'You can't BF a baby that weighs over 8lb at birth' Is bollocks yes?

[Kayzr]

My cousin had a baby girl a few days ago who weighed 8lb 6oz. Unluckily for her she has the MW that I had with DS2 who told me I couldn't BF as he was over 10lb, had jaundice and had to be tube fed if I refused formula top ups.

My cousin has rung in floods of tears to say that she's been told pretty much the same thing. But it is because (using MW words) it is impossible to BF a baby that weighs over 8lb as you can't produce enough milk. She has refused the top ups for now and MW said she will be back tomorrow and if baby hasn't gained 2oz then she will have to have her admitted to hospital to be tube fed.

My cousins DD has only gone down to 8lb 3oz so not lost a huge amount at all. They are heading to the city near here this afternoon to go to the breastfeeding group for help and advice. But I said I would ask here too.

It is bollocks isn't it? My neice was born at 34 weeks and weighed over 8lb and my SIL is BF but there was some expressing to begin with.

Also can she tell the MW to go away and ask for someone else to be sent?

Thnak you.

REPORT THAT MIDWIFE
Utter bollocks
Dangerously misleading information

What terrible advice
It is shocking that a frontline healthcare professional who has the job of encouraging breastfeeding is giving that sort of rubbish advice.
Would definitely encourage SIL to get a second opinion.

(and for what it's worth, I breastfed all four of mine successfully and they were all 10lb+ at birth )

Yes it's utter utter bollox and that midwife is spouting dangerous crap.

Let your cousin know she can refuse to see this MW. And a complaint, if she has the energy, might help stop the silly woman damaging other new mums and babies with this rubbish.

Shocking such dreadful nonsense still being said by a supposed HCp.

Nonsense. My DD was 8lbs 12oz and I've had no problems. She's been 75th centile since birth and was 6 months last week. Just started a bit of Baby Led Weaning, A midwife in hospital said something similar to me too, before I'd even fed her. It was along the lines of "She's a good weight you'll have trouble filling her up". Terrible attitude. 'The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding' is a good book.

Oh, and DD3 was tubefed (she was in SCBU with HDN) and the MWs were very encouraging about me expressing milk for her 'as it's best for her if you possibly can'.

I wonder how that fuckwit midwife thinks that babies over 8lb survived infancy befire formula came along?
Maybe she thinks we are all descended from babies which weighed under 8lb.

Report her.

its bollocks.

a badly jaundiced low birthweight, premie could do with topups because the baby needs to be kept hydrated, but other than that, i see no reason on earth why the midwife would say anything like that.

Can you show your cousin this thread, OP?

Midwife is talking rubbish - if your cousin feels she can, i.e. she is up to it, she should definitely put in a complaint.

I hope she gets the advice she needs at the support group.
Congratulations to her and you on your new niece.

You have been around MN long enough to know it is bollocks Kayz. She needs some help, someone to stand up for her, to help her make the call to request that that MW never comes to see her again and that she wants to speak to the infant feeding specialist.

Just to add to the anecdotes, dd was 9lb4oz. Ds2 8lb4oz and today at 10 days old already weighs 9lb7oz. Guess I'd better stop feeding him then, clearly can't produce enough milk . None of my children has ever lost weight in the first few days and all were bf. Only ds1 was under 8lb at birth.

Help her to trust her body to produce milk, tell her to watch for early hunger signs, lip smacking, tongue sticking out, little noises, hand sucking and to latch him on at any of those signs. Feed him often and she will be fine.

Daily weighing is also bollocks by the way and is not good practice for assessing babies who might have slow gain issues. Bloody hell a baby could lose 2oz with a good poo and a bit of vomit before the weigh in!

Thanks everyone.

I put in complaints about this MW and was assured she was sent on a BF course. But it appears to have done nothing.

Cousin doesn't think milk has come in just yet. She is starting to get engorged she says.

Have to weigh in here, even though I normally avoid feeding threads to add....

UTTER BOLLOCKS!!

DS was 8lb 1 oz at birth and I never had any trouble bfing him at all. I've never heard of this idea that some babies are too big to bf. What did all those mothers do years ago when formula wasn't around? I'm sure your body adjusts to cope with demand.

outrageous comments from a stupid woman - tell cousin to IGNORE IGNORE AND IGNORE some more !
Was it a MW or a Health Visitor ? sounds more like something a Health Visitor would say as they seem generally (no offense to anyone out there, in my experience) to be the ones that spout tosh.

Total bollocks - I BF DS who was over 10lb at birth AND was back to birth weight on day 5.

oops pressed 'post' too soon.

Your cousin needs to get the baby sucking, to help bring her milk in, not spend time worry about feeding tubes, ff etc.

Oh and, for the record:

DS 8lbs 11oz - exclusively bf for 5 months

DD1 8lbs 9oz - ebf for 5 months

DD2 9lbs 3oz - ebf for 7 months (and bf to 9 months). Yes, that's right, my largest child was ebf the longest. No worries.

Please can you

1. Reassure your cousin that she is allowed to completely ignore the midwife
2. Report the midwife
3. Put your cousin on MN so she can get some decent support?

Mine were both 8lb9 - and I BF them to begin with.. though I must admit that once they got to 6 weeks and I was still only getting 2.5 hours sleep a night ( and put the car keys- instead of dinner - in the microwave and nearly burned the kitchen down) , I did mixed feed - BF daytime then one bottle before bed - best choice for me... maybe not for the kids, but only time will tell.....

My babies were 4lb 13oz and 10lb 3oz respectively. Both were exclusively breastfed until weaning at 5 months and 6 months, and breastfed until 14 and 15 months. Its absolutely horrifying your cousin is getting such bad advice.

Absolute and utter bollocks. Your cousin is in a very vulnerable place right now - we all remember how fragile we were immediately post-birth. Can you be there when the MW is with her. Can she get the MW to put it in writing? That way when she is strong enough she can report the MW for saying such dangerous rubbish, and it is rubbish and it is definitely dangerous.

It was the MW as she's not seen HV yet.

Confused as to whether twins can't be breastfed too according to this MWs logic. It's tragic.

Why do they spout such shite about bf? colleague's wife just given up at a few days as "she didn't have enough milk", mw told her to feed by the clock!

Fuck me that's a load of rubbish. DD was 8lb 8 and fed until she was 2.

I did struggle with the latch at first and expressed to feed with a syringe until my milk came in. Hope your cousin gets some decent help soon, can she call La Leche League or nct to speak to a breastfeeding councillor?

agree with suggestion of getting your cousin to read this thread (and join the MN gang if she hasn't already!) and yes report that midwife.

agree with suggestion of getting your cousin to read this thread (and join the MN gang if she hasn't already!) and yes report that midwife.

Oops sorry so pissed off I must have hit post too hard