When I arrived the HCA running the unsupportive breastfeeding ?support? group was giving a lecture on how to choose child care...child minder/nursery. All her own opinions, most of which I did agree with but a bit confused as to why she was telling us how to choose our childcare in a breastfeeding group...but she meant well.
Again this week, the HCA running the group links hunger to night wakening and says that babies who wake up at night need formula, to start solids or more solids (depending on what the child is currently on)
I understood that the modern research showed that introducing a bottle of formula, baby rice etc did not affect sleep patterns either way !?! Please correct me if I am wrong (off to Google for specific information) I asked if babies were just on breast milk wouldn't they just learn to sleep though in their own time. Answer a curt No. Oh I said my daughter did.
I will ask her next week...how/why hunger is linked to night wakening and was it part of her course and which course was that ?
(As I know for a fact her boss is very into exclusive breastfeeding and BLW and would never teach the crap she comes out with. Her boss is currently looking into this woman's work so fingers crossed for changes)
More worrying I overheard (OK, I was listening in) to one of the conversations with a new mum, she had pulled to one side and heard the following. It turns out that the new mum had asked about physical problems she is having feeling tired, light headed and pains, numbness in her legs etc and had asked the HCA for medical advice.
The advice given by the HCA (with no medical training), was to do nothing, come back next week, when the HCA would assess the situation and see if she needed a referral to a HV. Now her symptoms could mean nothing and properly are minor. I have no idea, I am not a medical expert but neither is the HCA. Even if the HCA thinks this mum?s health issues are minor, that is NOT her decision to make
I explained to the mum that the HCA had NO medical training and that it is very important that she speaks to her own midwife/HV or GP to get a proper medical opinion on her symptoms.
Lastly she was trying to convince another mum to wean early and actually said "Even if you give up breastfeeding, you [another mum] can still attend this group, after all we NOW have two bottle feeding mums." She went on to say how good and how proud she is to have these FF mums in the group. Now I am not suggesting that these mums should be chucked out once they wean. They could be supportive to the other breastfeeding women or if breastfeeding didn?t work from them, they might pick up tips for next time.
But what irrates me is that we now have two formula feeding mums who hang off the every word of the HCA and give weight to her biased anti-breastfeeding attitude and opinions. As these two mums think early weaning onto baby rice and mixed feeding is the best thing in the world (good for them) but it is very damaging to the women trying to exclusively breastfeed, who now have three women saying just wean and then your child will sleep.
I have also heard two breastfeeding mums say they feel uncomfortable in bringing up breastfeeding within this group and feel under pressure to explain why they haven?t weaned yet or introduced solids and dare not mention that they?shock horror?.nurse their children at night !!! One mum said she does dare speak, as she is worried what will be said to her I'm so cross, on her behalf
It is so bad that the new mum thought she had stumbled into a weaning group by mistake !!!
Lastly had a 5 minute chat with another mum with 6 month old breastfed baby, who had been discussing formula options with HCA and about trying to introduce a cup as the baby wouldn?t even taken EBM in a bottle. She expressed interest in me still feeding my 15 month old DD. She was told that you HAD to stop feeding at 6 months as they was no health benefit in feeding further (not sure where she got this information from, she didn?t say)
At the start of the conversation she said she wanted to wean at 6 months, I congratulated her on getting to her 6 month goal (her own deadline for nursing) and mentioned that she had given so many health benefits for her child, did she feel proud ? Within a few minutes she said she didn?t really want to wean and only felt she should, as everyone said 6 months was the goal. I should add I only listened and answered her questions about my daughter (how often she feeds at 15 months etc) But it just goes to show lecturing AT the mums does not help them, that?s a waste of everyone?s time. The mother needed to make her own mind up about what was the optimum feeding outcome for her (though in my biased head I am pleased she is going to continue nursing but I understand just because I think it is great doesn?t mean everyone else thinks the same)
I have also asked for the local peer to peer support group (whom I am training with) to get involved with this breastfeeding support group and I am happy to help out once trained. If the peer to peer group can?t get involved this group, we have a backup plan of setting up a different group in the same area and help local mums that way. Though I will still be attending this group weekly with an ear for anyone who needs it.
Lets hope the HCA's boss, the peer to peer group or the consultant midwife (I bumped into and asked for her help with this group)will make a difference for this group.
I am running out of people to bother !!!
Following on from here