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Infant feeding

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

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Original poster

Breastfeeding myths-BUSTED

100 replies

EdieMcredie · 19/01/2008 17:41

Im so sick of hearing rubbish about breastfeeding-one of my friends simply didn't breastfeed because she was told some complete rubbish by a HV that put her off-how terrible.

What have you heard/been told about breastfeeding that you later found out was incorrect?

OP posts:

ghosty · 23/01/2008 09:19

Love the 'crunchy milk' comment ... very funny ...

My classic was: You'll never have enough milk for such a big baby ... she'll be latched on permanently.

Well, DD was 10lbs 10oz at birth and from day 1 fed 3 hourly for 10 minutes at a time ... Never needed a top up and was breastfed until 11 months AND stayed on the 98th percentile throughout ... so UP YOUR PIPE MRS STUPID MIDWIFE WOMAN!!!

kiskidee · 23/01/2008 09:28

hijack - sounds like you are doing v. well with bf, BouncingTurtle. would you be interested in a slingmeet on the 21st Feb?

Sanguine · 23/01/2008 09:33

At antenatal classes we were told that if we had drunk alcohol we should "pump and dump" the contaminated milk the morning after before feeding the baby. I've since read elsewhere that that's a myth. Applying my science head, I think it has to be myth. If it were true, it would imply that you could somehow 'store' ethanol in your breastmilk after it had already cleared from the rest of your body. As ethanol is a tiny molecule, it can diffuse across membranes, so the concentration of alcohol in your breastmilk would surely be the same as the concentration in your blood. If alcohol can cross the blood/brain barrier and the mother/placenta barrier, it's got to be able to get in and out of your breastmilk. Does anyone have any insight on this?

This is all academic really. I'm a breastfeeding mother, when on earth would I have time to go out on the razz? and if we sit down for a glass of wine in the house, it sits there untouched for hours because I never have time to drink it!

Belgianchocolates · 23/01/2008 09:39

Can't beleive about the 40 min thing. Never heard anything like that before in my life. Though as a mw it is important to make sure baby is feeding well before going home, because sadly it does happen that babies have to be readmitted for dehydration because of feeding problems and if these had been tackled in the hospital then this would never have happened.

My friend, in Belgium, was told to express and discard her milk because she had a general aneasthetic for removal of retained products following her otherwise normal delivery. I'd never heard of that one before. Another one, also in Belgium, was told to swap to ff because her baby had reflux and ff is thicker and therefore would stay down.

My parents would always cook a special bland meal for me while I was BF, because spicy food would cause tummy upsets in my babies. GRR I love spicy food and I have never cut out anything at home because of fear that it might upset their tummies.

Oh and the babies sleeping through if ff one is everyone's favourite myth I think. My DD slept from 11-5 from the age of 3 weeks. Not bad going for a purely BF baby!

TurquoiseElephant · 23/01/2008 09:39

Sanguine, your science head did good. The amount in your breastmilk is minimal, and AFAIK it diffuses out of the milk back into your bloodstream at the same rate as your liver metabolises the alcohol. So unless you're can't-even-stand-up drunk you're not really subjecting your baby to some sort of boozy milk cocktail.

chipmonkey · 23/01/2008 09:49

Oh, Stealth, did you not know that? Boys never survive bf, that is why the human race is entirely female! Oh no, hang on................

TREBUCHET · 23/01/2008 09:58

I was informed by a nurse, 8 hours after c sec that I had the "wrong nipples." I'm not joking. 5 of them yanked and tristed them, I was crying, DS was crying. After 20 mins they announced, "Well that usually works" and wandered off. 1 remained to offer up that nugget of wisdom. DS did not feed for 3 days, and that morning when I was released on my notes it had "breastfeeding well" 3 times!!!!! Aaaaaargh!!!!!

chipmonkey · 23/01/2008 22:37

What were you supposed to do, Treb, run out to Mothercare and get the correct nipples?

Susiemj · 24/01/2008 05:53

o thankyou for this.

early hours - been trying to get through to bf help lines in themidlle of the night - no success - because i'm so upset by people telling me i'm doing it wrong. this has given me the hope and sense of humour to get through til morning. thanks ladies.

toomanyshoes · 24/01/2008 05:58

Hi Susie! just spotted your name on active convos so thought I'd say hello. Am also up BFing, bloody knackered!

Susiemj · 24/01/2008 05:59

hello toomanyshoes!

Susiemj · 24/01/2008 06:01

How's th bf going toomany?

i think mine's going fine if not conventionally. others seem to think not, which is really stressful, but they're not listening to me.

sorry for hijack you others

toomanyshoes · 24/01/2008 06:20

Going ok but been prescribed domperidone to increase supply - much easier when they get bigger and you can just make them a sandwich!

Susiemj · 24/01/2008 06:32

hell yes!

Sabire · 24/01/2008 09:50

"That bf babies gain less weight! My daughter went from 9th centile at birth to 98th at about 14 weeks onward ."

The new bf growth charts have a steeper growth curve for the first 14 - 16 week than the old charts (based on the growth patterns of a population of mostly ff and mf babies), meaning that exclusively bf babies seem to grow faster on average for the first few months.

It's mainly in the second half of the first year that the rate of growth in bf babies slows, so that by the end of that first year they've gained on average one lb less than ff babies.

Sorry - just had to chip that one in.

dal21 · 24/01/2008 10:07

Sabire - LOL at your growth chart. When DS was weighed at 6 weeks, he had moved up a centile. The paed basically said that if he continued to move up centiles there would be a problem and I should keep an eye on his intake. To which I responded - he is a 6 week old excl. bfed baby who feeds every three hours (which is when he was hungry) - do you suggest I starve him??

She couldnt answer it - needless to say I havent been back to have him weighed/ seen. Got on the scales with him last week and he has now moved up 3 centiles (dropped nightfeeds at 12 weeks and now only has 4/5 feeds a day) - no doubt I would be told that I had a huge problem on my hands.

In all seriousness...as humourous as parts of this thread are, am and all at once that this is the advice mothers are being given by so called professionals. It isnt at all acceptable.

StealthPolarBear · 24/01/2008 10:32

chipmonkey - my (I thought exclusively for 23 weeks) bf DS must have had formula or baby rice slipped to him when I wasn't looking then!

Original poster

EdieMcredie · 24/01/2008 16:36

I agree Dal about this being unacceptable.

Maybe we should print this thread for all those well meaning but uninformed professionals!

OP posts:

chipmonkey · 24/01/2008 21:28

Stealth! My ds2 was so chubby when exclusively bf and had such fat legs that I used to feel that I had to say to the GP, "I am just breastfeeding, honest!"

StealthPolarBear · 25/01/2008 14:26

You should have had a T-shirt made

claireybee · 25/01/2008 16:43

When I had dd my mum used to always tell me "10 minutes each side then not for 3 hours". She would always tell me off for putting dd back onto the same side or for feeding her again within 3 hours and would sometimes even come and take dd from me as I went to feed her saying "You aren't hungry again, give mummy a break"

Whenever I tried to tell her that wasn't the advice that was given anymore she'd say "Oh of course I never had children or breastfed" in a sarcastic voice. Er, well actually you did only breastfeed for a few weeks because you "didn't have enough milk" mum!

Told her yesterday that ds has put on 25oz in 2 weeks and she said "Oh have you started giving him bottles?"

chipmonkey · 25/01/2008 22:17

clairybee, is your Mum my MIL? When ds1 was born, she banged on for weeks and weeks about "getting him into a routine" and telling tales of such-a-body who was "doing that demand-feeding and finding it very hard" Eventually after one phone conversation too many I burst out "You have to feed them on demand or your milk supply doesn't increase!" After which there was a brief silence followed by "Oh, maybe that's what happened to me, my milk dried up after 6 weeks" Right.

StealthPolarBear · 26/01/2008 11:19

My mum mix fed me for a few weeks before bottle feeding as I was a hungry baby and she "didn't have enough milk". So sad that that advice was given at the time and it meant a lot of women stopped bf before they wanted to.

yetanothername · 26/01/2008 12:14

I was all fired to up argue with people after having a 12lb 4oz baby, but no-one even hinted that I wouldn't be able to exclusively feed him... I was a tad disappointed!

My mum did start mentioning a routine and stuff and I argued her points with all the research I'd read and in the end she got mad and said about me spouting all this research stuff and there was nothing more natural than breastfeeding. Hah! I said if that's the case surely routines are unnatural and feeding on demand is the most natural! Hah! Ahem.

princessmama · 26/01/2008 18:42

That babies should only need feeding every 4 hours. I wish, I seem to be feeding my lo permanently during a growth spurt. No one ever talks about cluster feeds, so it is understandable when some women think they haven't got enough milk.

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