why don't the NHS provide breast feeding counsellors ?

[gokwancarr]

I mean really experienced ones like the NCT or LLL have? why don't they come out for a standard visit, to mothers who have expresed the desire to bf, within the first week after birth (when it is most common for mothers to stop bfing through pain/thinking baby not getting enough/etc)?
i was just reading another thread on why people thought they didn't succeed with bfing. i can honestly say that i would not have continued to bf dd without the information i recieved from other mums on mumsnet....and one MW who came on the wrong day (but thank god she did i was sobbing on the sofa wondering why i could only express 40mls of milk on day 3 poor naive me)i really struggled to bf dd and every health professional i saw had a different opinion, looking back now i can even tell which ones must never have bf in their lives. i just think that during my pregnancy i was bombarded with so much written info on WHY i should bf but very little practical help on HOW. also it was never mentioned in any of the info that some babies suckle for hours and hours in the first days, as dd did, and this is why i nearly gave up cos i thought she wasn't getting any milk.

That would make sense, money I guess is the reason. I am hoping to become a BFC in the future, but it's hard because as you don't get paid you are out of pocket on petrol etc. The NHS should definatly fork out. I guess they think MWs are trained in it, kill 2 birds with one stone.

It's a really good point.

My H/V recently did some b/fing training, but still gives crap advice

It's a good question and presume it's all down to funding. Some MWs and HVs are very good on BFing issues, but I think it's up to them as individuals to keep up with any training over and above the basics they get as part of their jobs.

The NHS has set up it's breastfeeding helpline now in conjunction with LLL and the ABM (I think), so you can talk to a trained counsellor, but your idea of a trained counsellor who comes out to see new mums at home is a great idea.

petition?

oooh love the idea of petition! you start it i'll sign

yes, ill sign

& in hospital, MWs don't have the time & @ Frimley they only have a BFC for about 2 hours twice a week.

It never ceases to amaze me that the NHS thinks that sticking a couple of posters up in the GPs waiting room extolling the virtues of breastfeeding is enough. I would sign a petition but I honestly don't think it would make a jot of difference. Sorry.

A petition could highlight how women stop breastfeeding in the first 6 weeks due to lack of support asking for one home visit by a lll breastfeeding advisor?

It's a question of long-term capacity building, gokwancarr. To meet the unmet need across the UK would need thousands and thousands of extra staff, all trained to a good level. Some areas have maternity care assistants, who cover breastfeeding, but their quality is very variable - extra training could fix it, however, I think, but they are still few in number. In some areas peer supporters are useful but they really are not trained to be able to fix some very difficult latch issues or to recognise a sick baby or deal with an emergency.

People who train to be breastfeeding counsellors (like me, for instance) usually don't want to do it as a full time job, and they prefer to work the hours they decide for themselves, often fitting in round the demands of their family on their terms. It takes 2-3 years to train as a breastfeeding counsellor and even if 1000 women decided tomorrow they wanted to train, there would not be the trainers to train them.

I mean, the NHS could develop a plan so that in (say) 2020 there would be enough paid bfcs to meet the neet, but it would take that long

Need a big survey & petition. When you think about really how important it is, it's suprising how little support is officially given. There is such a big area too of special breastfeeding needs, where I guess people shrug and suggest formula.

My local trust provides a BFC - she runs a clinic
I think home visits would be far too costly

they do

they did at St George's in London, where I had dd and ds

she was on holiday when I had dd, typically

I think that rather than provide breastfeeding counsellors, the NHS should ensure that the people who already care for pregnant women and new mums, i.e. midwives and HVs, are actually trained properly in how to support breastfeeding. Yes it would cost but then it would also save money, because it costs to treat gastrointestinal infections, ear infections, respiratory infections etc (which are more common in babies that are not breastfed).

Plus it wouldn't all be down to the NHS. Midwives and HVs do university courses to train initially, don't they? How much breastfeeding training do these courses include, and why don't the university departments ensure it's adequate? Obviously people would need to keep their skills up-to-date with refresher courses and the NHS would need to pay for those, but it would still be money well spent.

I agree, drama. We are never going to have enough bfcs to fulfill a personal visit schedule for every new mother....but we do have midwives and HVs already whose job it is to support breastfeeding by knowing how it works, recognising when it isn't, and offering the right interventions...just knowing not to give rubbish advice would be a start

They do. Here they do anyway. Not enough probably.

i knew tiktok would have good info
thinking about it a personal visit to each new mum is perhaps rather impractical, but surely standardising training amongst existing staff is not impossible, and as someone else pointed out in the long run would save the nhs thousands of pounds, both in the short term for babies health needs but also in the long term by reducing obestity, risk of diabetes coeliac disease and every thing else the info leaflets are always banging on about.....so really my question should be 'why are the staff employed by the NHS to support new mothers and babies sometimes so poorly trained in breastfeeding issues?'
I'm tempted to write to my MP but like crackfox said, i don't think it will make any difference. it's such a shame.

money, i'm sure.

Making sure the professionals already going into homes are properly trained and up to date would have helped me. I was beside myself by day 4, having snatched an hour or two of sleep in total since before I went into labour.

The midwife that visited daily - and who I trusted at the time - suggested I tried controlled crying. Yes, you read right, controlled crying at 4 days old .

Needless to say she was on formula by day 5.

i agree there should be specialists for extreme cases. i went through hell for 10 weeks. the whole team of local midwives had a look but no one could solve my son's poor latch. one of them gave me the card of a consultant whose rate is £150 for 1.5 hours.
thankfully, things improved just as i was ready to stump up the cash.

There were breast feeding counsellors on my NHS maternity ward who did rounds to help mothers feed and there was a drop-in breastfeeding clinic at the hospital that could be used by any mother after the birth.

Had to post because the Midwives at my hospital were fantastic and helped me breastfeed despite the fact that i was very ill after the birth of my baby. We also have an NHS health visitor that was awarded an MBE for her services to breastfeeding women. I feel that myself and DD are very lucky!

Oh and if you get stuck at home whilst under midwife care one will come out to you on call.

Out of interest, Tiktok, where is the training and how is it done?