I'm sorry. I can't sit next to you when you're coughing." She felt that in order to protect her son from sickness, it was a good idea to stay away from me because I might cough on him, or something. Anyway, I said I'm not contagious, I'm just getting over stuff and it's just clearing out. She said, "But I don't know that for sure. He's only 3 months old. G-d forbid, I don't want him to get sick."
It's not that I don't understand wanting to protect yourself and your kids from illness. It's just that it made me feel like an outcast. If I thought I was really sick, I wouldn't have gone to shul. Two weeks prior, I stayed home because I and Niv were feeling pretty crummy, and I didn't want to subject anyone to my misery. But I also didn't want to be isolated all the time, and we'd finally come out of our little bubble of illness and were on the mend, and I wanted to socialize. Some people didn't seem to mind my obvious cough and were just as friendly and sympathetic and so on as they always are. Others ran away from me whenever I came near. I'm trying to be understanding, but it's hard not to be offended. I didn't ask to hold any babies, I didn't help prepare food, I tried not to touch anything communal, and I used lots of hand sanitizer. You're not going to get sick from sitting next to me. You get sick by transferring droplets to your mucus membranes and allowing the virus in. If there's no virus, there's no contagion. Just sitting next to me is not going to be dangerous.
So I want to write some kind of blog post about trying to protect yourself from sickness, your kids, and then the flip side, about trying to protect others from you when you're sick, and how to find the balance between isolating yourself and being impolite about exposing others. Also, where are you most likely to pick up germs, how are colds and flu transmitted, etc. And how impossible it gets when you have a kid in school! The mucus. Oh my, the mucus. Niv has 26 kids in his class, and one day last week, NINE of them were absent. It's just impossible! Niv missed two days the week before that.
Okay, I'm done rambling.
I just wanted to say kudos to Kaiser for their breastfeeding support. At the intake with the nurse, they noted that I was breastfeeding. When she asked how old my baby is and I said 16 months, she said Great! I mentioned it to the doctor as well before he told me which antibiotic he was giving me, and he said amoxicillin was fine for breastfeeding (which I knew), but that I should probably stay away from decongestants (which I also knew), but that Benadryl was fine if I wanted to dry up some of the mucus. He mentioned it might make the baby a little drowsy, so maybe just take it before bedtime anyway.
I was super-impressed. It's one thing to get good breastfeeding support from the OBs and pediatricians. That should be expected (but doesn't always happen, unfortunately). But the fact that the general practitioner was informed as well was really impressive.
I mention this because there was an article on Kveller a few weeks ago that pissed me off. (http://www.kveller.com/blog/parenting/i-had-to-stop-breast-feeding-and-im-relieved/) Basically, she had a sinus infection, and the ENT told her she couldn't breastfeed on the medication he prescribed. She admitted to being relieved to have an excuse to stop breastfeeding, because as she nursed each of her four children, it became "more difficult to work breastfeeding into my family’s increasingly complex interlocking schedules". Okay. The reason the article pissed me off is not that she stopped breastfeeding because of the medication. What pissed me off is that she felt the need to write an article justifying why she was relieved to stop breastfeeding. Also, it's entirely possible that sh didn' "have" to stop breastfeeding, or that there was some other medication that would have been compatible with breastfeeding that the ENT could have prescribed instead. The point is, she wanted to stop, she stopped, and now she's happy about it. If she hadn't gotten her "excuse," would she have kept going? Maybe. Or would she have found some other excuse to stop? I'm not sure how old the baby is, but I think about three or four months. Look, if you don't want to breastfeed, then don't. You don't need an excuse. You don't need to write a whole blog article about why you're happy to stop. You don't need to justify it to yourself or anyone else. But you do need to be honest with yourself about it and not spread misinformation. First of all, if she's nursing her fourth baby, she should know that those few months of it being "more difficult to work breastfeeding into my family's...schedules" are fleeting and will pass. She should know that breastfeeding becomes easier and more enjoyable and less burdensome as time goes on. She should know how beneficial breastfeeding is to both her and her child. And she should know that just because a doctor says she can't breastfeed on a medication doesn't mean it's true, and she should double check or ask for a breastfeeding-friendly alternative. There are plenty of antibiotics out there.
So I was tempted to facetiously post on Facebook that I have a sinus infection, and maybe the doctor will tell me to stop breastfeeding while I'm on the antibiotic! Haha. But I was very pleased that they took the breastfeeding into account and gave me correct information with regard to safety and suggestions for what medications I can take for relief. He also suggested using a sinus rinse, which I was already doing, but I liked that he proposed a non-medication option! He was also really nice.
Hm, I sense a blog post in the works.
Speaking of which, I want to write a blog post about an experience I had on Saturday, but I'm not sure exactly what I want to say. Also, some of the people involved read my blog, so I'm not sure how to express myself without offending them (they're friends). Basically, we went to shul Saturday morning, and I was coughing and a little stuffy - I'm still getting over the vestiges of the flu from a few weeks ago. A couple people had their young babies there, including my friend whose baby starred in my YouTube video about buckling a newborn into a car seat. I wanted to tell her that the video has over 90 views, so I sat down next to her. She promptly jumped up and said, "I'm sorry. I can't sit next to you when you're coughing." She felt that in order to protect her son from sickness, it was a good idea to stay away from me because I might cough on him, or something. Anyway, I said I'm not contagious, I'm just getting over stuff and it's just clearing out. She said, "But I don't know that for sure. He's only 3 months old. G-d forbid, I don't want him to get sick."
It's not that I don't understand wanting to protect yourself and your kids from illness. It's just that it made me feel like an outcast. If I thought I was really sick, I wouldn't have gone to shul. Two weeks prior, I stayed home because I and Niv were feeling pretty crummy, and I didn't want to subject anyone to my misery. But I also didn't want to be isolated all the time, and we'd finally come out of our little bubble of illness and were on the mend, and I wanted to socialize. Some people didn't seem to mind my obvious cough and were just as friendly and sympathetic and so on as they always are. Others ran away from me whenever I came near. I'm trying to be understanding, but it's hard not to be offended. I didn't ask to hold any babies, I didn't help prepare food, I tried not to touch anything communal, and I used lots of hand sanitizer. You're not going to get sick from sitting next to me. You get sick by transferring droplets to your mucus membranes and allowing the virus in. If there's no virus, there's no contagion. Just sitting next to me is not going to be dangerous.
So I want to write some kind of blog post about trying to protect yourself from sickness, your kids, and then the flip side, about trying to protect others from you when you're sick, and how to find the balance between isolating yourself and being impolite about exposing others. Also, where are you most likely to pick up germs, how are colds and flu transmitted, etc. And how impossible it gets when you have a kid in school! The mucus. Oh my, the mucus. Niv has 26 kids in his class, and one day last week, NINE of them were absent. It's just impossible! Niv missed two days the week before that.
Okay, I'm done rambling.