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Infant feeding

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

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

155 replies

mawbroon · 20/05/2007 19:44

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??

OP posts:
tiktok · 23/05/2007 10:20

He cannot pick up gastro bugs from your breastmilk, maw - breastmilk does not pass on pathogens in this way (this is researched) except in one case - HIV/AIDS.

However he might have been even sicker without the antibodies in breastmilk, which you will have passed on.

it's great you are breastfeeding, as at least there is some nourishment going in. When he gets better, prepare for a lot of feeding as he builds himself up again

mawbroon · 23/05/2007 10:24

Thanks tiktok. I know very well that I can't pass it on and I know that I am doing the best/right thing. I just can't be arsed arguing with this person when I have a sick baby to look after.

OP posts:
kreamkrackers · 23/05/2007 11:45

bf babies who get a gasto infection are less likely to end up in hospital because they are bf. i hate the way people who don't bf are so against it, we're doing the best we can for our children, why are people so against it?

3andnomore · 23/05/2007 12:43

because that is how they can defend their own actions, I suppose...sigh....

mawbroon · 23/05/2007 17:21

Right, the letter is in the post. Will update when I have a reply. Thanks everyone for your support.

OP posts:
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