what is the actual proceedgur if you hv thinks your baby isnt gaining enough weight

[kittenbaby]

just so i know
what im talking about when i see the hv today
so i can properlly challange her if she tells me to top up again

what should actually happen if they actually think there is a real need to top up?

should my dd be refered to gp?paeditrician?
in what order
sorry bout terrible spelling but im feeding dd up

I think normally they look at weight as a main indicator sorry bout spelling also feeding how old is your dd

Good morning. My mw did this with my last ds (now 10 months) and I ended up ff him and realy regret it now. If I had persivered a couple more weeks I could have carried on bf him. Im going to make a real effort with this baby due in Jan and I was advised by a bf counciler,also a good friend, to persivere and ignore the health visitor or mw. Unless ofcourse your baby is severely underweight.
Hope that helps a bit

Kittenbaby - stick to your guns. If they are telling you to top up or wean early ask them what effect it will have and then ask for a referal to a pead who is qualified in infant diet.

Come back and let us know how you got on, hope DD is chubby today

No one can 'force' you to top up your baby, kitten.
If the hv says 'I am not happy with your baby's weight gain, and you must give formula' you can say any one of these (in your own words!)

• can you explain to me in detail why you think my baby is not being well-nourished, because the reading I have done suggests very strongly she's doing ok?

• well, I prefer to breastfeed only, but if you think my baby needs formula as well, can I see the doctor first to talk it through?

Different areas have different protocols for referral - but generally, I think it's fairly common for a baby with an acute illness (like a fever or a mystery rash or wheeziness) to be referred to the GP, and when there is a suspected underlying mystery, like a baby whose development or growth is giving cause for concern, the baby would be referred to the paed. I suspect that if your baby was referred to either the GP or the paed, whichever doctor it was would be quite cross with the HV (going on what you have said on mumsnet before) at the waste of time....!

the thread is my hv talking nonsense telling me to top
explains all!

guess i just really should see be refering me to someone else b4 telling me to top up ?

ds was off bottom of centiles for a while around 3-4months. hv had us on weekly weigh-ins. i saw gp and eventually paediatrician. he wrote to gp saying i was neurotic! ds was a bit thin at one point, but nothing alarming. i had trouble with establishing supply due to poor latch, but he is fine now (2yo) and was back at 50% by 7m.

tell hv to refer you to a properly qualified breast feeding counsellor. paed /gp do not neccessarily know anything at all about bf.

My nct bf coucilor was able to advise me much better than hv, they are so much more qualified and experienced most of the time, there guidence and info is from a variety of reliable sourses as opposed to hv who are gouverened and held responsible being government/ local authority etc.

sorry that last post was ment to say im just really trying to find out
if she should really refer us to someone else before telling us to use formula

kittenbaby - HVs can and do advise formula without referring to a doc. But you are free to decline this advice.

I've had this rubbish with all 4 of mine. Got to no4 and i told my hv to shove it. She is 13mths now and has 4/5 breastfeeds a day and is the chubbiest baby i've ever had! She is in 6-9mth clothes,don't know her weight tho. Is your lo bright,alert,having awake periods and proper sllep periods? No offence but a fat ff baby is not healthier than a lean bf baby. Your midwife will have details of bf support groups.

ah thanks for that
just thought maybe she wasnt following protocol !

when she says just give her formula it wont do her any harm
im going to say oh i thought it effectd the protective lining of the stomach?
making baby more vunerable to infections etc ?
well thats what it says in the nhs guide to bf?
is this not true?

and then see what she says?

do you think this sounds ok

or does that just sound like im after a row?

i really wish she didnt refer to bf as looney left wing bf bridaged
as that makes me feel that if i say well i still want to keep bf dd for as long as poss
shes thinking im a looney left wing hippy or something
but i dont really care if she thinks im some sort of tree hugger

just dont want to perserver with bf dd if its not really the best thing for her
as thats the only reason im doing it

Sorry,meant to say that 2 of mine were referred to paediatricians and they both said what are you worrying for.How about weighing before and after feeds? A faff but then you can see thgat milk is going in.

Bf is the best thing you can do.My dd1 was 4lbs at birth and i had to weigh her before and aftetr feeds to check she was taking milk. The paediatrician said that it is v v v v rare that a woman can't feed her baby. How old is your lo and how big?

Also those centile charts in that lovely red book are based on bottle fed american babies ???

KB - what you plan to say about formula is correct, but honestly, I think getting in a dialogue with her about whether formula is harmful is prob not productive. An easier rejoinder would be to say, 'no, I know that topping up with formula will affect my plan to exclusively breastfeed, so I won't be doing it, thank you.'

If she says you have been talking to whatever 'brigade' she is going to sneer at, say 'I've been reading and discussing, yes, but I have made my own judgements,' and leave it there.

Good luck!

what is the weight gain kitten, how do you feel about your dds weight?

rubushoes, no, the centile charts are based on UK babies whose feeding was not differentiated.

I ask as my dd was an actual fail to thrive was on 0.4 centil and some way below that line to boot and she was never topped up
Hv advised it but paediatrician and dietitian did not For various reasons about ease of assimilation of calories.
Same for early weaning
But it obviously depends
You can certainly ask for referral to paed but not all paeds are genned up on exclusive bf, I was very lucky

You should feel proud that you are part of a brigade thats aims are to do the best they can for their babies!

TT am sorry if I'm wrong hv gave me that info!

ruby - it's a common misunderstanding. I post a correction to the myth at least once a week on mumsnet!

Last time I looked in the parent-held child health record book, the source of the charts was indicated. Might still be there.

Your hv sounds like a charmer. You are doing fine - don't let her bully you.

In addition to her dodgy advice, I would strongly think about complaining about her comments about a "loony left bf brigade". It is outrageous to characterise any group of mothers in such intentionally derogatory terms. It could intimidate some people who actually care about what their hv thinks of them. As a Health Prof she should keep her personal political views and judgements out of her advice...

On the other hand, at least it shows how well-founded the rest of her "guidance" is likely to be...

Ok thank you, is it true though that bf babies gain weight differently to ff?

ruby - speaking very generally, and not allowing for normal, individual variations, breastfed babies tend to grow slightly more rapidly than ff babies in the early weeks. The gap starts to show the other way after 3-4 mths when ff babies start to tend to gain more weight than bf babies. This becomes more significant towards the end of the first 12 mths, when the average bf baby is considerably lighter than the average ff baby.

Oh thats great thanks didn't know that, so much confusion and old wived tales around bf it makes it very difficult for mums to make informed dicisions, even from health prof.