Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Infant feeding

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

Original poster

Is this total rubbish re BF

20 replies

JamInMyWellies · 06/12/2013 17:12

My DSIS had a baby a few wks ago. She lives in the US and has seen a lactation specialist. She is now giving timed feeds and unlatching to end the feed before baby is finished. She has also been told to weigh baby before feeds and again immediately after and then she can tell how much milk baby is taking on board.

I am very Hmm about this have BF both my DS and will BF DS3 when he arrives (soon I hope!) and have never heard of timed feeds and the weighing malarkey. As far as I am concerned you cant overfeed a BF baby?

Is the above true is the lactation specialist right?

OP posts:
Faverolles · 06/12/2013 17:14

Sounds a load of rubbish!
Point her in the direction of KellyMom.

Womnaleplus · 06/12/2013 17:14

Utter crap.

MrsUnderwood · 06/12/2013 17:15

This sounds like utter rubbish. Everything I got told is that it's best to just BF feed them on demand as you can't over feed them.

48th · 06/12/2013 17:15

The person she has seen is not a lactation specialist. Test weighing went out with the ark as is useless. Hope she is receptive to better info.

fridayfreedom · 06/12/2013 17:16

Used to do that years ago in the uk , but as said above it is now recognised as utter rubbish

callamia · 06/12/2013 17:16

Why is she being told to do this? Is there a problem with the baby? It sounds like an absolute recipe for misery, and entirely unnecessary.

I'm happy to be wrong, but I've never heard of this being advised for a 'regular' baby.

Liveinthepresent · 06/12/2013 17:18

That all sounds ridiculous ! She needs to get on here / Kellymom and get a refund for bad advice!

Hope she is ok and all that palaver isn't stressing her out when she should just be snuggling and going with the flow.

Original poster
JamInMyWellies · 06/12/2013 17:18

Oh good glad I am right. I gave her all my advice mainly gleaned from MN, my own personal experience and good old kelly mom.

There is nothing wrong with the child as far as I am aware he is underweight if anything.

OP posts:
BroomstickRider · 06/12/2013 17:21

That sounds crazy. Giving timed feeds and getting the baby to finish too early won't help her milk supply at all either. I would ask what training that "lactation specialist" had received!
It is impossible to overfeed a breastfed baby. My DS1 was the fattest baby in the village and is now a very slim healthy 8 year old.

Original poster
JamInMyWellies · 06/12/2013 17:23

Broomstick my DS2 was bloody enormous and was EBF and is now a skinny athletic thing.

OP posts:
Minnieisthedevilmouse · 06/12/2013 17:33

Jesus. How backward is health is US? Go Obama then...

Thanks NHS, stories like this give one a renewed appreciation.

Indith · 06/12/2013 17:40

Terrible advice Sad .

tiktok · 06/12/2013 17:56

If she is seeing a lactation specialist in the US, she may well be doing test weights....they do them there a lot.

There is sometimes a clinical reason for them. Presumably your sis had problem - maybe the test weights address this problem. If, for instance, a baby's weight is causing serious concern, a US LC might suggest test weighing. We rarely do it in the UK.

Timed feeds are sometimes clinically appropriate - it depends on why your sis is seeing the LC. .

tiktok · 06/12/2013 17:58

You say he is underweight. In some circumstances, a very underweight baby may have his feeds timed and be taken off before he comes off himself. There are reasons for this.

ItsIgginningToLookALotLikeXmas · 06/12/2013 18:08

I was advised to limit length of feeds with newborn (which were going on for AGES, and he wasn't gaining enough weight) and give him expressed milk, then feed again in 2 hours ish. This regime did in fact help his weight pick up, though possibly would have anyway who can tell? I think the idea was that he was expending too much energy on a long and ineffective feed. The combo of feeding and expressing actually helped my supply, imo.
(He remains a complete breastmilk monster at 18 months!)

tiktok · 06/12/2013 18:19

Itsbeginning - those are indeed the circumstances in which someone would be advised to time and curtail feeds. No idea if this applies to OP's sister or not.

Original poster
JamInMyWellies · 06/12/2013 18:23

Gosh tiktok it's been yrs since I was on the BF boards great to see you still here. Grin

He was 6lb 12oz when born has been gaining weight brilliantly now 9lb or so. The weighing thing was because they wanted to know how much he was taking on board.

I believe he was underweight in my opinion. Coming from a family who reg produce 9lb + birth weight babies. It's my own opinion not the opinion of anyone else.

OP posts:
BigRedDragon · 06/12/2013 18:23

I've been told numerous times that I overfeed my ebf ds2, he's 6 months, not weaning yet, and almost 28lbs. Interestibgly ds1 who was ebf for 3mths then ff from 3mths onwards followed exactly the same growth chart and is now a very tall, lanky 3 year old.
In short the advice seems ridiculous to me and would make bf very stressful!

muddylettuce · 06/12/2013 18:36

Not sure about the weighing?! I timed feeds, 10 minutes on first boob then as long as dd wanted on second but no longer than 20 minutes. This is because she persistently fell asleep on the boob and in the beginning I wasn't great at distinguishing between feeding and comfort sucking, she would feed all day unless I timed them. It helped me no end, she's 7 months now and we're still bf, I don't time except at bedtime, because she falls asleep. She's also on 75th percentile so clearly doing ok.

loveolives · 07/12/2013 18:40

Very scary ill advised bullshit.

New posts on this thread. Refresh page