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Infant feeding

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

Original poster

Please can we save tiktok's sanity...

74 replies

welliemum · 28/11/2006 21:49

... and have a Myths and Legends link here.

I've just seen her calmly explain for the 847 385 211th time that what you eat doesn't affect the quality of your milk.

tiktok is a saint in human form, but it would be great if we could have something that people can read before posting, thereby saving countless wasted electons (and preventing tiktok's head from exploding).

My top myths would be:

  1. eat well to ensure good quality milk
  2. the growth charts are based on formula fed babies only.
  3. the WHO guidelines about weaning to solids after 6 months are meant only for developing world babies.

I'm sure there are more, can't think of any at the mo

Anyone else up for this?

OP posts:
moondog · 02/12/2006 22:02

Great thread.
God Albert that is so effing rude and inaccurate.
I can't think of a more damaging thing to say to a breastfeeding mother.

I'll like to give that woman a boot up the arse and then another for good measure.

Original poster
welliemum · 03/12/2006 22:51

Moondog's post has just reminded me that I was going to mention why eating well for good quality milk is my least favourite myth.

When dd1 was not gaining weight at first (because of a poor latch as it turned out), I was advised by the mw to take food supplements to improve my milk.

And here's the odd thing. I knew that was total blocks, but i still found it incredibly upsetting. When you have a new baby and your hormones are all over the place, and about the only thing you can do for them is feed them endlessly, and someone is telling you you're not good enough...

Well, I was OK because when I calmed down a bit I remembered what I'd read on the topic, but to someone in my position who didn't know any better, that advice would have been nothing short of devastating.

dd1, incidentally, did very well in the end and was exclusively bf at 6 months, and dd2 is a huge strapping thing, also exclusively bf and will be 6 months old in a couple of weeks. So ner!

I eat well, but I do it for me, not for them, because I think eating well is always important. And "supplements" play no part in eating well ffs.

Sorry, a rant, but I do think this a peculiarly horrible and harmful myth.

OP posts:
notnigella · 19/12/2006 22:09

Sorry to go over old news, but this has been bugging me for the last few weeks - is it really just a myth that ones diet has no effect on quality of breastmilk?? If so, I could have been back on Atkins all these months instead of boring WeightWatchers! Joking aside, could someone please point me in the direction of research / evidence of this as it goes against everything that I have heard and read, and also kind of against instinct. Thanks and HTH

SnafuOutOfHiding · 19/12/2006 22:24

Yes, it really is just a myth, notnigella. You do not need to eat more, or more healthily, or consume more calories. You do not need to drink more, or rest more either. Unless you are severely undernourished - by which I mean pretty much at starvation level, where almost all of your body's systems will be affected anyway - diet is pretty much irrelevant to milk production/quality.

I think the way this myth gets perpetuated is that new mothers are told to eat well and drink plenty and rest as much as possible because it's good general advice. If you've just given birth, you're going to feel better, faster, if you can eat a good diet and rest a lot. But it won't affect the actual quality of your milk at all

The kellymom site is a great place to start for mythbusting and further references.

notnigella · 19/12/2006 22:31

Thanks Snafu, will check it out, I already see that Kellymom reccommends low fat (i.e. weightwatchers) over low carb anyway.....

TwinkleInSantasEye · 19/12/2006 22:35

Hmmm , surely a lack of rest would affect milk production?? Or if not, it certainly affects your ability to give your baby that milk. I myself found bf completely exhausting (more than the first 14 weeks of pregnancy even).

nothercules · 19/12/2006 22:37

No, it isn't. Women have fed since we've had breasts - through wars, travelling nomads, cave men etc. We all wouldnt be here today if it was so finicky.

Pixiefish · 19/12/2006 22:44

Tiktok and Mears saved my life and whilst they are happy to carry on I would hate for someone to be put off posting/asking a question.
Personally I would rather answer the question a thousand times than have peeps scared of asking

SnafuOutOfHiding · 19/12/2006 22:46

Well, if your life was so ridiculously busy that it actually prevented you from giving feeds then, yes, obviously supply would be affected eventually. But 'being tired'? Nope, otherwise very few new mothers would manage it at all!

TwinkleInSantasEye · 19/12/2006 22:49

Um, sorry Snafu, I don't think I referred to "being tired". I think I said "completely exhausting", i.e. couldn't function on any level whatsoever. I wondered if it was the hormones involved, because I have had hormonal problems in the past which have had a similar effect. I'm happy to acknowledge that it may have been just me though.

TwinkleInSantasEye · 19/12/2006 22:51

Ooops Snafu - I think I misunderstood your post . See your point that a simple lack of rest would have caused problems for the human race .

SnafuOutOfHiding · 19/12/2006 22:58

Fair enough, twinkleinsantaseye. A hormonal imbalance of some sort could well affect milk production. But my answer was directed more towards the first part of your post - i.e. 'surely a lack of rest would affect milk prduction'. I also found the first weeks of motherhood completely exhausting, but it didn't affect my milk supply. That's the point I was trying to make. Apologies if you feel I misrepresented!

SnafuOutOfHiding · 19/12/2006 22:59

Ah, a nice x-post

TwinkleInSantasEye · 19/12/2006 23:05

...

MKGnearlyimmaculateconception · 19/12/2006 23:23

I gonna put in my two sense. Although good diet and rest may not have anything to do with milk production. I think it's a myth that should be kept going. At least it will remind moms that they need to take those spare minutes and take care of themselves, which is as much mental/emotional as it is physical. I think taking those moments to take care of themselves or be taken care of can make a difference in the success of bfing.

TwinkleInSantasEye · 19/12/2006 23:29

MKG (great name!) - that's a really good point. PLEEEASE people - don't let all the DH's/DP's out there know that this is a myth! I had such a hard time making mine realise that if I was going to bf, then that's all I could do for several weeks. He wasn't all that understanding about it, which was one of many reasons why it didn't work out too well (mind you, DS is 20 weeks and I've only just stopped completely ). And as we all know, any new mum needs to take it easy for the first few weeks if at all possible.

Original poster
welliemum · 19/12/2006 23:59

Actually, it makes me really to think that the only way a breastfeeding mum will get food and rest is if people believe this will help the baby.

How about: breastfeeding mums need good food and rest because they're doing a physically and emotionally demanding, knackering, extremely important job on little or no sleep..... and could really do with a bit of help.

OP posts:
MKGnearlyimmaculateconception · 20/12/2006 00:20

Maybe it should be changed to

"Rest and good nutrition will have no effect on the health of the baby, but can improve the overall well being of the nursing mother".

TwinkleInSantasEye · 20/12/2006 00:23

Which, of course, will help the health of the baby (as the new mother won't sleep through her baby crying for food in the moses basket next to her like I did! ).

MKGnearlyimmaculateconception · 20/12/2006 00:29

It will also help the health of everyone around her, because there were moments where I though of killing my dh simply for breathing.

Honestly if I had taken better care of myself, and asked more people to take care of me. I probably wouldn't have given up at two weeks.

TwinkleInSantasEye · 20/12/2006 00:59

Ditto to that - though for me read all but give up. A lot more rest MAY have helped me get through the other problems better, though I'm not sure.

tiktok · 20/12/2006 01:00

Of course mothers need TLC, and of course mothers need support and the chance to sleep and for others to help (I don't think there is any diff. between bf and ff mothers here).

Individual responses to bf and new motherhood are going to differ, but the research is unequivocal - fatigue does not have any effect on milk production.

This paper shows there is no link.

However, milk production is one thing, and breastfeeding is another. If someone is demoralised and lacking in confidence then tiredness will make her even more that way...and make her less likely to enjoy bf and to develop confidence in it.

I am in favour of mothers knowing the facts, and their partners knowing them, too - the research also shows that partner support is a factor in maintenance of bf, so they absolutely have a role in this.

(and BTW, I have just posted correcting someone's idea that the UK charts are based on formula fed babies, so my work here is not yet done!!)

ediemay · 20/12/2006 01:35

Another vote of thanks to tiktok and mears for endless sanity.

I had a Christmas baby and just loved the seasonal myths - most BF problems are linked to sprout consumption, dontcha know?! "oooh, he's colicky love, try not to eat so many sprouts..." "He doesn't seem to like the taste, does he? It's probably cabbage or sprouts putting him off..." "Try to eat mostly bland food and keep away from windy food like sprouts.."

I'm proud to say he was BF until 13 months with loads of spicy food, very little bland food, a good whack of red wine and masses of sprouts

notnigella · 21/12/2006 22:42

many thanks to all who posted. as usual, mumsnetters are such a fantastic source of info.

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