To say BF Mums shouldn't be getting fed if...

[daydrinker]

IF FF Mums aren't?

My local hospital always feeds the BF mums but leaves the FF ones. They have to sort themselves out.

I've been to the local hospital a good few times now with DS and always asked within an hour if I want food

If overnight stay, I'm fed 3 times a day with biscuits and tea in between. Formula feeding mums aren't offered anything.

AIBU to say this isn't fair?

My milk supply doesn't all of a sudden vanish if I'm hungry.

Are they providing the ff milk?

My hospital did provide formula

Patients in a hospital not getting fed?

I have never heard of that.

This is absolutely fucking disgusting. I can’t believe people are justifying it and saying it’s ok. Is the UK a third world country or something now?!

I no longer live in the UK (thank god) and when my kids are admitted to hospital, one or both parents are given a bed and food for the duration of the stay.

Jesus Christ I can’t believe this is considered normal in the UK. It’s not just about having the strength to breastfeed. It’s about having the strength to support yourself and your child through a difficult time.

Exfury but in those situation BF mothers wouldn’t be given food either. When we have not been inpatients and have been in A&E or assessment we have never been fed. It’s still about the patient in that situation too-the patient is the main concern of the hospital whichever ward or area.

It’s not a question of anyone including nurses being able to feed an FF baby. It’s a question of compassion at the very worst moment of a mother’s life.

They will feed a mother of a breastfed baby who is there for a routine, scheduled day procedure, but not the mother of an FF baby sat 24/7 next to her dying child. That’s not right, however you look at it. Just taking food with her or popping to the canteen aren’t high on that mother’s to do list.

I think that perhaps a better question should be about the ease of access to food, not whether it is provided for free or not.

Surely, the answer here is to make it possible for parents on all peads wards to order food from hospital catering or to have access to a decent trolley service. By charging for this, NHS can cover their costs, parents don't need to leave their children and nursing staff do not have to sit with children whilst parents get food for themselves.

Like with pram and wheelchair spaces on public transport, we often focus on the disparity between the groups instead of lobbying for a solution which addresses the initial problem rather than who gets the slightly better end of a thoroughly shitty stick.

I doubt BF mums care whether the food is free or not, they just need to be fed and I am sure FF mums would agree.

And just to clarify, I’m not saying that food has to be free - I wouldn’t have cared if I had had to pay for it. That would have been fine. It’s the callousness of saying that a mother has to leave their seriously ill child and go foraging.

"It should be easier than this. At least let people buy a meal."

I wish that was available. When my son is in hospital he needs constant 1:1 care from someone who knows him well for safety reasons alone. If I decided not to do it it would create serious problems on the ward.

DS is FF and often in and out of hospital. When we were in NICU for three weeks all mums that were given a bed in the unit were fed, regardless of feeding method. You were given a bed on the unit if your baby was critically ill. If you were in the NICU house for parents a 5 min walk away you weren't given food, whether your baby was BF or FF.

When DS has been admitted to the children's ward since (he's seven months old now) I've not seen anyone being fed. I would like the option to pay for hospital food as often the last thing on my mind is food.

The facility to buy food should be available on adult wards too as ds will still require constant care as an adult.

Yanbu. Just anothe way for the nhs to shame non breast feeding mums. They have both just given birth. I know people will jump on me but it’s trying, physically demanding and actually potentially very dangerous thing. To refuse to feed a hungry person who has just gone through that potentially humiliating them for something they can’t or don’t want to do is sickening. It’s about time the nhs stopped commenting on the bf/ff debate

It’s about time the nhs stopped commenting on the bf/ff debate

But it's about health issues.

Should the NHS stop commenting about diet? Avoid commenting about obesity or sugar consumption?

Breastmilk is a healthier food for babies. That is a fact. There are also health implications for mothers.

It’s about time the nhs stopped commenting on the bf/ff debate

Spot on.

They have both just given birth.

They haven't.
The OP is talking when babies get sick and are admitted

The UK has an appalling record for breastfeeding. Anything that can help improve that should be welcomed.

For fucks sake. The NHS isn't trying to shame FF mums. They're trying to address the fact that the UK has one of the lowest breastfeeding rates in the world. That's where the shame is.

Big deal.

Walk into a playground of five year olds and pick out the breast fed ones. Even with access to their medical records you won’t be able to.

Again for those who keep missing the point...it isn’t about shaming ff or promoting bf in this situation. It is about feeding the patient!

Should the NHS stop commenting about diet? Avoid commenting about obesity or sugar consumption?

I feel this is a bit of a non debate as the nhs is just feeding their patients however that may be. If they are providing formula it would not be fair to not provid food for breastmilk production either.

But for gods sake can people stop bashing the nhs for backing breastfeeding. Yes support Is often inadequate and yes it’s annoying that they don’t often practice what they preach but as a public health body they really don’t have another choice but to push it. Because it is what provides optimum health for a baby in the majority of cases. We don’t adopt this approach of ‘as long as a child is fed it’s fine and no one should comment’ for childhood nutrition. It might be my personal choice to feed my child mcdonalds every day but I wouldn't expect a public health body to lie to me and say it’s just as good as a healthy home cooked meal with vegetables would I? The problem comes from the nhs pushing it in theory then not enabling women with all the tools they need to succeed in their choices (and most women do intend to b/f) NOT the singing of its praises in the first place.

It’s not just in the UK. Same policy applies in Australia. It’s not shaming anyone. If Mum doesn’t eat- baby who is breast fed doesn’t eat. I do agree though that some kind of mobile cart would be good providing sandwiches, or if the cafes in hospitals could provide ward service.

Whatever point you might have had has been utterly discredited by your comparison of formula and McDonald’s 🙄

Sounds like folk should be allowed to pay for food to be delivered or pay for their share of hospital meals.

Seems dumb to expect parents of children to go away from their (potentially very very) I'll child for food and leave them...

Having the ability to order and pay for hospital food would make this much better and less stressful. Having a poorly little one is stressful enough!

*to McDonald’s

Serena I’m not making a direct comparison but it’s the principal that formula is not optimum, breast milk is. What else could the nhs tell you really when promotimg public health is their gig?