Meet Dr. Jane Morton

Dr. Morton is widely known to the nursing mothers and hospital staff in the corridors of the Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford University
in Palo Alto, California. The hands-on approach she uses to teach new mothers the art of breastfeeding helps hundreds of mother-baby pairs each year get off to the right start during the early hours following delivery.

Breastfeeding.com is honored to have Dr. Morton join our site as a medical advisor. Although our readers may not have the pleasure of meeting Dr. Morton in person, they are sure to benefit from her expert knowledge during the months to come!

The techniques that Dr. Morton uses to teach new moms how to nurse effectively reflect many years of experience, and a combination of both academic knowledge and education that she has received from her patients themselves.

"I have learned more about successful breastfeeding from the bright and determined mothers in my practice than from anywhere else," she shares with a smile.

Dr. Morton began her medical career about 30 years ago, when women physicians were a noticeable minority and nursing women physicians were even rarer. After graduating from Boston University School of Medicine in 1971 and completing an internship in pediatrics at the University of California School of Medicine in 1972, Dr. Morton took a year off before beginning her pediatric residency to come to Stanford University. She was the proud mother of a six-month-old daughter at the time (her first of three children) and was, of course, breastfeeding. Because she was a woman physician and was breastfeeding herself, other physicians quickly began referring new mothers to Dr. Morton for breastfeeding questions, and she was repeatedly invited to give talks on breastfeeding to both patients and medical staff.

Dr. Morton stayed on to do her pediatric residency at Stanford University School of Medicine during 1973 to 1975, and her reputation as a breastfeeding expert grew during that time. Following her residency, she went into private practice where she continued to work with mothers and their newborns to promote successful breastfeeding experiences.

"When I was at Stanford giving talks, I thought that I knew a lot about breastfeeding. I thought that I was giving the best possible advice to new mothers. However, going into private practice was the true acid test - I learned how very little I knew."

During those days, newborn infants were first seen by a pediatrician at about two weeks following delivery. Dr. Morton saw many infants who came in for their check-up not thriving and jaundiced, and many mothers who were distraught and frazzled by their breastfeeding experiences. "I wondered what I was doing wrong," she says.

Dr. Morton began listening carefully to the experiences many new mothers were having with breastfeeding and soon realized that the majority of mothers were not latching their infants onto the breast correctly. Dr. Morton diligently began spending time with new mothers, using a very direct, hands-on approach to teach them the correct techniques for latching on.

"Successful, exclusive breastfeeding is dependent upon sufficient milk production," she says. "The primary stimulus - frequent and effective nursing during the first week - does not happen if a baby does not learn to latch on and to use his or her mouth effectively. This does not always happen automatically. Some mother-infant pairs need more help."

In an effort to assist new mothers, she also has made a video that is available in both English and Spanish, and plays on the closed circuit television for new mothers who deliver at the Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford University. This video can be ordered by any new or expectant mother by calling 1-800-253-7678.

The teaching and support that Dr. Morton provides to nursing mothers is strengthened by her own research on the physiology of breastfeeding and breastfeeding practices that she has published in acclaimed scientific journals. "The avenues of research that I have pursued are topics that come up in my practice all of the time," says Dr. Morton.

Recently, Dr. Morton has turned a great deal of her attention to studying and promoting successful breastfeeding among infants born prematurely. "I work in an area where many women delay childbearing well into their thirties and forties. With more frequent use of infertility drugs, the incidence of multiple births and prematurity goes up."

Providing breast milk for a premature infant from the time of birth forward takes tremendous determination on the mother's part, but it is worth the effort. "Even if only 30 percent of a premature infant's diet is breast milk, he will get out of the hospital, on average, 15 days earlier than a premie who is not breastfed," claims Dr. Morton. The result - a healthier baby and tremendous cost savings for insurance companies that most often pay for these expensive hospital stays.

Encouraging mothers of premature infants to breastfeed and teaching them how to do so successfully is something that Dr. Morton cares deeply about. "Consider the situation," she says, "a mother delivers a two pound baby at 28 weeks. The baby is most likely quite sick, and the mother feels exhausted and frightened about her child's condition. Yet, if she wants her baby to leave the hospital two to three months later exclusively breastfed, she must be inspired to take an ugly two-headed contraption - the breast pump - and use it 8 to10 times a day from the very beginning."

Inspiring mothers of preterm infants to begin pumping immediately after birth so their infants can initially receive breast milk through a tube and later at the breast, is the focus of a new video that Dr. Morton is producing. The video follows several mothers and their premature infants over time, chronicling both successes and bumps along the way.

While Dr. Morton's research is a tremendous contribution to the medical field and to nursing mothers, equally important to patients is her warm smile, her friendly demeanor, and her willingness to spend one-on-one time teaching women and infants the art of breastfeeding. Her academic knowledge combined with her extraordinary bedside manner has earned Dr. Morton a reputation as a stellar physician. In 1997, Focus Magazine named Dr. Morton as one of the "Best Doctors in the Bay Area", and she was again selected by her peers as one of "Silicon Valley's Best Physicians" as reported in The San Jose Magazine in 1999.

Although Dr. Morton's practice has always been in Silicon Valley, she has traveled extensively, sharing her knowledge about breastfeeding and learning from others who have spent years in the practice of helping breastfeeding mothers and conducting clinical research. Her position as Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at the Stanford University School of Medicine, which she has held since 1988, also provides many opportunities for her to share her breastfeeding knowledge with young physicians just entering the field.

Dr. Morton's advice to new breastfeeding mothers is to get off to the right start by seeking the help they need from physicians, nurses, and lactation consultants during the first couple of days following delivery.

"The most powerful stimulus for adequate milk production is frequent and effective nursing that begins shortly after birth, and inadequate milk production is the number one cause that women give for prematurely discontinue breastfeeding," she says. "So, get the help that you need - right from the start."