Rant: Self-promotion and pushy salespeople

Yesterday I wanted to get out of the house since I needed time away from the baby and so I left Tom with four ounces of milk and went off to run a few errands.  I really wanted to get a manicure and pedicure, but I also wanted to get fitted for a nursing bra since I don't think the ones I have fit me right.  So I went to the Birth Boutique in Denville.  After spending about an hour there I wished I had went for the maini/pedi.

I had been to that store when I was pregnant to get a few things.  I remember the owner of the store being really pushy - telling me to sign up for her birthing class before it booked up and also pushing me to buy her breastfeeding DVD.  I didn't like her then and I don't like her now.  I had shared with the salesperson that I had sore nipples and she started to try and convince me to set up a consult with the owner of the store who is a lactation consultant.  I had explained that I already saw a consultant in Chatam.  She continued to try and get me in for that afternoon.  While I was in the dressing room I remembered that the pediatrician in the hospital told me not to go to the lactation consultant in Denville.  Then I also remembered how much I didn't like her many months ago when I was pregnant.  The sales woman continued to be pushy and I knew that I needed an exit plan.  I didn't think she was fitting me right for the bras (she only measured my back and not the circumference around my chest) and none of them felt right.  Upon me leaving the dressing room, the sales person ambushed me again and asked what time I wanted to come back to see the owner for a consult.  I said that I needed to talk with her first to understand her general philosophy. 

She came out of her office and everything she shared with me was counter to what La Leche League and other breastfeeding experts say.  She acknowledged that it was a completely different approach. First of all, she does not believe in nipple confusion and even introduces a bottle within the first week. She said that it should not be taking a five week old baby 30 minutes to nurse and that she could show me how to get him to nurse on both breasts in under 10 minutes.  I asked if this would cause a hindmilk/foremilk imbalance and she said no.  She said that the imbalance issue is only a problem in the first two weeks when the breasts are engorged.  She could tell that I was skeptical and didn't believe her and so she started to tell me how she is the expert for Babies R Us and how she is leaving for a speaking engagement in Washington next week and so if I want to meet with her I would need to come right away.  I told her that I needed to digest what she was telling me first and think it over.

Needless to say, she continued to promote herself as a renowned expert - even claiming to be a national expert.  The other thing that annoyed me was how she was undermining the consultant I saw in Chatam.  Clearly, they all know eachother and some of the things she said were meant to convey that I received bad advice.  Although I am still having difficultly, I trust the woman in Chatam 100 times more than this woman in Denville.  Unlike the Denville woman, the woman in Chatam is not self-promoting.  She doesn't encourage me to buy anything (although she has a store as well) and her philosophy is simple - use the baby as your guide.  Thank God, I remembered how the pediatrican warned me against the woman in Denville.  And thank God that I saw Maria in Chatam first since I might have fallen under the Birth Boutique's woman's spell of self-promotion in my delicate post-partum state.  Next time, I'll just get the mani/pedi and relax.