BF myths: did you stop BF due to something that turned out to be untrue ?

[kookool]

I never realised how wonderful and important, indeed an obsession, BF would be for me until the birth of my son about 9 months ago. I have told people that the only thing that will stop me from BF my DS is if I get hit by a large bus

However, both before and after his birth I have heard lots of what I would term "myths" about BF, some of which have stopped people I know from BF.

One myth involves a memebr of my own family. My sister's 3rd baby was 5 kilos at birth - she started giving him formula at around 3 months old because she was convinced she could never produce enough breastmilk for such a large baby . I don't know who told her this, but despite the fact that we have allergies in the family (I have heyfever, her oldest DS has heyfever and our brother's DD has both asthma and eczema) someone must have rammed it into her head that such a large baby could never live on breastmilk alone.

At the time I didn't know anything about BF, and she probably wouldn't have listened to her younger sister any way . But I am quite saddened by the whole thing, esp. as her baby is now at the risk of developing an allergy. She also put him on solids at 4 months, for the same silly reason: "he is big - he is always hungry".

I would just like to hear other people's stories and how a "myth" got you to stop BF.

blimey i wish i'd known about the liquid anti-histamine. I gave up for a few days when I was on tramadol as I was told I couldn't take it and bf. But managed to restart. I didn't know ibuprofen was ok either. My pharmacist just kept saying nothing was safe!

well I was given an anti-histamine that was safe for BF by GP on prescription .. but it came in liquid form and I'm not sure if that was because that's all they had at pharmacy to be honest

I think you just ask and make them look up their little books

I was on tramadol for pain relief with DVT while in hospital and no-one queried it thank god coz the alternative was co-codamol which just made me abd DS drowsy

I am adding this link for everyone who might benefit from the info. on the safety of meds. during BF: Many others have said how wonderful kellymom.com is here on MN and to be honest it has saved me many times when I have had various BF problems and my GP and HV are unreliable to say the least:

have a look at this

good luck everyone !

twiglett & jane313 - I have just checked the safe meds. list I have provided a link for below - the antihistamine which is "safest" is clarytin which I believe you can also get in liquid form over the counter at any chemist or get a prescription from your GP if you have maternity exemption and then you don't have to pay for it ! I will be getting some for the impending heyfever season then

I have a suspected milk allergy awaiting investigation. I was told by my doctor that if I don't have dairy products I will starve my daughter.
He didn't consider soya milk an alternative and said it was up to me if I wanted her to go hungry.

What an ignorant man, pixi.....in both senses of the word.

My sis-in-law (in france) stopped after a weeks because she said her boobs were too big and her dd couldn't breathe. To this day I'm convinced that she just didn't have her latched on properly, and didn't have any support from professionals.

Not quite the same but did nearly stop due to something described by NCT as a myth but which turned out to be true - v nice otherwise lady said you could eat absolutely anything during breastfeeding as it made no difference to milk. Fortunately put 2 and 2 together when I realised that whenever I had garlic or grapes ds got the zonkers and didn't want to feed; just cut them both out and we fed successfully until he self-weaned at 9 months!

Polina - glad you found a solution....but for most people, garlic and grapes really would not cause a baby to refuse to feed, and most people really can eat anything they like. It truly is a myth that in general bf women have to watch what they eat. However, that's not to say you are mistaken in what happened to you and your baby - but you are rare in what you found

I didn't stop (TF), but my GP told me that I'd have to at a few weeks with DD1 as I had mastitis (or-maybe-it's-an-abcess-and-if-it-gets-any-worse-go-to-A&E-to-have-it-lanced!!), and he wasn't sure if I could feed whilst taking the anti-b's, so ought to stop, in case.

I now know it was a wee blocked duct, possibly inducing extremely mild mastitis.

Idiot.

(His is one of the surgeries we've since provided with a BF info pack, and arranged a named surgery BF informed GP - not him, surprisingly! )

I gave up breastfeeding DS at 6 weeks, not because of a myth but because NO ONE told me how to keep my breastmilk going when he was Nil-by-mouth for 48 hours when he needed an op as a 4 week old. I just expressed when my breasts felt a bit full and uncomfy ..
So when he started feeding again, guess what? Not much going on in the milk department so my mother and DH told me he had to go onto formula as I didn't have enough milk ... If only I had Mumsnet then because I would have known that all I needed to do was go to bed with the baby for a couple of days and feed, feed, feed until my milk came back ... sigh
With DD I knew better ... I had the 'You'll never feed that big baby all on your own, I'll get a bottle' from the midwife before DD was even 12 hours old ... I was stuck in bed (after c-s) and she was approaching DD with the bottle (after I told her I didn't want dd to have it) and I shouted, "You go near my baby with that bottle and I will press the emergency button" .. she went off in a strop to get another MW who backed me up and so then she refused to come and help me for the rest of the night.
DD was 10lbs 10oz at birth and I successfully breastfed her for 9 months (exclusively for 18 weeks) ... so BOO SUCKS to that old cow of a MW!!!!
Oh, and I didn't need to feed DD in the night from 3 months old, and I HAD to wake her for feeds during the day ... [ghosty blows raspberry to said witch bitch MW who is probably still hindering women's breastfeeding progress in Auckland Hospital as we speak]

Thanks for good wishes, tiktok - I wonder if it depends on how one metabolises particular foods, or how one's own body reacts to things? I chatted about this to several other mums yesterday and whilst most found exactly as you say, that whatever you eat didn't matter, several of us had found reactions to certain things, and different ones in each case. Or perhaps my son just didn't like the taste of garlic, just as my friend's didn't like ginger!

oh - and I nearly didn't even start breastfeeding as had been told if I didn't do it straight away it would be impossible! Thankfully 5-day delay didn't slow us up for more than a rough night or two....