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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

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Original poster

Health visitor has just called to tell me to stop BF on demand.

74 replies

mamjo · 04/01/2011 19:04

I went to the weigh in with the health visitor today and my DD has again put on a lot of weight. She was 8lb exactly at birth and was 17lb 7 oz today at 14 weeks. This has seen her steadily rise from the 75th to the 99th centile. She is exclusively breast fed and I wasnt too worried because I have always been led to believe that breast fed babies cant overfeed. However I just had a call from my HV saying that she was concerned following my visit today and that I should now start only feeding my DD every 4 hours instead of on demand. This is going to cause untold stress to me and my beautiful girl and I am not really sure how necessary it is?

Untill 10 days ago she was eating every 2 hours day and night but she has now started to naturally go 4/5 hours between 9-9 and closer to 2 hours 30 during the day.

I always try to distract her before feeding but if nothing is working after 5 minutes, will offer the breast.

she wont take a dummy.

I would love to hear your thoughts and/or tips for achieving a 4 hourly feed.

Thanks

OP posts:

MumInBeds · 04/01/2011 19:40

My ds was like that, he was BF on demand and by 4 months he was really chubby. He continued to feed on demand (alongside solids) until he decided he'd had enough at 13 months.

He's now 11 and tall, very slender and very fit and active.

You know your baby better than the HV does, you do what feels right.

dessen · 04/01/2011 19:46

Get your hv to put this infomation in writing to you with the justfications for her crap advice. Interested to see why she thinks what she does.
Info from Kellymom www.kellymom.com/babyconcerns/growth/weight-toomuch.html
Why people are so anti bf is beyond me.

Good on you to be bfing your dd

undercovamutha · 04/01/2011 19:52

I would ignore your HV.

I wasn't so good at feeding on demand - I kind of did a mix between demand feeding and scheduled feeding IYSWIM.

Despite this, my bf DD went from 25th centile to 75th centile in the first 4 months. She then went up to 91st centile when weaned.

She is now 4 and totally average weight wise.

Hullygully · 04/01/2011 19:54

Barking

tiktok · 04/01/2011 20:01

Please don't ignore your HV - instead ask her, nicely :), what problems she thinks you are risking by continuing to feed as you are doing, and ask her for references....you can do this politely by saying 'thanks for your concern, but it's always been my understanding that babies are best assessed individually, and what they weigh - whether at the high or low end - is only ever part of the picture...I've also read that with breastfed babies, there's normally no need for concern as some of them do gain weight fast at the beginning without it meaning anything. Is there anything you can give me to read so I can come back to you and discuss it a bit more?'

If she cannot supply you with references, then of course you will take that into account when deciding whether to follow her advice.

Also - just as with babies who appear to be weighing less than you'd expect, weighing techniques can be poor and scales can be innaccurate and conversion from metric to imperial can be plain wrong.

You can also ask her why she is deviating from accepted good practice which is to weigh healthy babies no more often than once a month at the most in the first 6 mths.

MotherofHobbit · 04/01/2011 20:03

I agree, your HV is talking nonsense. I also have a very big baby and was a bit worried about how much he was taking in. I tried to do a 3 hourly feed about your DDs age but it just made both of us unhappy so went back to on demand and both of us were much happier for it.

DS has grown enormous (he was 99th percentile but now off the charts at 7mo) but clearly needed the milk for growing because while he is very big for his age, he is not fat, just tall.

Your DD may well be the same. She sounds as if she's developing her own natural routine and if you're happy and she's healthy then there really is no reason to change it. And as someone else pointed out, if she is a little pudgy (like most babies are), she'll slim out once she starts crawling and getting more active.

reallytired · 04/01/2011 20:32

Is there a surestart breastfeeding cafe near you?

I think that growth charts should be banned. My dd weight started on the 25th centile went up to the 50th centile and then fell to the 0.4th centile. I had a member of the baby police telling that I HAD to stop breastfeeding. I dd has just self weaned at 20 months and her weight is now between the 9th and 2nd centile.

Baby weight does not always follow neat patterns. Children grow in spurts. Your dd will slim out once she starts to crawl. 14 weeks is very little and you are best to bf on demand.

mammyshere · 04/01/2011 20:47

My dd followed almost the exact same pattern as yours. born at 8 lbs and she was 20 lb at 24 weeks olds. she was ebf and my hv at the time point blank refused to believe me on this matter. going so far as to tick the formula fed box in the red book and advising me there was no shame and i shouldnt lie but should consider watering her feeds down more to stop her getting obese
Needless to say i continued ebf and i now have a two year old who is still on 99th centile for both height and weight. it is just how she is built and she is (whilst def on the large side) the right weight for her height.

Mibby · 04/01/2011 21:13

HV's are never happy! If you're happy and your baby is happy I'd smile and nod and ignore her

pearlgirl · 04/01/2011 21:23

It I would ignore your hv - my 2nd was 8lb 7oz at birth and over 20lbs at 10 weeks -the hv who measured him asked me how I was making up his bottles - he was ebf and when i told her this,she was very surprised but told me to keep going.He was a cuddly, chunky baby and he is now a tall, slim 10year old.
If feeding is going well and your baby is content- why mess with it.

ShowOfHands · 04/01/2011 21:30

Please don't worry.

DD was born on the 50th and was off the charts by 12 weeks. She was just going to be tall. Sure enough at 3.8 she's tall, slim, muscular and perfectly healthy.

Talk to your hv, ask for her reasoning and then tell her why you disagree. Maybe she'll listen and the next mother she would have ended up scaring into a routine her baby neither wants nor needs, won't end up with a hungry baby after all.

Giddyup · 04/01/2011 21:32

Uggh HV'S can be such knobs! I have the opposite problem; DD has dropped 2 centile lines (on the charts based on BF too) and my HV is anxious and getting me to do formula top ups etc and not really happy with the fact DD sleeps so long at night.

But, DD was born over the 99.6th centile (10lb 1oz) to a 5ft 7 mum and a skinny 5 ft 9 dad. She is now on the 75th centile line for weight and length so hardly wasting away ad still big considering her parentage!

Morph2 · 04/01/2011 21:45

My DS was on the 9th centile when born and has gone up to the 75th by about 12 weeks. I remember asking if he was putting on too much weight as was worried he was gonna be about 10 stone by the time he was 2 at the rate he was going :) HV said at this age they can't put on too much weight and you can't overfeed bf baby.

Jennylee · 04/01/2011 22:14

you can't do that with breastfeeding, it would be hell and your supply would reduce, it will even out in a few months ignore hv in this case

AngelsfromtherealmsofgloryDog · 04/01/2011 22:24

I'd say something like 'Thank you for your suggestion, that's interesting. I'd read that the WHO recommends bfing on demand until 2 years. Perhaps you could explain a bit more about the research basis for 4 hour feeds as I feel a bit confused now.'

DS was about 10 or 11 months before he went 4 hours between feeds during the day (and he doesn't go much longer than that now at 12m+, unless I'm at work. :)

DS went from the 50th to 99th centile and all the HVs here just said how healthy & chubby he looked.

BookcaseFullofBooks · 04/01/2011 22:28

Just wanted to add my support for you to ignore your HV.

MissFit · 04/01/2011 22:32

DD was on the 75th centile at birth and 99th by 4 months. She was lovely and chubby.

But then she started walking, became a fussy toddler, had a few bad colds where she didn't eat much for days and by the time she was 2 had dropped to the 50th centile. She's now a tall slim 3 year old.

Earthymama · 04/01/2011 22:33

I breast fed my son on demand, he was quite little at birth, long and skinyy.
He was a porker at 6 months and then slender again at 18 months.
He's 30 now and is a tall, lovely slim young man!
You can either complain, if you feel up to it, or sweetly carry on as you have been, listening to your body and your daughter's needs.

TheCrackFox · 04/01/2011 22:34

Stop seeing the HV. I have never had either of my children weighed after their 6 week check.

They are now 9 and 5 yrs and normal height and weight.

Starisonthetree · 04/01/2011 22:34

ds was 2 years before he went longer than 90 minutes in the day and 2 hours at night, he was chuby but healthy. At 12 he is now as skinny as a rake....
dd had longer between feeds, say 3 hours, was also chuby and is now perfect at 8 years.

Get her to put it in writting with references and report her if it makes no sense. Hope she doesnt say this to other mums.

stropicana2011 · 04/01/2011 22:35

I am on your behalf, IMVHO she is talking sh*t.

iamusuallybeingunreasonable · 04/01/2011 22:37

Oh gosh, what a load of nonsense, please, if your not happy, report this, I have decided to complain everytime I get a piece of misinformation, these idiots are messing up new mums confidence in their abilities, and that's not what they are paid for

LeninGrad · 04/01/2011 22:37

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

StealthPolarBear · 04/01/2011 22:38

Can you ask her why she is recommending that (on what evidence)

Oh and give it a couple of weeks and get prepared to fend off the "time for weaning" comments

PenguinArmy · 04/01/2011 22:41

It's probably already been said, but very few babies actually follow one line. Crossing two (up or down) is within normal and expected range.

btw congratulations on obviously doing such a grand job

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