Can my dippy HV really be right???????

[milfAKAmonkeymonkeymoomoo]

Had DS nearly three weeks ago, he was on the 93rd centile for weight and height and has just creeped over the 98th centile. He is exclusively BF and she said I was over feeding him and should offer water at night!!??

BF DD for 15mths so not a complete novice

She is WRONG wrong wrong. Simple as that.

YOu can't over feed with exclusive BF, end of.

at the awful advice that gets given.

I have always understood that it is impossible to overfeed a breastfed baby and therefore deduce that she is talking bobbins. Dangerous bobbins too with the water nonsense as night feeds are very important for both of you.

No No No.

Mad. Pure madness.

Continue you as you were.

Tis what I thought, but somebody could take this advice seriously

I remember hearing a HV say this to a new mother - that she was over feeding her newborn baby - the mother looked devastated. I didn't know anything about bfing at the time so couldn't say anything to reassure the mother

Going from 93rd to 98th isn't that big a jump anyway.

How are things going with you Belgo?

And our jury says: eeehoooo. You can't overfeed a bf baby, and they'll sort themselves out if left alone. DS went up to the 99.8th percentile for a long time. My HV (amazingly sensible) said that as he was self regulating his intake, he'd do as he needed.

That is such TERRIBLE advice I think it needs complaining about actually. I mean that. Talk to your GP.

You can't hijack your own thread
We're fine, I'm feeling recovered from the birth but really don't want to go through those two weeks again! Ds is doing great and finally bfing is going well, after a very shakey start, despite him being my third baby bfing has been so difficult!

Isn't it shocking that a so called trained professional can speak such utter shite and dangerous shite too. As you say someone without access to the truth could easily believe this.

I would report her.

yes actually I would report her - giving water to a three week old is potentially dangerous advice.

she is quite simply, WRONG

a baby, regardless of whether formula or bottle fed, NEEDS night feeding

she is dangerously wrong

please report her to ensure she is updated on her training

some parents would follow the advice and could end up with an undernourished very distressed baby

It's very, very normal for BF babies to shoot up the centiles anyway. They drop back down over time. All of mine rose at least 2-3 centile lines within the first month. I was always told how well i was feeding.

I'm actually very about you so called HV. She should be called an UNHEALTHY VISITOR if you as me!

unbelievable! he's only 3 weeks old - he's hardly had time to get obese!!!! stupid woman (i mean your HV by the way!!)

I'm really depressed by this actually - seems like there's always somebody being told to top up or cut back, that frequent feeding isn't ok, that breastfeeding is this highly dangerous activitty which needs regulating (ok that might be an exaggeration). Where are the threads about the health professionals who have faith in breastfeeding?

northurnlurker - my health visitors and doctors here in Belgium have always been supportive of my bfing, despite dd2 going from the 50th percentile to off the bottom of the charts by the age of 6 months.

Hurrah - lets move to Belgium

I would have to say my experience is neutral - they've never said anything really bad - but not too much of massive help either.

oh no not another one...

shame yours is not losing weight, then she could recommend formula, what a dipstick

research by the Infant Growth Foundation has shown that bf babies tend to creep up the centiles first and make their way down the centiles from around 4months. So that makes yours entirely normal.

I say well done on such great breastfeeding

hijack alert: dag overbuurvrouw? waarvandaan? (hi overbuurvrouw, where from?)

So interested to read this, I'm in a similar position - ds3 has gone from just over 91st to just over 98th since birth 5 weeks ago. HV has been supportive and full of lovely comments about the wonders of full fat milk (!) if anyone its me that has wondered - although funny enough I got ds2's red book out just now and noticed that he did exactly the same before dropping gradually over time down to the 50th where he is now at 4 years.

So glad to hear your HV is officially a plonker!

Now you see I was in trouble because DS just stayed on his (incredibly low) centile instead of shooting up.

Me too mrsboring, with ds1 - stayed on the 0.2nd centile for months and months - you can't win! I got used to comments like "did you remember to feed him today?" !

Bad mum alert! I never had either of my boys weighed once they got past the 6 week stage. They are 7 and 3 yrs now and perfectly fine. Your HV is an arse and dangerous with it.

How odd!? I didn't know you could over feed a 3 week breast fed baby (or any breast fed baby for that matter) - presumably your milk will only have been 'in' for just over two weeks and you will both be only just learning how to breast feed. What does she think is in your breasts? Gold Top?

Now are you sure this woman was the health visitor? Not some random person standing next to the scales?

Again she is soooo WRONG.

My ds1 was totally breastfed and he was off the scale after 3 weeks. At 11 months old he was 30lbs. They a HV told me he was so fat he would not walk till 18 months.

My DS2 is also b/f and was again very big very quick, I would assume that he is also off the scale as he is approx 24lbs at 6 months. The only differnce this time is I REFUSE to attend those daft clinics so they cant chart on their silly charts and make me cry. Most HVs have never had a kid anyway.