breastfeeding counsellor

[Susiemj]

Does anyone know how I can find a counsellor who can visit me or I can go to? My baby is a keen feeder but I think she has a weak suck. I've been to local bf group and she's in correct position etc and they couldn't help me further. I want to know how to help her feed effiiently.

I have the helpline numbers but haven't yet rung. I think it's a case of needing to be seen feeding.

Susie - how old is your dd? why do you think she has a weak suck? is she gaining weight well/plenty of wet & dirty nappies etc?

sorry, in answer to your op, i think if you phone the helplines then they can arrange a visit.

Depends where you are Susie, ay my hospital we have abreastfeeding clinic, but in some places they don't, as UD said, call the helplines, they'll be able to arrange for you to see someone or advise somewhere to go.

Hi UrbanDryad,

She's five weeks old. She gains weight pretty slowly (and has lost weight - leading to a whole bottle / formula / ebm - very distressing - saga).

She's being fed every two hours and is now really only having bm either from me or expressed. The bottle doesn't seem to be a problem - she latches on really well.

There are two problems - one is that she is a very sleepy baby (for which I do the usual flicking and tickling etc).

The second is that she seems to flutter-suck all the way through a feed (usually 20 minutes long). I think she gets milk as I have milk on my nipples or spurting out if I take her off the breast or she slips off it asleep but she never does the deep suck/swallow routine that seems to be the ideal.

She is sometimes hungry when she comes off the breast - increasingly now she's more alert and feeding more greedily. I give her small amounts of ex-bm (which is part of the plan anyway for the moment).

The helpline numbers are best, and should help you find more bf groups, or more local support.

All the counsellors you pay for suck, from what I know.

Ok, lots of posts since I started writing mine. Have you tried breast compression? You sound like a textbook case for it ... just a sec, I'll find a link.

I do compress. I'll have a look at your link to see if I'm doing it right.

here

thanks Notquitecockney.

I was just about to link that NQC

have you tried having her in a sling and just having access to the breast all the time? i did this with ds (very hungry baby) and it worked very well for us.

I haven't Urban - what kind of sling would be best?

i've got one of these and one of these, i have to say the ring sling is lovely, and i use it now to cart ds around (mainly on the Tube!)

hi susie, i have had similar weight gain/loss issues...the Breast Feeding Network were the best of the organisations from my experience - NCT was an answering machine and no-one ever called back, LLL were v vague and never sent me the info they promised, but BFN had someone round at my house the next day! It will depend on your area though i suppose. we also got help from the lactation consultant at the hospital. good luck

Caz...just a little explanation about why NCT might not have called back: we always call back, I promise you, but just sometimes, we can't make out the number on the recorded message, or else there is a transcription error (when we hear the no. for some reason we copy it down wrongly)...and mothers have been known to leave a wrong no.

Or we call back and there is no reply.

We cannot play the message back once we have heard it, so if there is something wrong, it stays wrong

Glad you got help, though.

Needed to put the record straight, that's all

hi! tiktok i'm sorry i didn't mean to be "down" on the nct - i know it was just my one-off experience and not representative of what anyone else will experience. i think i am just lucky re BFN, I now know there are a good few advisors in the area and there is always someone at the end of the phone, but that is just pot luck with where you stay!

that's mad you can't replay messages though.