My mother starved us as newborns....

[aurorec]

My mother had all three of her children in France in the 70s- she told me recently she was told then that colostrum wasn't real milk and shouldn't be given to babies.

She seems to remember that my siblings and I were given NOTHING until her milk came in. I just can't believe that... Has anyone heard anything like that before???
Surely we were given at least formula?

well....the fact she is Muslim has nothing to do with the belief in withholding colostrum, and will have more to do with the geographical area she comes from!

True, it's just the way she explained it.

oatcake where did you get the 'I know that muslim women prefer to bottlefeed until their milk comes in '
You are the first person who has ever told me that.. Being a muslim woman with muslims family and friends.

Breastfeeding is considered a greatly rewarding act if the mother chooses to do so. I've never met a single muslim woman who started out bottle feeding till her milk comes in, surely that would make it all the more difficult to establish breastfeeding?

I was told that if you were unable to bf but had been able to give collostrum then you will have passed a lot of immunity to the baby through the collostrum.

I did some expressing in the hospital and mw's were very enthusiastic about the few ml's of collostrum I was able too express.

Once the collostrum went though the milk never came to replace it

I'm glad I found this thread. Tiktok, can I ask something here? When my DD was born, my milk didn't come in until day 5. I was absolutely frantic for those five days, thinking that I'd never have any milk. I spoke to midwives, breastfeeding counsellors, none of whom could tell me why my milk wasn't coming in, nor could they advise me what to do until it came in. I ended up giving DD some sips of water from a cup on about day 4. I know she was hungry and she lost about a pound - she was 8lb 4 when she was born.

Once my milk did come in she was fine and I breastfed until she was 2. But if I have any more, I'm desperate to know what the dangers are of a baby having nothing but colostrum for 5 days. Can they dehydrate? What if my milk took even later to come in next time?

Thank you!

Rockin- start a new thread. You'll get lots of experiences.

Thanks Tik - what a fascinating article.

I didn't know that it was even possible to withhold colostrum. Just assumed it was a natural progression...

fuzzy wuzzy, - I base what I said on my experience as a midwife. Apologies, I meant MANY muslim women bottle feed prior to breastfeeding on their return home.

... at the hospital where I work...

quick hijack: stillstanding, I only had two midwives to work with yesterday so I didn't get chance to put your email in front of them, but I do know with mec, we like to feed mec babies regularly to keep blood sugars up which will help to keep body temp up, and reduce the chances of 'grunting' (can be indicative of lack of oxygen) but I'm sorry that you seem to have been browbeaten into bottle feeding without a decent explanation...