Please confirm that this is shockingly bad breastfeeding advice before I write to complain

[mawbroon]

DS is 19 months and has had around 12 bouts of vomiting in the last 24 hours. He had nothing but breastmilk through the night and had some water this morning along with a bit of rice cake because he hadn't vomited for a few hours. He started vomiting again at 4.30pm so I called NHS24 who sent us to the out of hours department at the hospital.
We saw a nurse practitioner there who examined ds and said he wasn't showing any signs of dehydration, which is good. Now, what she told me to do was to stop breastfeeding him as it just sits in the stomach and to give him water, orange juice or "something like Ribena" instead. She also gave me some rehydration sachets. Needless to say I am going to ignore her advice and continue offering ds frequent breastfeeds.
I am livid. I've been hanging around MN long enough to know that this is absolutely crap advice, isn't it? When I questioned her saying that I thought what she said about the milk in the tummy was indeed correct for cows milk but not breastmilk, she said that no, it applied to breastmilk too.
I am not being over the top to write and suggest that she gets some retraining, am I?

Ribena instead of breastmilk.... WTF??

What a pile of absolute FUCKING SHIT

I would get onto one of breast feeding orgs to help you back u a formal complaint with correct refs and tone.

You spoke to her on the phone after speaking to the call handler who took your details?

I have insider knowledge

why would are all these health professionals unable to distinguish between milk from a COW and milk from a HUMAN.
god how depressing

When my lo had a bug a few months ago and was still bf both the docs and nurse said bm fine (which i knew anyway and would have ignored their advice if they had said different)

Defintley complain

No, I spoke to the call handler, then I spoke to a nurse on the phone who arranged an appointment for us at the hospital. We physically went to the hospital to be given this terrible advice. Cost a pound in the car park as well.

We have the same set-up - it's like a GP clinic at the hospital. It's where I saw the doctor who said "BF for 6 months, if you must" and "but they bite!" when he heard I was still bfing DS1 at 12m.

Sorry, didn't digest your OP properly.

OK if you saw her in person it is your out of hours co-op who are responsible.

Your first point of contact should be your own surgery. Either the lead GP or practice manager. Did you get her name?

And I agree with moondog, one of the breastfeeding organisations will be able to help you with a letter.

I complained about one of our GPs once. I spoke to one of the ABM counsellors on the phone who sent me some info to quote in my letter.

That's a good idea moondog re the breastfeeding organisation helping with the letter. I have left a message with my friendly LLL BFC and will ask for her input when she gets back to me.

I got her first name Ceolas, but surely she will have left some notes on the system?

Yes,complaint needs to be voiced properly otherwise it will just get lost and this fuckwit will keep on misinforming others.
Make a note of the time and date you saw above idiot also name and/or physical description so that they can remove her and send her to kazakhstan gulag for re-education.

if the chiold was a baby, then i would be shocked horrified as youare too.
however, the child is 19 months old. for him water should be adequate. the ribena thing is a load of nonsense, and she most certainly shouldnt have said that. but if he is still vomiting then it wont hurt to lay off the breastmilk for a while whilst keeping him hydrated with water.
dont streess so much, especially since i have a feeling you will be breastfeeding him, it will affect your milk. the nurse practitioner is not a doctor, a midwife or even a 'lactation consultant#

Er...why should she lay off the breastfeeding Cylon????

Cyclon, I completely disagree...

CB, stress won't affect her milk. And I don't think she's stressed (though will let MB answer for herself on that one!), more annoyed that she didn't get the best advice.

And bmilk better for him than water or Ribena.

It's got antibodies in it, don't you know.

Yes, they will have faxed details of the consultation to your surgery.

Quote her first name anyway.

Cylonbabe - she shouldn't be giving bad breastfeeding advice whatever her rank. Part of the Baby friendly intitative involves training all members of a hospital staff.

It strikes me that the world is full of dullards who want to seize every opportunity they can to get women to start breastfeeding.

I just don't fucking get it at all.

I'm hoping you mean stop, MD

Ah yes lol/
Working meself up inot a right old frenzy here.

water might be "adequate" but bm is better, much better.
stress won't affect her supply but stoping bf will!

Ha, you beat me to it Clara re moondogs post! And you are right, I'm not stressed about it - just annoyed. This is my first experience of shockingly bad breastfeeding advice from a health professional and I wouldn't have believed my ears if I hadn't already read so many other similar stories on MN.

well, my thinking is this.
obviously something is making the lo ill. she is managing to keep hiim hydrated with breastmilk, which is brilliant. but he isnt getting better. so, if she cuts that out,and keeps the lo hydrated with just water, then the babys tummy will have a chance to recover without anything aggravating it.
i'm not saying the breastmilk is the problem, i m just suggesting that it may help child recover faster.
this is because the child is older. obviously with a baby you should continue to breastfeed regardless.

as for the stress affecting milk, ive always been under the impression that a mothers health affects the quality and quantity of her milk. so if she works herself up into a state, it cant be good for her milk. hence the suggestion to not stress about it.
hope that clarifies my suggestions

hope your lo gets better soon