Quick Survey on BreastFeeding - Please Take A Look :-)

[Lact8]

I have written and re-written this post and keep deleting as sometimes dicussing breastfeeding on here seems to offend or some say makes them feel guilty about the choices they made about feeding their babies and that's not what I'm trying to do at all.

Basically I want to pick MN's collective brain on what services would support women who want to breastfeed (I'm part of a group of local mums who are working with HV and Surestart to provide support to other mums and possibly information at antenatal stage too)

So

1. Were you advised of or did you attend any groups about breastfeeding while you were pregnant? If yes,do you feel this was useful to you when you started breastfeeding? If no, was this because they weren't available/appeal to you?

1. If you breastfed, did you need support? Who did you contact? Family? HV? LLL? MN? Other? What would've helped you the most?

1. Who was available at the hospital after the birth of your baby to provide support with starting breastfeeding? Would you want specific breastfeedng counsellors available?

1. Have you attended any Baby and Toddler Groups that are specifically aimed at breastfeeding mums? What are your experiences?

Many thanks for taking the time to read this and any replies would be most welcome

[welliemum]

bump....

(I'm in NZ so I'm not sure that my experience is relevant though)

[Lact8]

Don't go welliemum! Come back and tell me what worked and what didn't

[Lio]

1. Yes was told of drop-in group, was only not useful because I was too stupid/embarassed to go
2. Yes I needed support. Turned to midwife, GP, best friend (Mumsnet's Califrau) and, eventually, breastfeeding counsellor. What would have helped most would have been if my GP had MADE AN APPOINTMENT for me with a bf counsellor the first, second or even third time I got mastitis.
3. Midwives. BF counsellor was on hols. Yes, would have been great to have spent half and hour or an hour with a BF counsellor the day after the birth.
4. No.

Best of luck with this x

[Hulababy]

1. Were you advised of or did you attend any groups about breastfeeding while you were pregnant? If yes,do you feel this was useful to you when you started breastfeeding? If no, was this because they weren't available/appeal to you?

No, not advised about any and was not aware of any during pregnancy or after the birth, even when HV knew there were problems.

1. If you breastfed, did you need support? Who did you contact? Family? HV? LLL? MN? Other? What would've helped you the most?

I did need support as there were great difficulties. Had my mum for support and HV, although latter was not helpful at all and simply tried to make me feel guilty and a failure for having such problems.

1. Who was available at the hospital after the birth of your baby to provide support with starting breastfeeding? Would you want specific breastfeedng counsellors available?

MW were available at limited times with very limited support and advice re breast feeding. I think all maternity wings and HV clinics should have easy and free access to feeding counsellors (not just breast feeding)

1. Have you attended any Baby and Toddler Groups that are specifically aimed at breastfeeding mums? What are your experiences?

No

[FrannyandZooey]

1. No. Wasn't told of any and didn't know of any.
   
   
2. Yes I did and I contacted LLL several times. They were so helpful.
   
   
3. Midwives, and they were pretty mixed tbh. I wasn't helped to bf immediately after the birth so I just tried by myself when they left me alone. The next day I had difficulties and people came and tried to help me - each one using a different method and doing things that the other ones had said NOT to do . I decided to discharge myself as I realised I needed time and space to get the hand of it and I wasn't getting it there. Yes I would have liked a specific bf counsellor.
   
   
4. I have attended LLL meetings and found them helpful.

[Lact8]

Thanks Lio!
about your Dr. We've got one GP who's very pro breastfeeding so we're hoping he'll help us get the rest of the surgery switched on to what is available to bfeeders

[Bambiraptor]

1. I didn't attend any groups and can't remember being advised whilst I was pregnant.

1. I did need support while I was bfing. NCT aways there. Also my sister had bf her 2 dcs so was able to offer advice. My hv was totally useless - advized me to top up with formula or he would never sleep more than 2 hours at a time.

1. At the hospital I had a lovely chat with a nurse who had stopped bfing her dc at 6 weeks and regretted it.

1. I have never attended any groups specifically aimed at BFing mums.

[TheArmadillo]

1. nope. NOne available as far as I knew,
2. HV and my midwife helped me the most.
3. Noone - ds ended up dehydrated and there was still noone to tell me how to do it. One nurse in the SCBU gave me some hints. Mostly I was just yelled at for not doing it properly and my baby got ill, and was told he wouldn't get better unless I started doing it properly. Also they refused to give any top up bottles to him (like we had agreed with the dr) as I was bfding.
4. no. NOne available that I knew of.

[JackieNo]

1. Were you advised of or did you attend any groups about breastfeeding while you were pregnant? If yes,do you feel this was useful to you when you started breastfeeding? If no, was this because they weren't available/appeal to you?

No - I didn't know whether any were available.

1. If you breastfed, did you need support? Who did you contact? Family? HV? LLL? MN? Other? What would've helped you the most?

Yes - I needed (and got) huge amounts of support from the breastfeeding clinic at the hospital where I had DD. They were brilliant - I camped out there 9-5, three days a week, and we got there in the end (ahem, after 3.5 months).

1. Who was available at the hospital after the birth of your baby to provide support with starting breastfeeding? Would you want specific breastfeedng counsellors available? Breastfeeding clinic as mentioned above. Also all the maternity nurses had a go at helping DD latch on, but so many different people, with so many different ideas didn't seem to help, sadly, although they were all doing their best.

1. Have you attended any Baby and Toddler Groups that are specifically aimed at breastfeeding mums? What are your experiences? No, I didn't.

[TheArmadillo]

1. nope. NOne available as far as I knew,

1. HV and my midwife helped me the most.

1. Noone - ds ended up dehydrated and there was still noone to tell me how to do it. One nurse in the SCBU gave me some hints. Mostly I was just yelled at for not doing it properly and my baby got ill, and was told he wouldn't get better unless I started doing it properly. Also they refused to give any top up bottles to him (like we had agreed with the dr) as I was bfding.

1. no. NOne available that I knew of.

[TheArmadillo]

sorry double posted.

[Lact8]

Thanks for the replies, keep them coming!

[tinkerbellhadpiles]

(1) Was advised to at Parentcraft and shown how to do it with a woolly tit. I would hate to be in the WI branch that have to make them is all I'm saying . Was about as much help as showing me how to use the blender. Actually at least then I'd have gotten a drink out of the equation.
(2) I needed midwives, HV, books, everything and it still took ages to get the hang of it! In the end I found a book called 'what to expect when you are breastfeeding' (totally non LLL methods and lots of people hate it, but it did work for me).
(3) The MW were helpful if you could catch one but really I needed someone there for the first couple of days at every feed and there weren't enough staff. There were no BF counsellors at the hospital.
(4) I went to a postnatal group and the majority of us were bfing and we did discuss it. But the FFders found this a bit difficult because there is such a lot of guilt about the subject (don't know why, you do what you do because it's what's right for you, live and let live IMHO etc).

[mamama]

I had DS in the USA, so my experience may well be different to those in the UK, but...

1. I did a breastfeeding class (one 2 hr session, iirc) as part of our antenatal course. It was useful to be warned that it isn't easy, that many people have problems, and to see how succesful latch looks etc. Was also helpful to see different types of pumps, pads, creams etc.

1. Yes, I needed a lot of support - we got some from the nurses in the hospital and sae a lactation consultant twice - once in hospital and once after a week.

1. Nursing staff & Lactation Consultant - there should be trained staff on every maternity ward.

1. I have not attended groups aimed at BF mums. Doesn't appeal to me. Don't know why.

HTH

[tortoiseSHELL]

1. Given a leaflet, but didn't go at all, was a case of 'here is the info we are obliged to give you'.

1. Needed help from mw to get going, otherwise, with ds1 could have done with some help, but didn't get any! With dd and ds2, MUMSNET and TIKTOK and HUNKERMUNKER and lots of other people were fab!

1. Midwives and general nurses. Pretty useless really. Yes, bf counsellors would be good!

1. No.

[pollyanna]

1. I wasn't advised about breastfeeding and didn't attend any groups

1. I saw breastfeeding counsellors for my 3rd and 4th children

1. I had a private room with my first child and got lots of support from the midwife. There was a bfc on the ward when I had my 2,3 and 4th children, but she said she concentrated on first time mums due to lack of time

1. I attended a breastfeeding group with my 3rd and 4th childrenI really enjoyed them - we all sat around bfing and eating biscuits and getting help from the bfc!

[mamama]

Also got support from books and the internet (Medela website was quite helpful for me)

[TheBlonde]

1. Went to a bf class as part of NCT antenatal. Yes it was useful

1. Yes needed support, got it from NCT bf helpline and HV

1. Hosp had bf counsellor MWs

1. Not been to any groups

[satinshoes]

1. yes advised. no didnt attend as didnt feel need until was actually doing the feeding. had very forgetful pregnant brain.
2. a little bit. more about confidence than anything technical. came on here as parents v pro bottle
3. midwives were 'there' but gave very incosistent advice and left me very confused.
4. no

[fishie]

1. no didn't hear about any. may well have gone, depends who was runnign them.

1. yes lots of support. hospital bf counsellor was shit, midwives were ignorant, feeble or unpleasant. bf network counsellor saved the day.

1. yes there was one (see 2) she was worse than useless. with hindsight i just can't believe she was a qualified bfc, but then why did they employ her as such?

1. no i didn't, there was one but run by mad hv.

[Justers]

Hi

1. Yes I attended a antenatal group session on breastfeeding taken by midwife and found it very useful as I knew nothing about bf as no other female in family had bf and most friends did not have children.
2. Yes i needed support as my lo had jaundice and therefore wouldn't feed well. Had help from MW as was in hospital for a while due to jaundice treatment.
3. Just MW in hospital. Luckily I was in a quiet community hospital and they were able to spend time with you althogh advice did vary depending who was on shift!
4. I have not attended any groups but there is a bf group that meets once a month in my town.

Hope this helps x

[margoandjerry]

1. No. None available to my knowledge.

1. Yes needed loads of support and got none till I paid for a bf counsellor privately. She was great. Community midwives just kept saying "oh you're fine" despite the fact that baby was premature, was losing weight and was, I now know, just not latched on. Ideally would have had bf counsellor at the hospital.

1. No one other than midwives who were very vague and unhelpful re bfing. Vaguely noted baby at breast and wandered off - no one spotted she was not latched on at all and her jaundice was worsening through dehydration. Would have loved bf counsellor at the time.

1. Went to a local bf cafe once. Was reasonably helpful but not as good as my private counsellor and is only held once a week and about a half hour drive away so you need to be motivated to get there.

Thanks for doing the survey - hope you get what info you need.

[welliemum]

1. only antenatal classes and we missed the one where they talked about breastfeeding. Nothing else available that I know of. Doubt if I'd have attended one though.

1. Did breastfeed and dd had problems with attachment and gained weight slowly initially. Was still under care of midwife (in NZ they look after you to 6 weeks). MW referred to lactation consultant. Good system but in retrospect I think I should have been referred much sooner rather than MW trying to fix things first.

1. Midwife - we had the same one all the way through pregnancy to 6 weeks. She was very good at getting the first feed started. I can imagine that bf support would be very useful for someone with early bf problems (not the case with me).

1. No, but bf rates are high here so pretty much everyone in the mum and baby group was bfeeding.

Hope that helps.....

[PavlovtheCat]

1. Was told about a BF group, about 5 months into being a mum, but not really encouraged to go, and was not given much positivey about it. Not when I was pregnant.
2. Yes, most help needed from firstly partner who lost his prize assets, then family who felt it ok to judge the smallness of my baby, then friends, who found it hard to understand that my social life would be restricted for a year, and that it was my choice.
3. All the staff in hosp encouraged and supported me in BF, I was in for 5 days and by the time I left, I was a pro. Perhaps did not fully enable me to get started on BF for the first day or so, felt it not so important as LO needed topping up, and I feel I missed out a little there, had to push, but staff in all very motivated for all to BF. BF counsellors would be fab for when you leave hosp.
4. No, there is one in the area, but does not have good reputation, not very popular, bit militant, been too afraid to go, not given good review or encouragement by HV.

[CarGirl]

1. weren't readily available, belong to NT and involved local group so they let me go their bf class on an anenatal course they were running - was my 2nd child and hadn't bf the first time. Ws mentioned in parentcraft NHS classes

1. Yes needed lots of support - local hosp has feeding advisors and the NCT helps there too

1. No-one really available as feeding advisors are part time. But after discharge they helped during drop in clinic and let me go on post natal ward to gie me help. They were fab and their funding is under threat.

1. No