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.

I've trained with the local PCT (waiting for a test date) to be a peer supporter. I'm not happy with it though, some of the things we were told were absolute rubbish and want to train with someone else. It does depend on your PCT.

The scheme I'm with does visit straight away if requested by the hospital, they can ring and tell us they have someone being discharged today/tomorrow who really needs help. They can be contacted direct by the family or by a HCP. Unfortunately not everyone knows about us.

they do... I rang her on friday morning ..she rang me back on the following wednesday

Forgot to say I went to a group at a GP surgery run by a HV and MW who have done extra training in BFing. They are fantastic! They train most of this area (you can always tell who has been trained by them) so you usually get good advice around here when you get it. They have boasted that no one has ever left them unable to breastfeed and I can really believe it.

missorinoco - you can get info on NCT bfc training at the NCT's website which is www.nct.org.uk

They do provide BFCs - "really experienced ones like the NCT or LLL have". There are just not enough of them, and not all hospitals have them.

I was really lucky to be in a hospital where there was a truly wonderful BFC - when I was struggling at home she came out to me on her day off from work and worked absolute wonders. Without her I would have given up at a couple of weeks; instead I was able to bf for a couple of years.

Agree with dramas - if it is impossible to provide good BFCs at every hospital, then midwives and HVs need better training in order to support new mothers.

The support is so patchy, isn't it, just like with all ante-natal and post-natal care. In some areas, for example, the nuchal scan is provided free. In others, it is only available privately.

NHS care should not be subject to postcode.

it just failed for me now, with DS, because there is NO support other than daily midwife visits out here and we needed A LOT.

very painful latch and my nipples are nearly completely scabbed over.

incredibly painful.

same thing happened with DD1.

i just couldn't stand the pain anymore.

Lcy that HV you speak of is also a bfc with the ABM

Ta!

Oh, I'm sorry to hear that expat.

I couldn't have managed with my very supportive HV and b/f counsellor from the PCT. Was also lucky to have dh backing me and my NCT antenatal group (who all b/f so were all going through the same thing at the same time).

Forgot to add, ALL HVs and midwives should have proper training in b/f. It's a disgrace that they don't.

it's how it is, edam.

he'll live.

of course he will. But it's a crying shame that you have both been let down by the NHS.

it's not surprising, though, edam. someone like us would have needed lots of help. i'd have needed someone there to get that latch sorted at every feed for a LOT of feeds and get me used to feeding lying down because my depression ramps up my anxiety levels when the sleep deprivation gets extreme.

plus, he shredded my nipples. i mean, they are one big scab right now .

in our area we have peer support volunteers. If they sign up we will go out to the mothers' homes. help with any problems. but not being BFCs there's only so much we can do.
as well the NHS is the area doesn't really appreciate what we do. and we've almost lost our funding a number of times because of it.
the NHS doesn't see BF help as a necessity.
and i can't tell you the number of times i've heard bad advice that moms have received from HVs and MWs. like dramasequalzero said we need to better train those who are already there!

expat. was he checked for tongue tie?

hope you are settling in with him though and the girls are loving their baby brother.

meant to add to the discussion that I think the level of hospital support is down to whether the individual hospital has signed up to the Unicef baby friendly initiative and also what the local trust policies are.

I had quite good advice when I was in last weekend having DS, if I asked for it, but I was also quite disappointed at the amount of times I was advised/offered/asked if I wanted some formula for him

no, he was never checked for tongue tie.

it hurt like the bloody dickens and try though i might his latch looked okay to me, too. it really did.

he does have issues with shaking his head when he gets hungry, and putting his handies in the road (which DD2 did, easily solved with a swaddling blanket) and clamping down, and when he chomped it was incredibly painful to break his latch.

i used the technique i was taught to use to bridle a horse, but he was worse than the worst old nag i've ever had to ride.

it's a moot point now, though.

I was v lucky- our local health centre have an excellent bf support team - all nhs.
I didn't have any problems thankfully, but others who did went on to successfully bf for many many months.

There's no way I would have been able to breastfeed DS1 without the 'lactation consultant' spending an hour each day with me for the week I was in hospital in Sydney. DS1 sucked an inch-long flat from my nipple (I feel your pain, expat -owww!) and I had to express for 48 hours while it healed. But we did it - I fed him exclusively for about 11 months in the end.

Looking back what really helped was her huge expertise and her kindliness, and perhaps most importantly, she never behaved as if I could give up. Once she had established that I really did want to BF, she took charge in a way which gave me the confidence that there were solutions to the problems we were having. Lots of the health professionals I have met here are too ready to let you give up, and too diffident to encourage you to keep going. It's almost like they want to respect your choices so much that they stand back from it all. And I haven't met many who have much experience in seeing lots of mothers overcome problems to BF successfully, so it must be hard for them to encourage women that it is in fact possible. You do need lots and lots of hand-holding and confident warm reassurance when it's not working.

I don't know if they still have this in our area, but after ds2 was born there was a project called 'community mothers'. A group of about 12 of us, recommended by mw & hv were given training and techniques to support and advise bf mums. We initially visited the maternity unit and for any mums that wanted help, we'd provide a support network, and gave our phone numbers so they always had someone to talk to.

Unfortunately I had to give this up as Ds1 was taken into hopital when dd2 was only 4 months old, so i don't know if it's still an ongiong thing.

Imho it was an excellent idea though, 24 hr free support from women who knew exactly ehat you were going through.

thing is, you see a lot of threads on here bashing mums who threw in teh towel or never tried it again, usually after a bad experience.

well, there's often a reason for it.

determination is one component, but man, when it hurts and you have PND and you're hurting after the birth and you have other kids at home and blah blah blah there's a lot that comes into play and when you don't have adequate support then there's a good chance it's not going to work.

procrastinatingparent is right: you need qualified help IRL over and over, sometimes for a bit of time.

that's not there and because it costs a lot of money, i wouldn't hold my breath.

sounds sore expat....my little man is having similar issues and has had thrush as well which hasn't helped. Nearly gave up the ghost on Friday but am using shields for a bit till my nips are less sore.

The other issue is that a little knowledge is sometimes more harmful than none at all.

My Dsis had her baby at a hospital with an on site bfing support team and I thought she would get off to a flying start with that kind of support.

Not so. The woman gave her nipple shields when her dd was 24 hours old, didn't tell her they were strictly a short term solution so she should spend as much time as possible trying to latch without them.

Despite mine and a very good NCT bfc's best efforts her dd was formula fed after 10 weeks because she wouldn't latch without the shields and Dsis had pretty much no supply because of the shields.

Having that kind of 'support' is as bad, if not worse than having no support - this woman was supposed to help her feed, instead she put the death knell on it from the first day .

I would love to become a bfc but I can't commit the time until my dcs are a bit older.