is my hv talking nonsense? my baby is 23 days old and shes telling me to top up

[kittenbaby]

hi girls
my little baby is now 23 days old
i do find bf harder at night than in the morning [does sem to be less milk than in the mornings]
she is ex bf on demand
baby was born weighing 8 4 and a half
13 days later her weight went down to 7 11
hv said dd had to gain at least 4-5 oz in the next wk or we would have to rethink bf
and that maybe i should give her a formula top up
everything ive ive read says babys can and do lose weight in the 1st week or two
and one of the worse things to do to wreck bf is to give top ups of formula
so i decided to keep going only bf
then on tue one week after she was weighed again and had put on 6 and a half oz
weighing in at 8 1 and a half
so i thought yes shes put on more than 4-5oz
its working
but my hv still said that i should think about giving a top of formula
but will this make it harder for my baby to switch between the two?
or that if i dont want to give formula to express
what do you guys think should i be giving her tops ups ?
im only a first timer

Green , greenish, whatever - it's normal. Some babies produce green poo all the time. Some only occasionally. Probably all do it at least once or twice.

It means zip (unless there are other symptoms). Why is it green? Because it hasn't stayed in the lower part gut long enough to turn yellow - that's all. This colouration happens over time. Some babies have 'intestinal hurry' and everything whizzes through. Again, nothing to worry about. Sometimes, babies take slightly less fatty milk and this causes this hurry - again, it doesn't matter.

KB - yes, it was your HV, I remember now, who said the rubbish about 'full fat' milk coming in at 21 days or sumpin'....and before then it was skimmed. ROFL - as if!!! Ha, I think I remember saying that this was a Big Clue to the level of knowledge your HV had about bf
Turns out I was right, I think!

You are doing so well, but it is hard when you are surrounded by people either telling you to use bottles, advising you not to flaunt it (eh?) and giving you duff advice.

callme - long gaps between poos is only normal in an older baby, from about 4-5 weeks on. It's not normal in a much younger baby and might be a sign things need to improve....it is at least a sign to check things out.

Hapsi, where are you ?
What a twot your HV is. What a load of rubbish. It is so hard, becasue you should be able to trust her advice.
My HV sacred me so much with her obsession with ds's weight, that my milk dissapeared overnight. Some HV's are great and some are so bad that it is scandalous.

HaRpsi, HaRpsi, I meant.

I didn't bf either of mine so I can't speak from experience but I do have experience of HVs speaking crap! Baby sounds just fine to me, just keep bfing! I haven't taken dd2 to the HV once due to crazy HVs first time round!

you guys are right that hv is a loser and doesnt know what shes talking about

shes even said twice
"the looney left wing breastfeeding brigade would shoot me for saying this but give her a bottle of formula
top up it wont hurt her"
i was a bit shocked at her "looney left wing breast feeding brigade"
comment

shes said this last week and this week
thanks for the reasurance esp about the slightly green poo xxxxx
im sticking with it for now

tiktoc yes it was my hv that said that it was full fat at day 21 and semi skimmed at 14 days
u where so right
u had her sussed out last week
thanks 4 the encouragement it really helps
if it was 4 u lot dh and my friends
my hv and family would of forced me into ff by now im sure so a massive thanks to you all

then i was right about getting the firing squad then

your dh sounds awesome. listen to him. not your mum or your aunt (which you seem to know already anyway.)

for a more balanced perspective than mine on your hv, read what this paediatrican has to say about some health professionals

the whole websie also makes excellent reading for a new mum like yourself.

if it WASN'T for you lot dh and friends
THE
hv and family would of forced me into ff by now

kiskidee u where spot on pass me the gun lol!!!

at ignorant bossy HVs. You know your baby best - and it is YOUR decision to b/feed, it's not up to your HV to say 'WE NEED TO RETHINK'.

You are doing fantastically well. None of my children regained their birth weight till 7 or 8 weeks, which was not good, but they are doing fine. And dd and ds2 were exclusively b'fed, ds1 had formula 'top-ups' because 'WE NEEDED TO RETHINK'.

It would be a lot fairer to you if your hv just came out and said "I don't want you to bf your baby. I'm more comfortable with you ff and this will make me feel happier and more in control because I don't know much about bf." Because reading between the lines it sounds like that's how she feels.

But this isn't about her, it's about you and your baby. You're doing really well and it's pretty shameful the way someone who is paid to support you both is behaving.

Your dh sounds great btw

could you express to help your supply and also top up with rather than formula?

nappyaddict - I am sure KB will answer for herself, but expressing and using the expressed breastmilk as a top up is hard work and a lot harder than simply offering the breast more often....which she would only need to do if there was a prob with the baby's intake, and there really doesn't seem to be

hi nappy addict
well she did tell me if i really didnt want to give formula i could express some milk in the morning and give that at night as a top up
but im just worried dd might find it easier drink from a bottle and not go back on the breast
im not sure what age is best to give them a bottle if even ebm
one of my friends who bf for 7 months said if she had another baby in the future she would give a bottle a day so the baby gets used to it so when they go onto bottles its easier
but im not sure if it too early to try
just now ive got this far dont want to bugger it up i suppose x

i offer her the breast whenever she wants it
baby led demand fed x

Seriously what kind of training do HVs have? Mine told me my baby had tongue-tie (he doesn't)
My friend's told her that she should stop bfing at 6 months the moment she started weaning (bollocks)
And yours sounds even more useless kittenbaby

God it makes me cross

I'm really impressed at you sticking to your guns like this.

oh right was just thinking if she expressed when lo wouldn't other wise be feeding it might build up supply.

not usually after 4 weeks. but i know a lot of mums give ebm in a cup so to avoid the whole nipple confusion.

My baby was 8lb 3oz, they are quite big babies really, I would keep on BF only and get loads of rest and bf on demand and see what happens.

Which will be that your baby is fine.

oh bless you kittenbaby, what crapola advice you are getting.
yu are doing really really well. keep going!
it is quite normal to "seem" to have less milk in the evenings.
you produce more milk overnight due to hormone production (BADLY put but YKWIM)
can you have a nice restful weekend? get your dh/p to cook for you? lay in bed or on the sofa with baby on you? have lots of skin to skin and nice long baths with baby.
you are past the hardest stage with bf honestly, you will be SO glad you perservered in the face of useless advice

Kittenbaby, the best thing to do is contact a breastfeeding support line. They're manned by specialists who'll be able to answer all your queries in detail. Here are some numbers you can try:

Breastfeeding Network 0870 900 8787
La Leche League 0845 120 2818
NCT Breastfeeding Line 0870 444 8708

Also, find out if there's a breastfeeding drop-in group you can go to. Your HV should know or check with your local NCT branch or the Breastfeeding Network. There is a lot of help and advice available to you so take full advantage of it and save yourself a lot of worry.

Good luck!

I have seen lots of babies go between bottle and breast fine (avent bottles or dr brown) and doesn't seem to cause any issues the baby. I am working with an infant now (27days) now is fed expressed BM by me in the night time and mum feeds other times. It works quite well, because come 7am her breasts are super full and she expresses up to 90mls in one hit whih is almost enough for the night feeds. Expressing is always a good idea I think as it increases your supply.
But I think your baby will do fine with expressed milk from a bottle, plus daddy can help then! Do what you think is right though!

oh yeah this crap hv also said that if i use a formula top up my own milk will be thicker

the only thing that seems thick is her!!
lol

ive been researching this allday even looked at the nhs mothers guide to breast feeding
which states

"babys gut contains a range of normal bacteria.artifical milk destroys the protective coating in the gut that your milk provides ,this can increase the risk of your baby getting infections"

also warns it will
1 reduce milk supply making it difficult for them to attach
2 confuse baby
3 make breasts engorged
4 more risks of babies deleveloping allergies

so if my babys put on 6 and a half oz in a week i dont know why the hell this hv is telling me to do this
she needs to get a me job i think !!
thanks for all the advice xx