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

I'm so so shocked at the terrible - infact harmful advice you were given by your excuse of a health visitor. I would seriously complain to the HV manager and I wouldn't go near the woman in a months time.

"Poor quality milk" is such a terrible thing to say to a mother.

Of course I agree with the comments on this thread. It makes me realise how wonderful my HV when I had DD1 was. She was great, I wish all HVs were so pragmatic and sensible.

How depressing is it that there are still HVs coming out with this crap? How many women has she made give up BF altogether because she is in the wrong job?

This advice sounds like something from the 1960s.

Not all children stay on their birth percentile. Both my dds started at 50% but dd1 ended up huge and dd2 ended up petite...nothing I could have done about this and formula would just have been the wrong thing to give them.

sounds oh so familiar. DH dropped to 0.4th centile from 25th at birth and was told to start weaning at 17 weeks. Fortunately I had a good BF support group snd stuck to my guns and didn't wean until 26 weeks as DS did not show signs of being ready before then. Also glad I now have much better HV with DD who happily told me they now have the BF charts for the red book.
It's hard enough bringing up children without such rubbish conflicting advice from so called professionals.

please put in a complaint about her, you'll be doing a lot of mothers and babies a huge favour.

Sad and even sadder that it's so familiar.

My HV was briefly concerned at DS's lack of weight gain although as she said, he hardly looked like he was wasting away (99th centile baby). Turned out she'd failed to re-set the scales to zero before weighing him.

You know the best thing you can do for yourself and your baby in this situation - do not attend her clinc (and complain if you can face it).

There is no blooming reason a three month old needs to be weighed every four weeks unless there are particular health concerns. Just don't go. You'll be back at 16 weeks for jabs (presumably). I didn't have either of mine weighed again after that until about 8 months...

Blimey, my HV sounds like a saint in comparison! She specifically said a) that the charts in my red book are based on bf babies (so I guess they are the 2009 updated ones) and b) that you don't have to expect the baby to follow the centile line from their birth weight, but so long as they follow one of the centile lines reasonably well then that's fine. So my DD has dropped from birth weight to a different centile line but so long as she stays generally in that area that'll be ok.

I will keep an eye out for any wavy lines as she develops, thanks for the alert!

Another load of tosh from another HV. Lodge a formal complaint. You'll be doing a lot of new mums a favour.

Is it time for a Mumsnet campaign to improve the quality of HVs?

Another vote for a formal complaint. She is risking other babies and will cause untold stress and worry to other parents with this utter shite. Good on you for realising she's an idiot.

If you have plenty of milk have you considered being a milk donor?