La Leche League Canada sorry for rejecting mom who fed baby formula
Mom turned down by breastfeeding group because she used formula a few times while working
La Leche League Canada is apologizing to a Yellowknife mother after a representative turned down her application to become a local leader because she'd fed her baby formula a few times in addition to breastfeeding.
Vanessa Temple had hoped to offer support and guidance to other breastfeeding mothers.
"It's very hurtful," she says. "Basically telling women that you did everything you could for your son but it still wasn't good enough."
Temple is still breastfeeding her 14-month-old son, Torren.
It's very hurtful.- Vanessa Temple
"It definitely has it's challenges but I love it more than anything in the world," she says.
She says she believes it's the healthiest choice for a baby. But it's not always easy and she wanted to help other mothers.
Joining La Leche League, an international non-profit organization that promotes mother-to-mother breastfeeding support, seemed a perfect way to do that.
On her application, Temple admitted she used formula about a dozen times after she went back to work when Torren was seven months old. She also pumped milk several times a day and even dropped by his daycare to breastfeed him.
"Unfortunately the experience you describe is not an exact match," she learned in an email from a La Leche League representative, turning down her application.
"You mentioned that you had used formula on a number of occasions when separated from the baby," the message said.
"We can give special consideration if formula was necessary in an unusual situation that challenged a mother's ability to breastfeed, such as a physical limitation of mother or baby, but formula use because of separation is not consistent with LLL's philosophy that human milk is the natural food for babies."
La Leche apologizes
Terese Pitman of La Leche League Canada, when contacted by CBC, said Temple should not have been automatically turned down.
"I hope you can convey to her how sorry I am," Pitman said. "How sorry the organization is that she's been hurt."
Pitman acknowledges they have specific criteria for leaders, but says there have been cases where leaders used formula to feed their babies and there should have been a discussion.
"I think what we need to do as an organization is look at why that happened and try to make sure it doesn't happen again."
Because of this incident, La Leche League Canada plans to assess how it chooses leaders, to see what it can do better.
Breastfeeding 'not always the reality'
Melissa Pink, a volunteer with Moms, Boobs and Babies, Yellowknife's only local breastfeeding support group, says it would be helpful to have more trained people to provide support.
For example, the N.W.T. has no breastmilk bank, so mothers who want to use breastmilk and can't produce it themselves don't have other options.
Dr. Andre Corriveau, the territory's chief public health officer, says research has shown breastfeeding can help prevent illness in babies and even long term chronic diseases such as obesity.
"Any breast milk to the baby will provide those benefits," he says.
Not an encouraging message
Temple says she isn't giving up. Her son was born six weeks early and she had challenges with her milk supply. She still wants to share that experience with other moms and is looking at other ways to get breastfeeding counselling training.
As for her experience with La Leche League, she says "I don't think it's an encouraging message.
"I think somebody else, if they were to hear that message, might just give up on breastfeeding altogether. What's the point of going through all the challenges and trouble if I am going to be told I'm not good enough anyway?"