Does anyone else have to fill in a mad "Baby Feed Chart"?

[DitaVonCheese]

DC2 is due in the next couple of weeks. I'm booked in for a home birth and when they dropped off the kit a week or so ago I obviously had a nosy through It included two red books ( - do they know something I don't?!) and a "Baby Feed Chart" which I'm supposed to fill in for a week.

On it I have to detail whether DC "fed well" , when and for how many minutes, how many dirty nappies he has and when, including colour according to a chart they helpfully provide, and how many wet nappies he has and when (this one also has a Y/N option ).

I put it on one side to ignore but when the BF lady visited me the other day she specifically gave me (another) copy and asked me to complete it. Someone suggested today that it might be part of an infant feeding survey (in which case I don't mind filling it in) but can't see anything about that on it - it seems to just go in my notes.

I simply cannot be arsed. I'm still bfing DD who is nearly 3 and am training to be a BFC with the NCT so think I probably know enough to know whether bf is going well or whether we need help, but more to the point it just seems like such an enormous faff. I can't help thinking if it was my first baby it would make me really neurotic to have to fill this in.

Wasn't given anything like this with DD. Has anyone else been given one or would like to join me in a big fat wtf?

[RitaMorgan]

I had a much simpler sounding version to fill in when in hospital, but I presume that was just because ds was badly jaundiced and under lights and they wanted to monitor his intake.

[gallicgirl]

I have to admit I did my own chart which sounded very similar to yours. This was only because baby wasn't feeding very well and we had to top up. Also when MW asked me about wet nappies, I could never bloody remember because I was sleep deprived so the chart helped us in first couple of weeks.

However this was first DC. In your circumstances I'd be more inclined to ignore as you should know what you're doing and be able to communicate that ok to MW.

Good luck with HB.

[ChunkyPickle]

I was asked to keep those kind of notes for a couple of days when after 3 days mine was still losing weight (milk just took a while to come in)

Once he was putting weight on there was no talk about me continuing to keep such detailed notes though.

[Parietal]

Never heard one for either of 2 ebf dcs.

[MamaChocoholic]

I had one to do with ds1 in hospital when he was tube fed formula and we were trying to move to bf. it was a pita but I think useful when there is a problem (and useful evidence for me when the paeds weren't convinced bf was enough). I have also seen them recommended with twins (they tend to be a bit early, and it can be hard to remember whether one baby or the other last fed/weed etc) but I didn't bother having hated it first time. but it sounds crazy to do it as default. like you I think it could negatively impact bf. could you ask what the rationale is?

[DitaVonCheese]

Cheers all - glad to hear that I wasn't the only one to think it could impact negatively on bf. I can see how it would be useful if there was a problem but agree that as a default it just seems ... odd

To be fair, you have to fill it in if you're bottle-feeding as well (with ml fed rather than minutes) but it's not likely to have the same impact in those circumstances.

It was the BFI (Baby Friendly Initiative?) lady who gave me the second copy - she also had to do a home visit to discuss bf. Have changed areas/hospitals between DC but I'm sure the last one was Baby Friendly as well (second one may be newly BF maybe?).

[VeronicaCake]

I had to fill in one for the first week too. Complete fecking pain as the only thing I had not packed in my hospital bag was a pen so I spent half the night ambling up to the nurses station to borrow one (which they always needed back immediately because 'pens just seem to vanish around here').

With hindsight I can see that a very tired mother possibly getting over the after effects of pethidine might simply not register whether or not her baby had fed much. So keeping a rough tally of how many feeds have been offered is a good idea. But timing feeds and making me record whether the baby had both breasts for an entire week was utterly pointless.

And yes it was a baby-friendly hospital. Hmmmm.

[Barbeasty]

My DD took a while to start feeding (however much the staff tried to wake her, she wouldn't wake up for the first 12 hours). Because she was born in a heat wave, they were concerned that she needed fluids to prevent dehydration.

I felt she wasn't feeding that well, and she had problems with her latch for weeks, but when I completed a similar form it turned out she wasn't doing badly at all! It helped me, and the midwives, feel that we had breastfeeding established and we could go home.

Maybe the form is party because you are having a home birth, and so nobody is watching and checking you are feeding ok. A quick look at your sheet will help them either tick that box or offer you support.

[wigglesrock]

This form is standard for both breast and formula feeding in the hospital where I've had my dds. Didn't do it when discharged, but was asked all of the questions you mentioned at the first few community midwife visits.

[MoonFaceMamaaaaargh]

Sounds rubbish. Am expecting dc2 in sept and will only do this is we have a problem, or if it's for some sort of "greater good" iyswim.

Strikes me as a paranoid waste of time where no problem is perceived.

[Yesmynameis]

I had to do this in hospital (even though dd was term and healthy weight).

You had to put details of feeds, nappies and any vomitting. The MW were constantly asking 'how many feeds/dirty and wet nappies today' etc and I would have had no idea in my drug addled state without looking at my little notes!

Seems like I'm on my own here, but I found it really useful and carried it on for weeks after we came home. I would never have remembered when baby last fed, pooed etc without it. I also wrote down the times I took my pain relief as I was alternating on two different types.

Everyone laughed at me with my little pirates of the carribean notebook for about 8 weeks after the birth :)

[PirateDinosaur]

With DC1 I was given one in hospital and dutifully filled it in for a couple of days (was in for 4 days post-section), then one night when he was feeding seemingly non-stop I just lost it and wrote "LOTS" across it in big block capitals. No one commented on that or on the fact that I didn't fill it in at all after that.

With DC2 no one gave me a form at all (but was discharged straight from delivery room that time).

With DC3 I was given one and it was suggested that I fill it in, but I ignored it. Midwives would ask how often she was feeding and I just said "all the time". And they wanted to know whether she had had dirty and wet napies, but weren't bothered about the number.

In your position I would ignore the form.

[Hormoneoverload]

Recipe for panic and paranoia if you ask me! Also, it might help some and hinder others. I have friends who did similar recording and they liked keeping track. I had a straightforward bf journey with all three of mine (although we'll see with no three-only a week old) and was happy just to roughly know what was going on. would just have been another thing to feel guilty z out. When there's a recognised problem it might be different.

[Secondtimelucky]

I haven't been asked to do this with either child and, TBH, unless it was an infant feeding survey, I would actually refuse. It is potentially so detrimental to be focused on this if there is no problem. Can you imagine timing the minutes of a night feed, and trying to work out how many feeds a cluster feed counted as.

Midwives and health visitors asked how DD2 was feeding and I said vaguely "oh, definitely 8-12 a day, gaps vary", which seemed to satisfy them. I actually had no idea whether it was 8-12, but the info leaflets said it should be, so I just repeated that, because I was happy and confident about how things were going. Could easily have been 15 or more though...

[cocoachannel]

I was told to fill one of those in and I honestly think it was the worst possible thing for me as I am prone to over analysing so writing things down made me obsessive about the time of feeds, their length and which breast I should be using. I wish I'd been left to just do what I felt was natural and not worry about writing it all down, and then have the HV make unhelpful comments.

[nectarina]

Agree that it might be counter productive if alls going well. I filled in a chart when dd wasnt gaining that much and it was only by looking at the chart that i worked out that she fed for twice as long if she'd just napped. I then made sure she napped after every feed and that really helped. But if you already know what you'redoing...