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.

Coffeeforone only ‘baby friendly’ hospitals can’t hand it out but I imagine common sense would prevail and they would provide it. If you had to stay in for a longer period either baby is the patient and therefore they would need to provide their food or mum is and they could surely get around it as she would be incapable of leaving the ward without being discharged.

Doesn’t sound very baby friendly to me 😕

There’s exemption to the policy for medical need. I assume it has to be agreed by a consultant. My hosp is baby friendly but the consultant was all for giving my baby formula to clear bad jaundice.

I had few stays in hospital with my newborn and was bf, and it was a tie. I was fed, ff mums weren't. Personally I think t would be fairer for all mums or none to be fed, preferably none as the nhs has precious little money to begin with.

Rather than feed parents for free, it would be good to see food sold to parents - allowing parents to remain on the ward and perhaps raising a little money for the nhs. They let Bounty in to wards selling expensive photo packages, why not a sandwich company.

A breastfed infant relies on its mother for 100% of its nutrition. The mother needs to be fed and hydrated properly in order to do this optimally. This is the other side of the coin of people saying they don't want to BF because it's too much work for the mother.

Anyone who thinks this is "unfair" should honestly put their own feelings aside and consider the baby who NEEDS a nourished mother to live. End of story.

Ideally the NHS could feed everyone but given it can't, yes BF mother has the number one slot of the non-patient to feed in the pediatric ward.

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

What is the logic behind this statement? People might not like to hear it, but breast milk has been scientifically proven to be optimum for feeding newborn babies. The fact many women struggle to breastfeed or choose not to, does not negate this fact. The NHS is tasked with providing the general public with the best possible health advice and encouraging mothers to breastfeed is an important part of that. I view this in the same way they encourage immunisations. Some people will not be able to be vaccinated from illnesses due to allergies etc and some will choose not to vaccinate, but the public health body should advise people to get vaccinated where possible.

I did both as I had to due to some medical issues and I actually think FF is harder work when at home. I had to feed every two hours though, day and night, bf then topped up feed with formula.

Baby friendly hospitals can give formula but only when medically needed which I'm pretty sure would apply to a baby whose mum has run out of formula to feed them. The first option is breastfeeding (mums that choose to formula feed would be told to bring their own), then donor milk, and lastly formula.

The rule about feeding breastfeeding mums and not formula feeding mums isn't just in the UK, it's here in Finland too and it makes sense logically because that way the hospital is providing food to the baby, just via the mum, but it's only fair if FF mums are given help so that they can get food for themselves. Am shocked to hear about parents getting little to no help from the nurses and not being able to leave their babies! I've stayed in the hospital a few times with DD, all after I had stopped breastfeeding so I wasn't entitled to meals (but at weekends I could pay for a brunch to be given to me on the ward, was decent as well) but the nurses were happy to look after her while I popped to the shop to get some food to store in the fridge in the parents room, and even one night when she wouldn't settle for me one of the nurses told me to go lie down on the sofa in the parents room and she'd settle DD to sleep for me.
Even once when I went to the hospital by ambulance in the middle of the night after what turned out to be a nasty anxiety attack, and toddler DD was with me, they took her to the children's ward for the night and looked after her while I stayed in a little room off the nurses' station in the emergency department.

I totally agree with the poster who said the hunger and thirst you get when bf is like nothign else. Someone said "Oh it's ok, the mum's body will.just starve her in order to.make.milk". in what world is that a.reasonable statement?

Also think eeanne has it right just above.

The idea of not feeding bf mother's cos some.would think "it's not fair" is.staggering.

However I do think selling food to all parents on the ward is very sensible.

I was in hospital for 48 hours with 5 week old DS last week. I was offered 3 meals a day with tea and coffee in between, I am FF.

I was told I was offered the meals because DS couldn't have them (obviously) but if he was an older child then he would of got them instead.

You could argue that a BF baby doesn't need a well nourished mother to survive as you could FF them (not that it's ethical to do so). Also it's rare for a baby to literally be on the breast 24 hours straight, so the BF mum in theory could go and find food to eat, but this shouldn't be a race to the bottom.

It must be cheaper to feed 1 carer than supply extra nurses to look after the unattended children, care for parents who have collapsed out of hunger/exhaustion or the mental health care for the traumatised parent having to leave their very distressed child for food.

I’m bfeeding DTs who’ve had inpatient stays in different hospitals. The first state I would have been fed regardless as DTs were under 4 weeks, second stay I was told I could order a meal as I was breastfeeding, third stay was a buffet/mobile canteen and they fed kids first, then breastfeeding mothers, then mothers of ff babies, then other parents could help themselves if there was anything left.

Stay not state

In answer to the people who are saying that formula should be provided FF newborns on the postnatal ward as they are patients....technically well babies are not patients! They are not admitted on the computer system in our trust and they don’t get a discharge letter, they don’t have hospital notes in their own name. They are well so not patients. The mother is the patient, baby is a sort of visitor. Sounds crazy but it’s true. The instant a baby becomes “unwell” so jaundiced or having trouble feeding they become a patient and are admitted. So the logic is that the babies on the postnatal ward are not patients so don’t need to be fed by the hospital. (We’re not “baby friendly (stupid term) at my hospital so we give formula to all) All babies that are patients on the neonatal unit or the paediatric wars are given formula if needed (but not aptamil as it costs too much)

Kpo58, you’re still missing the point that it isn’t about bf mums not being able to leave the baby, it’s about the hospital feeding the patient. In this case via the mother.

I had this even when my baby was admitted because of dehydration and they were literally trying to "milk" me and it wasn't working, yet other mums on the ward getting brought food and I'm there connected to machines but because baby is also getting formula it's a no. Another example of "baby friendly not mum friendly."

My local children's centre also used to give out free tea and toast to breastfeeding mum's at 10am at a stay and play. If you weren't BF there was nothing. It's like what the NHS has deemed an acceptable form of discrimination.

I think this is terribly unfair. Mums with a child in hospital are under enough stress. Give them all a bite to eat.

What a gross policy and yet another way of shaming FF mums into believing the hype that you’re a shit mum if you don’t have the baby stuck to your tit for 26 hours a day.

I think this is terribly unfair. Mums with a child in hospital are under enough stress. Give them all a bite to eat

But where is the cut off? All mums of all kids in hospital? Thereby doubling the food bill of every childrens ward/hospital?

Oh read the thread and then you’ll realise it’s nothing about ff v bf. It’s about feeding patients.

I was in hospital with DS as he was very ill at two weeks old.
I had to ff as I didn’t have enough
Milk. The lady with the good trolley always made sure I got food although not actually entitled. When I was in hospital with him at fifteen (unrelated) a trolley was brought into the children’s ward and all parents got food, even though it was officially just for children. Maybe some hospitals are just kinder or enforce less rigorously. He is nineteen years old now for context

I still don't get it .... Bf mums still have legs and are just as able / unable to walk to a shop as ff mums. Either all mums should get fed and get to stay with their baby , or none do.

YABU. Breastfeeding is literally sustaining another life from your body and for that you need input, especially if a sick child increases the demand on you.

FF is not feeding or sustaining another person from your body.

Simple as that.

I still don't get it .... Bf mums still have legs and are just as able / unable to walk to a shop as ff mums. Either all mums should get fed and get to stay with their baby , or none do

Clearly you don't get it, no.

I know I was in hospital for a week and you never know when baby will need a feed and you can't take them out of hospital so breast feeding mums are stuck, I was going stir crazy, although they probably wouldn't want to leave their little ones, formula feeding mums could nip to get food and someone else could feed their baby, that's probably the rationale? I think all mums should be fed though, didn't know they weren't!!