His Story.

Dr.Jack Newman was born in a small city near Tel Aviv. His family immigrated to Canada when he was 15 months old and he grew up as an only child in Toronto. He has 3 children, ages 32, 35 and 40 years old. Dr. Newman has worked as a pediatrician for many years in the Emergency Department until 1992, when he went full time to the Breastfeeding Clinic. He has done a fair bit of traveling. He was just in China in December for 3 weeks and has spoken in every state in United States and in every Province in Canada.

Dr Jack Newman spoke in Beijing, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau. While this trip was a business one, Dr. Newman describes it as an interesting trip because of the heavy smog in Beijing. He had a cough that turned into a virus and while he managed to fulfill his speaking engagements, he needed to come home to really recover. He spoke of Red alerts they had related to the smog. Because it was so bad, there were days when the schools and factories were closed and days when you could not drive. They had odd and even days based on your drivers license. However, Dr. Newman is quick to point out that some of the wealthier people had plates that would cover them for odd and even so they were not limited to certain days to drive.

Dr.Jack Newman tells us of an early experience that happened when he was about 5 years old, that was probably the beginning of his longing to become a Doctor. When his father hurt his thumb, Dr. Newman performed some unusual type of medicine and stuck his father’s thumb with a nail, to which his father announced that he was all better. Seeing how he cured his father, was the beginning of wanting to become a physician. He also realized early on that he could travel a lot as a physician as he could work anywhere. Dr. Newman tells us of a time when all he had to do was write a letter to say, New Zealand, and express his desire to work as a resident or intern in a hospital. He was invited to come on down. He recognizes that the world of medicine has since changed and this is not doable anymore. He does get to travel quite a bit though as he is a popular speaker at breastfeeding conferences all over the world.

Dr. Jack Newman never really thought much about whether or not he was breastfed, however, once he became involved in this work, he did ask his mother. While he was told that he was breastfed, he recognized that his mother’s memories of the specifics as far as how long, are somewhat faded. Unfortunately, his mother also suffered from a pulmonary embolism after birth and in those days they were always telling mothers to stop breastfeeding for all sorts of reasons. She was in generally good health and survived and lived until 1992.

Dr. Jack Newman tells us that as a medical student he was taught nothing about breastfeeding. Similar to most other medical school training, he had about 1 hours worth of information on infant feeding in 4th year of medical school. The pediatrician stood up in front of the class and said that breast is best as it always comes in the right temperature and it always comes in such cute containers….. Now let me tell you about formula. So, he really never learned anything about breastfeeding as a student or as an intern and even during his pediatric residency. From what he observes, not much has changed. The main message that he got during his training is that it breastfeeding mothers were a pain because they could not measure the fluids going in, they could not tell how the babies were doing, and while breastfeeding mothers wanted to stay in the hospital longer, they were discouraged from doing so. Dr. Newman feels that while physicians may know a bit more information about breastfeeding, it is not nearly enough or the kind of information they need to work with breastfeeding mothers and help them prevent challenges from happening or how to help them when they are having problems.

Dr. Newman states that numbers don’t apply to breastfeeding with regards to how long babies should feed for and how long on each side and how many feeds per day. Drs. like to document numbers and in breastfeeding this is not the best judge of how well feedings are going. Babies are not necessarily getting milk if they are not drinking. He has videos on his website that clearly show this. He states that he sees a lot of mothers in his clinic who are having a decrease in supply, problems with breastfeeding, largely because they are just offering one breast per feeding. Dr. Newman expresses frustration as to why this poor advice is being given out as it is basic information. What works when the baby is 3 weeks old, does not work at 3 months old as their supply is not matching their babies needs so moms are now living with babies that are increasingly fussier. What we see is that many of these mothers actually did have a good supply, at 3 weeks old but by 3 months is pulling at breast and crying at breast and not being happy anymore. Mom takes baby to the pediatrician and their baby is diagnosed with reflux. These babies don’t have reflux, they are responding to a decrease in milk flow which is caused by one side feedings.

Dr. Newman tells us a funny story about how he came to work in Africa. He wanted to do something different as he was concerned about being bored based on feedback he received from some of his peers who went to work in general pediatric practices. The job he originally wanted in Malaysia did not work out because there was a postal strike in Canada and the letter inviting him did not get there until it was too late. The work in Africa was very emotionally trying as children were dying in large numbers. By that time, he had two breastfeeding children. He was appalled when he was scolded by a medical student who said that his 2 year old should not be breastfeeding anymore. Interestingly enough, he tells us how mothers were treated differently with white mothers given lots of free formula and birthing in different hospitals. Black mothers delivered in different hospitals and did not get free formula and it was hard to even get bottles.

Listen to this interview in completion where Dr. Newman talks about a whole lot more, including –

1. Helping mothers with breastfeeding in Africa was very interesting and he practiced “on the fly” needing to be creative.
2. Nuns from Switzerland who were working for Nestles, would give out free formula to not just hospital patients but just to anyone.
3. Talks about his return to South Africa in 2008 and what changes he observed as well as discussions about HIV positive mothers & breastfeeding.
4. WHO 2 years ago came out with a new statement on HIV positive moms and he explains these details.
5. Common reasons for low supply and decrease in supply.
6. History of Domperidone
7. Details about what his website has to offer in many languages.
7. And much more.
8. Click here for full interview.

Links:
Dr. Jack Newman’s Guide to Breastfeeding

The Ultimate Breastfeeding Book of Answers: The Most Comprehensive Problem-Solving Guide to Breastfeeding from the Foremost Expert in North America, Revised & Updated Edition

Contact Info:Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/DrJackNewman   

Website:   http://www.breastfeedinginc.ca/