Is HV right?

[IckleJess]

Took DS (14 weeks) to be weighed this morning, he has put on just over a kilo (2lbs 4oz) in 6 weeks which I don't think is too bad but he has dropped a little under the line he was following. He is EBF, weighed 7lb 12oz at birth and is now 13lb 8oz.

The HV said she was a little concerned he has dropped off his line but I said he is sleeping for an 8/9hr stretch at night now so maybe that was why but she said it could be that the quality of my milk is poor.

I misunderstood her and thought she meant supply to which I rsponded that I have lots of milk but she said it doesn't matter how much I have if the quality is no good he won't gain as much weight.

Well, he is gaining weight, he is happy and content, plenty of wet and dirty nappies, sleeps through at night - I shouldn't be concerned should I? And what about the 'quality'? I'm not sure I've heard of that before - and DS is my 4th baby It's making me doiubt myself now, and if my milk is crap what can I do to improve it?

She also said that BF babies need weaning earlier than FF so if he starts waking at night after 17 weeks I should wean him

She sounds as though she needs retraining!
Yes, you are right, the quality of your milk will be fine, and bf babies don't need to be weaned until 6 months, like all other babies.
If the only thing 'wrong' is "he has dropped a little under the line he was following" then I think the best solution is to stop getting him weighed unless you have any concerns :o

Thankyou Stealth - I wouldn't mind if she was 'old school' but she is younger than me! She couldn't have done her initial training all that long ago!

I don't go to the weigh in all that often, in fact not been in 6 weeks. She said I must get him weighed in a month but I might be busy that day

You're the one who's had four children, so I reckon you know better than she does. Your baby is fine, don't listen to such nonsense.

WTF!?!?!

My HV isn't concerned that DS has gone from 50th centile now down to 9th, and even though EBF said not to wean until 6 months (although she said ok after 5 months as long as I did it really slowly).

His weight gain has probably been slower than your DS yet each time she just says, she is so happy to see EBF babies and well done. When i commented that the weight gain seemed slow she said well don't come back for another month.

Uh huh. If you are feeling like it, you might want to go back, tell her you are a bit confused and can she tell you where the evidence for these statements come from. Cos they are wrong, and against national policy too...

Oh God another HV who's a fucking moron.

Absolute bollocks. The quality of your milk is fine unless you drink heavily, abuse drugs, or are malnourished. ffs.

And wean early? Good grief.

I hope your ds did a big poo on her weighing scales.

She is talking bollocks, your milk can't be low quality! Even if it was, why would it suddenly turn bad now? It makes no sense!

Breastfed babies' weight tends to plateau earlier than bottlefed babies - which used to be taken as a sign it was time to wean, but it is now understood that it isn't.

Dropping under a centile can look scary but if you plotted it on a separate graph with no centile lines on you probably wouldn't worry at all.

ROFL at a big poo on the scales!

I always wondered by the way how much fluctuation there is in weighing before or after a feed or a big poo. Especially breastfed babies once they start going days between poos and store it all up for a blowout at the most inconvenient moment!

So glad I'm not the only one who thought she could be wrong.

I do wonder though if it sometimes is because they don't see enough EBF babies, therefore their info is never questioned or backed-up by real life scenarios?

I'm lucky that I've found BF to be easy this time round and have few doubts in my abilities but she did sow a seed of doubt in my mind and thank God I could ask here and get it quashed before I put DS on formula!

Thanks ladies

my hv hasnt been concerned about dropping centiles, my daughter was born on 50th and is now 25th. She has told me that as long as she is healthy and is actually gaining weight its fine.

good god, another HV with NO CLUE WHATSOEVER!

Glad you will be busy in a month, think I would bd too

You could suggest to her that she might like to go on this course It's the fifth one down.

My jaw literaly dropped at your op. Tbh i would complain at such shit "advice"

I had something similar with my dd. In the end I got really worried and went to see a private paediatrician in Portland hospital. He said that weight gain in breastfed babies follows a very different pattern compared with formula fed babies and showed me all kind of curves comparing breastfed and formula fed babies and after about 1 year the two became the same. He said it was entirely normal and that what mattered most was to see her healthy, happy, interested in her environment and meeting physical and mental milestones.

In spite of this I remained obsessed with her weight gain, which was really a pity as it puts so much pressure. However, she is 4 now and he was absolutely right. She is very tall, normal weight, healthy and happy!

Good luck.

I have to say that I really don't share the HV'S concerns about DS's weight - he has chubby cheeks and is beginning to get creases in his thighs He is a long baby whose feet are at the end of his 3-6month babygros so I know he is doing ok.

I just wish she hadn't mentioned anything about quality with regards to my milk - it makes me feel a bit crap about my ability to sustain DS even though I know I can/am.

Grrrrrrrrrrrr

'Quality of milk' - I have never heard of this!!

God, HVs annoy me at the best of times, but this is way out of left field.

Stick to your guns!

There should be a competition to spot the threads that you don't even need to read to know the answer to the question in the title.

Here's one!

Can I win a prize?

I've had similar comment from a HV with dc3 (12 weeks old ebf put on over 2lb in a month but born on the 91st centile and now 'only' on the 75th). The problem is that we take them to be weighed an then the HV feel they have to say something when really saying nothing would be more helpful. There isn't a problem and projecting ahead to potential problems of night waking at 17 weeks is most unhelpful.

Can anyone explain why so many HVs come out with such nonsense??

Are there any HVs on MN who can explain themselves?!

"creases in thighs" He sounds lovely and you sound as if you know waaay more than this idiotic HV. Don't let her undermine you.

Perhaps you should express some milk, take it in and ask her to run a quality test on it, presumably there is an established scale of milk quality from whatever it was she was fed up all the way up to human gold top.

Ignore, ignore ignore those terrifyingly ill informed, yet really rather well paid, health visitors. They're obsessed with getting LOs on a bottle so they can see how much milk the baby's getting and then on weaning as soon as possible - preferably half way during labour. What awful advice - poor milk quality?!!

LooL00 my DS did just the same at that age - dropped from 91st to 75th. He's just fine at 13months and always has been. And I've now spent almost a year trying to tune out health visitors.

Icklejess, I think we must have seen the same HV! I took DD2 (16 weeks) to get weighed this week - against my better judgement as I swore I wouldn't bother this time round, but then got curious about how much she weighs. She's now 14lb 2oz, and is only slightly down on the curve that she was on. The HV's response was that I should start on ff topups and get her weighed in a month "to see if things have improved"! DD2 is the happiest little thing ever; she's occasionally waking at 5am for a feed having slept through for the past few weeks - I put it down to teething and 4 mo growth spurt but HV thinks it's due to lack of formula . Is it any wonder that women give up bf early?!

She also asked about weaning but I told her we're doing BLW having done it with DD1 so won't even be thinking about it for a few weeks yet.

I was told to top up with Formula as my DD had not gained any weight in one week (one week WTF)and so that meant my breast milk wasn't up to scratch too - yeah right. She was my first and I ran crying to my mil who was so mad at HV. Turned out the next week I took her to be weighed (with trepidation I must add)she told me her scales had been wrong last week. No phonecall or apology to put my mind at rest. Oh and when she was weighed she had gained a whole 1lb in one week and I was told not to overfeed her - OMG you can't overfeed a BF baby and she should be shot!!! Make your mind up woman!

My mum had 6 kids and after the 2nd she stopped weighing them as she knew just by their fat knees etc how well they were doing weight wise plus used to weigh them in a cardboard box on top of her kichen scales - ah the good old 1970's!!! I will add that at 16wks by DD woke in the night needing feeding after sleeping through from 5wks solidly (don't kill me for that) and so I did wean her a bit on a spoon of baby rice mixed with Breast milk just to get her thru the night and she coped fine. After 4 kids I would say you know your child better and so you make your own judgement and to hell with HV.
All the best OP!!

You're the best judge of whether your baby is healthy or not. If you want to know how much he weighs, don't take your red book with you when you go, then they can't say anything.