After a tearful visit to baby clinic today PLEASE.......

[NotAnOtter]

Could someone direct me to the BREAST fed growth charts ?

My HV had me in tears with comments like ' we could introduce a formula feed but you dont want that'
I dont believe he is that bad at 14 weeks and 13 lbs 4 oz .
Please can someone help?
TIA

I stopped going to my HV
I even had a REALLY good reason for my dd not gaining - she had serious heart condition but the silly bitch still harped on about effing formula top ups, despite the cardiologist telling me it was vital I breastfed as much as possible.
My dd was on the 0.4 centile at 5 weeks from the 50th at birth.

Rules of thumb, if your baby is happy, alert, sleeping, and doing all the usual happy baby things - weeing and pooing (green can be something you've eaten which has gone straight through him in isolation its nothing to worry about) regularly and feeding with enthusiasm and regularly then ignore the HV, stop taking him for a few weeks.
Breastfed babies do run on a leaner line, so long as his height and weight are about the same centile you can relax a little
FWIW my dd was 14lbs at 14 MONTHS!
And she was perfect then as she is now at 3.5yrs and 25lbs!
WEight is just a number :)

What a rubbish HV to suggest that :(

My DS started slipping in his centiles both at the start and then at about 6 months. Both times my HV told me not too worry because he was still gaining weight and these charts are just an indicateor because they are based on white, middle-class bottlefed babies. If you had seen her you would have been told that too. Try not to let outdated, bad advice from this sub-standard HV rob you and your Son of breastfeeding - the best possible way to feed and nurture your baby and so, so wonderful for Mums too.

I would ring the NCT Breastfeedin Line for advice if you are worried, although if he is getting through lots of nappys and putting on weight, I really wouldn't worry.

Also, I have a friend who's bottlefed baby was told that she wasn't having enough and told to 'up her amount of milk'. She just didn't want it. She is 1 year now. Healthy & growing. Just not quite up to the charts.

You short report this HV to the local breastfeeding support group and they should get in touch with her and find out why she is offering advice like this. It is so well known that introducing just one bottle can start a vicous circle that ruins the natural balance of breastfeeding - supply & demand and artifically stretching a babies stomch so they aren't as satisfied by the breast feeds.

My DD is 14 months old and about 18 lbs. She looks thin but eats little too. What can I do? You can take a horse to water... I'm not concerned (most of the time).

Hi NotAnOtter. At your ds's age, my dd2 only poo-ed once a week. Wouldn't recommend it... she was like a ticking time bomb - we were constantly waiting for her to go off, and when she did, well... let's just say that once I had to cut a vest off her, cos she'd have drowned in crap if I'd tried to get it over her head . However, she was/is perfectly healthy - it was just a phase she went through. Stick to your guns and don't go back to the baby clinic!

LOL Ellbell

NotanOtter: no one can tell you whether your baby is ok just from looking at the charts, and it doesn't matter what charts they are....they only give one weeny bit of info.

If your HV thinks your baby could do with more calories (and nothing you say indicates this is the case, but lets say she is right), then what is wrong with the calories in your breasts???

Any HV who mentions formula for any baby whose growth has got a ? over it, without talking about increasing the breastfeeding as the very first (and for goodness sake, the most obvious) thing, is a poor and negligent HV.

And when you feel up to it, you can write and let your HV and her manager know just how poor.....

ellbell ds1 was a weekly pooer and I know exactly what you mean about the vest!

she kept asking about my diet TIk tok in a slightly accusatory way i felt. I have five children and race about a lot and pram push a lot and have lost my baby weight quite quickley and she made me feel like i was risking my babies health for slimming reasons. I told her that when he skips a feed and every night at midnight ( ie NOW!!!!) i pump milk to ensure that my milk supply remains good. I have 90 lasinoh breastmilk bags in my freezer all with 8 oz in !! My boobs are huge and leaky and i have had to go back to my post birth bras because i was straining out of the smaller ones.
I am pretty sure that if i had waited and gone to clinic once every two months then the incline would be steady whereas now she is 'on my case' and making me go back in a week. I feel threatened and like despite 'deep down' knowing i am right she is trying to convince me that i do not know a) my baby b) myself
Sorry to go on so........

don't go back next week - and pick up the phone when I call you tomorrow!!![big hug]

As you are a busy mum NotAnOtter, can I suggest you make sure you are offering plenty of feeds. Sounds as though you have no problems with milk supply at all but I remember my last baby did not gain weight so quickly mainly because she was very placcid and I was always on the go with my 3 other children. Soemtimes I realised I hadn't fed her for hours because she would just fall asleep when we were on the move. You said your DS is sweet and 'chilled'. Sounds like my DD. Agree with Tiktok that if your DS is needing more calories then they should be coming directly from you. More frequent feeds during the day will help. However, if you feel he is feeding enough then carry on as you are. You know your own baby. Tell her you will be back in no less than a fortnight BTW.

Mears thankyou so much! I was literally just thinking i would feel better if i had not got the 7 day return hanging over me...if it is just a blip then two weeks will show it as such - if not then after taqking all this advice i will cross that bridge if and when.
I am a bit regimented with his feeds BUT he does sleep the night so i almost have to jam in the day feeds to compensate.
Thanks to all of you ( i have spent the evening staring at photos of him pointing out his chubby bits!)
thanks again

Out of interest how often does he feed. I am interested in your 'regimented' feeds comment. Does he feed for as long as he wants or do you decide?

Ninety bags of expressed milk in the fridge!!
Surely a rival to Fastasleep as queen of the expressers??!!

Wow......

if its any help, my ds was 13lbs 7ozs at 14 weeks and he was exclusivley formula fed. he's now 1 and has always followed the 25th centile. i used to get it in the neck at the clinic about his weight so i stopped going.

ignore your hv, she's talking crap.

NotanOtter, like mears, I would pick up on being a 'bit regimented'......fitting in more bf by simply offering them even when the baby doesn't 'ask' and not worrying about being 'regimented' is the way to go.

Your HV sounds especially useless, by the way.....:(

My mum says as a rule of thumb a baby should have doubled their birth weight by six months (don't know if there is any scientific basis to that btw!) Sounds like your ds is well on his way to achieving that so unless you have a specific concern I wouldn't bother going to the hv for regular weighings, maybe just one when he is 6 months old?

Thankyou everyone.
Mears/Tiktok -I do try not to let him go less than 3 hourly but never more than four and he feeds for as long as he wants - i often get two let-downs during a prolonged feed/cuddle...
Again - he was constantly on the boob when a different HV ( when he was 10 days) said do not let him feed more than 3 hourly - 'only gets foremilk etc)
I calculated ( estimated due to exprssing) that he gets 36 oz - 38ox a day - what does that sound like ?enough or not???

NotanOtter, you say " I do try not to let him go less than 3 hourly but never more than four and he feeds for as long as he wants - i often get two let-downs during a prolonged feed/cuddle... "

You'll get letdowns you aren't aware of - counting letdowns doesn't really reveal anything. Many babies feed more often than three hourly, and it's quite normal. If you count up the no. of teas, coffess, biscuits, snacks, meals, an adult has, it's prob more than every three hours. I've had three cups of tea, one cup of coffee, 2 slices of toast and a biscuit myself - all since 8 am, and all staggered through the morning!!

"Again - he was constantly on the boob when a different HV ( when he was 10 days) said do not let him feed more than 3 hourly - 'only gets foremilk etc)"

She's talking rubbish. Complete and utter. Forget the clock.

"I calculated ( estimated due to exprssing) that he gets 36 oz - 38ox a day - what does that sound like ?enough or not???"

But expressing is not a way of calculating what the baby takes - the baby might take a load more or a load less. All it reveals is a calculation based on what you managed to express at one particular time. It's irrelevant, truly!!

Just feed him more often (if you think there is an issue with his weight), and take no notice of what 'advice' you get from HVs.

:)

can you come to my town and tell them to stop putting women like me through this?
Today of course i am tearful and babyotter is...feeding!

All sound advice that I have nothing else to add to, apart from that DS is only a week younger, and weighs about the same - he's got short little legs and a diddy head to go with it.

Definately a healthy baby though. I have no idea how often he feeds or how long for - I feed him when he cries for it (and sometimes for my own snuggly benefits - he doesn't seem to mind ).

Oh, and another one who only poos every few days.

Try not to get upset NotAnOtter - just feed your baby as and when. Out of ineterwt - can I ask why you had him weighed in the first place? Have you been going regularly to the clinic?

I liked to compare my babies weight charts then realsied baby number 4 was just completely different. She gained weight slowly but steadily. I knew shew was fit and healthy and happy (but small). In the end I noted what weight she was - at five months she had not gained for a month and the HV was abdgering me about solids. I just stuck to my guns. No solids, no formula. I KNEW my baby was fine and she was.
You have no problem with milk supply. Just be confident in your own ability. If you think he should gain more, try offering feeds 2 hourly and see what happens. If you feel he is fine, stay as you are. If he is looking for a feed, feed him no matter when he was fed last.

I agree with everyone here re the charts - that you are best off to ignore them, but thought I would add that I recently found out that they are based on the growth patterns of formula fed babies anyway.
I had a big worry when my dd was a buba re green poo, worried myself sick when read that could be caused by malnurishment/dehydration. Amused h/v said that this was only in EXTREME cases and that generally just a sign of a bit of wind. Ofcourse as everyone has already said,lack of poo is just because your baby is absorbing evrything and GROWING. Well done!

They're NOT based on formula-fed babies, before Tiktok explodes from having to write the explanation again. They're based on a wide range of babies - ffed, bfed, weaned early, weaned late, etc, etc.

Hunker, thank you :)

But do let me baulk a little at HV talking about green poo and wind....

Green poo is the result of waste matter that's hurried through the gastro-intestinal tract before the 'juices' secreted in the gut have time to be 'processed; this process turns the poo yellow and if it's gone through quickly, the poo stays green. There are all sorts of reasons for this 'intestinal hurry' but wind isn't one of them...at least, I can't think why it would be. Usually there is nothing to be concerned about, if everything else is fine.

Thankyou everyone..very helpful
Mears i found your last post most helpful and am today listening to my own instinct!
Fed baby boy lots and whenever he twisted towards me!!!
Going to avoid hv for a couple of weeks ( if she does not hound me) and enjoy my baby! I do not want to spoil my enjoyment of feeding him by beoming stressed and turning to 'the tin' so i shall go with the flow and try to chill!

Thanks again!