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Infant feeding

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

Able to measure how much a BF baby is taking by weight gain?

17 replies

haditfortheday · 18/10/2007 16:08

My Health Visitor did her 1st visit for DD this week & told me that DD is taking about 850ml of breastmilk a day to have made the weight gain she has. I have never heard of being able to measure how much breastmilk a baby is taking so is this right? It seems a fair amount for a 2 week old to be taking & I wondered how she was makinbg her calculations.

OP posts:
lemonaid · 18/10/2007 16:13

She is turning on her HV Loony Tunes computer and getting it to randomly generate the number for her...

tiktok · 18/10/2007 16:13

You can do some very rough and ready calculations, but that's all they are, and I can't see the point of it really...

Any calculation would be based on breastmilk having a static calorific value, in the same way as formula.

But we know that breastmilk is not static in this way.

Why did she do it? It really isn't helpful to be thinking in terms of crude volume of breastmilk.

haditfortheday · 18/10/2007 17:50

She was trying to work out how many extra calories I need to eat as had been feeling dizzy. Not really sure why she did it. She was a little purplexed at the fact I was still feeding my 1 year old, asked how much he had a day didnt really like the reply on demand. Was also even more vesed when explained I pump for the milk bank too. She told me I should be eating an extra 1800-2100 calories a day. I am just eating & drinking to need.

OP posts:
NineUnlikelyTales · 18/10/2007 17:53

It sounds like she needed to be The Expert, so she just came up with some random numbers to impress you.

berolina · 18/10/2007 17:56

That number of calories is an extra typical day's intake... now tf are you supposed to fit that in? IIWY I would just make sure I eat reasonably nutritiously, poss iron supplements, and got all the rest I could. Rather loony calculations, I reckon.
I'm tandem feeding too (not pumping, though) and ds2 has, to my utter astonishment, put on 1kg (over birthweight) in his 26 days so far. I do have a theory that tandem feeding helps supply and just generally makes it easier for the baby, but it is based on a scientific sample of one

haditfortheday · 18/10/2007 18:12

berolina, you could base it on a study of 2 if you like! Although I did read somewhere that it is a fairly common "complaint" of tandem feeding mothers to have a bountiful supply!

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tiktok · 18/10/2007 23:57

hadit - this is one of the most ignorant, unhelpful and misleading bits of misinformation I have ever heard from a health visitor....honestly, wheeling out and shooting is too good for them. The very worst sort of HV is like this - thinks she knows it all, and ends up confusing people and possinly messing up their lives, and their breastfeeding.

It is preposterous to work out a volume of breastmilk especially when one of the participants in your lovely tandem setup is a toddler who could be eating any amount depending on what solids he has,whether he hurt himself and wanted a quick comfort suck, whether he's thirsty....etc etc etc.

She is clearly totally ignorant of the fact that a mother's metabolism is different when she is pg or breastfeeding, and it is crazy to work out the no. of calories in the milk (which you can only do very roughly anyway) and assume the mother needs to take in the equivalent in food. Not only is the metabolism different, but you have laid down extra fat in pg, which converts to energy to make the milk.

If you are having dizzy spells, it is possible you are going hungry or thirsty, I suppose, or because you are tired, or for many other reasons. You may need to eat a bit more for all I know, but not 2000 calories more a day. Does the woman have no common sense at all??

Now I am going to bed cross with your health visitor!!

jamila169 · 19/10/2007 00:26

The woman is obviously even more off her trolley than average for a HV. The only reference i've found for extra calories while BF was about 200 extra or about 5 jaffa cakes in real money! I've tandem fed and sometimes if you don't eat properly you get headaches or feel a bit spaced out, lets face it with two or more how often do you get the kids lunch ready and then have a bag of crisps or a banana instead of proper food so you can pick up a few toys or put some washing in while they're quiet? So I'd try to make sure you don't miss meals , drink plenty and if you still get dizzy, get thee to your GP and get your BP checked - you might have low blood pressure.
lisa x

tiktok · 19/10/2007 12:16

How can hadit express to her health visitor how daft these calculations are? I mean, where do you start with someone like that???

bealcain · 19/10/2007 12:23

have to say that HV's are silly s*s somtimes. Hadit - just trust your instincts, if you think you;re hungry, eat, if your not...dont and dont start calorie counting, you might end up affecting your milk supply. if it aint broken dont fix it.

agree about the low blood pressure, i have that and food doesn't help. you have to get your heart rate up by thinkning about something really happy and then the dizziness should go. dont close your eyes though, that makes it worse (whilst thinknig your happy thought!) i;m not trying to help you fly with fairy dust! lol

jamila169 · 19/10/2007 13:43

oh i second the not shutting your eyes - I did that once when i had a dizzy spell and next thing the ground rushed up to meet me!
TikTok - perhaps everyone should interview their HV before they decide whether to bother with one!
lisa x

haditfortheday · 19/10/2007 13:43

Well I am really glad it is the HV that is daft & not me. I was quite taken back when she was trying to do these calculations- the extra 2000 calories seemed a vast amount. Will just eat & drink to requirements & I have never been a calorie counter so wont worry about any of that!
Have had BP checked all OK.
Problem with our HV is that if people take their word as gospel then they can run into all types of problems- I know her advice is bad from the few mums who where bfing when DS1 was born how her advice put them off.
When I told her I was feeding my DS1 she said, " Oh I met someone else who did something like that once"..need I say more!
Tiktok- agree with the how do you quanitfy it? My DS1 can have some days when he has lots of bfeds, especially if he is being a little clmusy & falling over lots & some days if we are out & he is playing when he has less. Somedays he doesnt fancy his tea & wants more milk somedays he wants more solids...impossible to quantify.

OP posts:
haditfortheday · 19/10/2007 13:46

jam- I asked my MW if I could not bother with HV as their advice with DS1 was to be honest bollocks & was told that they would inform social services if I declined visit!

OP posts:
tiktok · 19/10/2007 13:50

hadit - the midwife is incorrect. HVs do not have a right of entry to your home. How ridiculous.

knifewieldingtoddler · 19/10/2007 14:29

extra 2000 calories? are you playing for England tomorrow night by any chance?

this would be the funniest thing if it wasn't so bloody farcically incorrect.

jamila169 · 19/10/2007 15:16

That is total testicles hadit! you know the little form you get to register the baby with the GP? there's a box on it to tick if you decline HV involvement. you get a few raised eyebrows, from the receptionists, but oddly none of my local HV's have minded and it certainly doesn't stop you consulting them as and when you need them. In fact, i was chatting to one of them and she said that they were considering just doing a drop in service so mums could just access the bits they needed, leaving them to concentrate on mums that were struggling or had children with disabilities or chronic problems.
lisa x

bealcain · 19/10/2007 16:21

Jam/Hadit - i haven't seen or heard froma health visitor since DS2 was 3months and they told me to switch to formula as he was below average weight! they didn't take into consideration how much he was doing for his age....he crawled at 14 weeks FFS bloody HV's, you dont have to see one or hear from them if you dont want to.

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