Please confirm that this is shockingly bad breastfeeding advice before I write to complain

[mawbroon]

DS is 19 months and has had around 12 bouts of vomiting in the last 24 hours. He had nothing but breastmilk through the night and had some water this morning along with a bit of rice cake because he hadn't vomited for a few hours. He started vomiting again at 4.30pm so I called NHS24 who sent us to the out of hours department at the hospital.
We saw a nurse practitioner there who examined ds and said he wasn't showing any signs of dehydration, which is good. Now, what she told me to do was to stop breastfeeding him as it just sits in the stomach and to give him water, orange juice or "something like Ribena" instead. She also gave me some rehydration sachets. Needless to say I am going to ignore her advice and continue offering ds frequent breastfeeds.
I am livid. I've been hanging around MN long enough to know that this is absolutely crap advice, isn't it? When I questioned her saying that I thought what she said about the milk in the tummy was indeed correct for cows milk but not breastmilk, she said that no, it applied to breastmilk too.
I am not being over the top to write and suggest that she gets some retraining, am I?

Ribena instead of breastmilk.... WTF??

[popsycal]

i am no expert but that is bollocks (and that is a technical term )

[LongDistanceClara]

Yes, that's utter bollocks and you should complain. FFS!

[popsycal]

i was shocked the other day when i looked at the side of one of those ribena cartons....39% of the sugar for an adult's daily diet

[WanderingTrolley]

Sounds like bolleaux to me.

Was she drunk?

[WanderingTrolley]

D'you know, I nearly posted

'Get hunker'

[determination]

Utter nonsense.. i would definately complain. She clearly does not have a clue.

[misdee]

what shit advice.

breastmilk is full of goodies for when LO's have upset tummies. i havent paniced as much when dd3 has got tummy bugs in the past as she was always willing to take breastmilk. she bounced back from bugs a lot quicker than the older two.

[Aquababe]

definitely complain
ribena pah!

[MissGolightly]

I am no expert but it sounds pure horse shit to me. Surely all the antibodies etc are HELPING your DS get over the bug?

[sniff]

Utter shite bm is easily absorbed

and ribena you will get that back quicker than anything

[mawbroon]

Wow, what quick replies. So, what do I write then?

[Macdog]

Sadly it's a common attitude of Health workers to bf.
COMPLAIN, COMPLAIN, COMPLAIN

[ArtichokeTagine]

I was told a similar thing by my GP. Not the ribena bit but the no BF. He said that it would cause DD to be sick more and I should stick to just water. I was going to follow his advice but DD had other ideas and insisted on the breast . She was fine very quickly.

[tissy]

she is wrong about the "no breastfeeding" bit, but I think what she was trying to advise was that clear fluids are fine, too. Clear fluids, that is, rather than fluids with "bits" or cows milk, which would take some effort to digest. Clear fluids, even those with sugar in, are good for a potentially dehydrated baby (rehydration salts contain some sugar as well- if you're not eating, you need to get energy from somewhere), but so is breastmilk, if it is kept down.

Having said that- the kids ward at our hospital don't give Ribena to kids who've had anaesthetics, because it tends to make them throw up!

[MissGolightly]

Here is what Kellymom says:
Breastfeeding should be the FIRST choice if your child can take anything by mouth. Because of the ease and rapidity with which breastmilk is digested, even if your child vomits or stools shortly after nursing, he will still have retained some of the nutrients. Other foods that are often suggested (such as Pedialyte, sports drinks, gelatins and sodas) offer little nutritional value and none of the antibodies that human milk contains.

Link to page

Quote that and ask why the nurse practitioner is giving contradictory advice.

[harpsichordcarrier]

oh fffffffffs!
yes, complain. this is terrible advice. really really wrong.

[Ceolas]

You can phone NHS24 to complain.

[harpsichordcarrier]

flat lemonade is good for upset stomachs.

[LynetteScavo]

DS2 Had a bug, and for the first day couldn't even keep down water. For the following week the only thing he could keep down was breast milk. He did loose weight, but if I hadn't breast fed, I think he would have ended up in hostpital. Everyone knows orange juice is too acidic if you have a tummy upset.- Hope you've already written the letter of complaint.

[LynetteScavo]

& flat coke, but I wouldn't with a 19 month old.

[mawbroon]

Thanks for all your replies ladies. When I first called NHS24, there was the option on the touchtone to listen to a 6 minute blurb about D&V which I did. On the blurb, it said that it was ok to keep breastfeeding, so she is completely contradicting NHS24s own advice.

[Tumblemum]

dd had a similar bug nurse we saw initially said do not bf would you want a milk shake if you had just been sick, ignored it. The dr who later saw dd said bf is the best thing for her particularly when this unwell.

[Ceolas]

Phone back and ask to speak to one of the team leaders to complain.

[mawbroon]

This woman was at the hospital Ceolas, so is she part of NHS24 or would my complaint be better directed to the hospital? I am not sure how the whole thing is stuctured.