to expect support with how I chose to feed my baby

[charlienotcharlotte]

I had always planned to breastfeed my baby and like many other mums didn't even consider the possibility that I might face challenges. My LO was severly jaundiced in the first 48 hours and so was too weak to latch on and suck. Once recovered she still had trouble stimulating my let down reflex and we would spend hours trying to get her to feed. As she wasn't gaining weight I took the decision to begin expressing milk and giving it to her in a bottle as I was deserate to get something into her before her weight dropped even more. I have been outraged at the reaction of my doctor and HV however. Once they knew that I had begun to express feed I was advised to consider giving my baby formula. Apparently expressing is hardwork and often cant be sustained exclusively as baby grows and consumes larger quantities of milk! How disgusted was I that just because Im not using my breasts to breastfeed I am denied the support that all other breastfeeders receive. I am still giving my baby breastmilk and will continue to do so aslong as she needs it. I feel disgusted with the reactions I received and would welcome all opinions about this. Thanks ladies.

May I suggest you try the Breastfeeding/Bottlefeeding board - you might find lots of helpful advice/opinions there :)

I'm sorry that you haven't felt supported, but you say you were "advised to consider" formula. That doesn't sound dreadful to me, it was some advice for you to consider and take or not take. They are giving you the truth as they experience it and imo it is always helpful to have advice even if on balance you decide against it. I think you are being a little over sensitive.

I exclusively expressed for 8 months after similar problems to those you describe. It was incredibly hard work with little support or understanding from health professionals (i was told several times to give up and formula feed). There are some great forums on the internet which provide excellent support so i used them instead (my HV was useless on this and a number of other things so i wouldn't have trusted her opinion anyway!). You just have to do what you think is right and not listen to the opinions of others. It is hard work though and i'm not sure i'd be able to do it if the same happened with no. 2 . Rubbish that it can't be sustained as the baby grows, you just have to build the supply up and maintain it.

My friend expressed bm for 9 months so I know it can be done. Can you get some expert support?

Surely the important thing is your child thrives and is getting enough milk, and if breast milk isnt going to be enough, then formula is needed.

It isnt failure on your part, nor should you feel that you are failing your child if you give her formula rather than breast. The only thing that does matter is that she is getting enough food.

sleepingsowell my issue wasn't that they gave me their opinions as like you suggest I can chose whether to act on advice. My issue was that I went to them in need of advice about how to increase my milk supply, the best way to express, hiring pumps etc and that instead of helping me with these questions I was given information about formula and told to begin giving 1 formula feed at night to "give myself a break". The support for the decision I had made was not there and I feel I have been left to muddle through just because I don't want to give my baby formula.

I don't think that what they said was that bad. There are probably Mums in your position wishing that a HCP would suggest the same to them so that they could stop bfing without feeling so guilty. Not that they should have to, but it is something that new Mums think if they are struggling with bf.

From what I know and my own experience, don't you need the baby to be suckling to stimulate the let down and production of milk? Or will the same happen just be expressing?

Maybe you could contact LaLeche or something. There must be heaps of advice out there, you just have to look for it.

Of course you should expect support. Thats the point of a health visitor (in theory) I mean they can't diagnose, they can't prescribe, all they can actually do is advise... My Hv seems lovely and yet all faith is gone when she instructed me forcefully to supplement with formula and not my milk. I wonder how you'd get hold of your trusts breastfeeding policy...

wossit got to do with anyone else?

sounds like you want to bash them, why is that? end of day baby needs FOOD. I really hope you manage to BF and fuck knows its hard to start with

but its not their fault that you are struggling , stop beihg so angry and disgusted and instead get some advice on how to get your baby to latch on, and I am sure that as she grows and gets stronger she will

good luck

It sounded like medical advice to me, not a lack of support for your choice. They'd be negligent if they didn't advise you of the potential difficulties of expressing. They only asked you consider FF not to stop what you're doing.

YABU and you're over reacting

My friend gave both her babies expressed breast milk for over 9 months each so it can be done. She had a big hospital double expresser thingy so may be worth looking into!

You sound amazing! Good luck!

Contact La Leche League etc and facebook has some really great pages like 'breastfeeding matters'

Charlie - there is a exclusively expressing thread on breast/bottle feeding board at the mo but in brief:-

Expressing at least 8 times a day including once overnight

Breast massage before expressing & hand expressing after pumping can help increase yield

Double electric pumps work best for long term pumping - if you can hire a hospital grade pump all the better (Ameda/Medela ones can be hired from the NCT/Expressyourselfmums/mothercare). If you can make/buy a hands free pumping bra that will help too.

Block pumping (pump both sides for 10 mins/rest for 10 mins/pump for 10 mins/rest for 10 mins/pump for 10 mins) is a great way to stimulate supply though you may not see much coming out in the block pumping session itself.

Speak to a BFC about long term expressing and (if you want to explore this option) how to get back to bfing directly.

Some good resources:-

www.exclusivelypumping.com/

www.kellymom.com/bf/supply/maintainsupply-pump.html

www.kellymom.com/bf/pumping/index.html

www.expressyourselfmums.co.uk/

P.S. I ended up expressing for DD1 in much the same circumstances as she had jaundice but never made much so she had a lot of formula, some bm and the occasional bf. We got back to exc. bfing when she was 8 weeks old and nursed until she was 3.6y/o (not saying you have to at all but that just because you start of ee-ing doesn't mean you will never bf, it is possible though).

Each to their own, but personally the best piece of advice given to me by my lovelyHV was to "give her a bottle of formula now and then to give yourself a rest". Totally took away the guilt, and made me feel better physically and emotionally. I had EBF until 4.5 months, and was so knackered, I was planning to give up the day DD turned 6 months. Then I added in formula for the night feed, and lo and behold we are still going strong on the BFing at 6.5 months with no plans to stop.

YANBU. If you ask for practical advice on how to address an issue, you shouldn't just be told to do something else instead (unless there's a medical reason why what you intend to do wouldn't be advisable).

FWIW I've expressed milk for DS for over a year and haven't had problems with supply - he never has formula - so it's perfectly possible to do this. The golden rules are:

• express at least as many times as the baby has a bottle
• express at least once during the night
• express until all milk has stopped flowing, then carry on for a further couple of minutes (this will (1) stimulate supply and (2) make sure you've got all the available milk, as you actually get a series of let-downs rather than just the one)
• massage your breasts while expressing (it can be easier to do this while single pumping)
• work to establish a large supply early on - it's easier to increase your supply of milk in the first 3 months than it is to boost supply after that
• Have a look at the book "Exclusively expressing" - you can order it from the expressyourselfmums website

Good luck!

Well, of course expressing is hard work, but it's still worth it to give your baby the best possible nutrition [until you can go back to feeding directly, if that's still possible].

I had a hard time breastfeeding at first - nothing like your own probs, but still, painful, latching-on problems, etc. And though everybody was reassuring me it was OK to go to bottle, I couldn't bear the thought of giving some corrupt multi-national some of my money to shortchange my child on nutrition when my breasts could do better for free.

Well done you for sticking with it, showing some backbone to the Health Visitor. Keep up the good work! And best of luck.

My personal opinion would be that you could continue to express as long as you can (or want to) and if it gets to the stage you're not producing enough then you could move on to formula if necessary.
HV Should give you support and advice if needed no matter how you choose to feed your baby.
My SIL exclusively expressed for her baby with no problems for months whereas I Exclusively BF my DD and could barely express enough for one bottle a week so it's different for everyone.
If you are happy with what you are doing then carry on.