My mum said something that made me sad yesterday.

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She bf me for 2 weeks. Yesterday she told me that the doctor told her that she wasn't making enough milk for me and gave her tablets to dry her milk up. She said she didn't understand why, if she didn't have enough milk, she would need tablets to dry it up, and why her breasts were massive and in agony. It made me sad because I felt she was still sad about it. With the right support for her it could have been so different.

My mum had me in 1972 and the routine was exactly as you describe SweetKitty. It hadn't occurred to her until ds was born that I must have been ff at night - she just assumed I slept through from birth .

They would weigh the babies after each bf and put a bottle on the end of your bed if the required weight wasn't achieved.. My mum got advice from a woman in having her second baby to say that I wouldn't take the bottle. I should imagine that was the only reason she managed to continue with the bf as I was a tiny baby (but perfectly healthy) and had slow weight gain throughout my childhood.

Really though, if someone didn't have an amazing supply these sorts of hospital regimes would have set you up to fail. When she had my brother 2 years later it was in a different hospital (in Scotland, I was born in London, don't know if this was significant) and completely different - v pro bf.

My aunt had my cousin in Scotland at the same time and was given better food than the ff women to keep her strength up! The midwives were amazed she was bf (only one in the ward) and were v pro.

How sad. It's a shame about that people are told such inaccurate info about bf. It is getting better but people from a slightly older generation believe these things as gospel. I got annoyed recently at a toddler group my 3 mth bf lo is quite colicky and 2 wks on the trot she screamed the place down, I know it was down to wind. A woman there wanted to give her a rich tea biscuit to 'suck on' the first week and then the 2nd time said she thought my lo was hungry and maybe I 'didn't have enough milk!'. My lo is big for her age and I certainly do have enough milk. This woman is in her 40's and bottle fed her dc's so obviously not v. clued up about bf.

I had a conversation with my mum about bf a couple of weeks ago as I have always felt that my mum has undermined my efforts to bf "oh, is that baby feeding again?", "Surely you should only be feeding every 4 hours" that sort of thing...The sad thing is that she means really well but is so ignorant and it's obviously typical of her generation.

I was staying with my parents when i had DS1 and my mum went on and on about him still being hungry when i bf and made comments like "give him some real milk" i.e. formula As a result, i totally lost confidence and gave up quite early on (although in the end managed to mix feed until he was about 15 mo). I suppose deep down I feel really, really angry about this as DS1 was a great feeder and there was no reason on earth why I shouldve failed at bf apart from ignorance and crap support from not all around including NHS professionals.

Anyway, when my mum had me, I apparently refused to latch on (was very premature for the time) so was given cows milk inexplicably so no wonder I was a sickly baby... My mum managed to bfeed my brother until he was 6 wks old and then was told by her doctor to stop as she didnt have enough milk.

It's so, so sad. When I pointed out to my mum that she did have enough milk but that my brother had merely hit a growth spurt and hence needed to feed more in order to up supply. My mum looked like she wanted to cry. It's despicable really, how HCPS have let women down not in the past but now.

Sorry, long ranty post....

My grandmother has told me about a dozen times since DD was born that she had to stop bfing my dad at four months because her milk was too rich, because that is what she was told. Eventually I told her that it was nonsense, just one of the theories doctors had about colicky babies, and that her milk was fine, and now I feel bad about telling her - before at least she thought she was acting on medical advice and had done the best for her baby, now she knows she was just badly advised. Bearing in mind my dad is nearly 60, I haven't really achieved anything by telling her except upsettling her She's nearly 90 so hopefully she'll forget!

My mum had my sister in Malta in 1958. She tried to bf, but she was told that the baby should have no longer than 10 minutes on each side.

She said that my sister didn't put any weight on, and so was advised to ff her. Which she did, and the baby put weight on.

It was only when she saw me bf'ing, and I explained about foremilk etc that she realised that she should have stuck with it and fed her until she was satisfied, not by what the clock said.

It is about what has happened in the past, but what is worse is the fact that atrocious advice is still being handed out by HCPs today. The government promote bf exclusively to 6mths and there are posters up in all the hospitals I have been in. However, there is hardly any support available due to lack of resoures and ill-trained staff.

My friends mum was told it that FF was much better for your child.
My mum went to the doc about colic and was told it would be better to FF me and he gave her something to dry up her milk too...

My mum was told to supplement feed my sister by the nurse when she was in hospital. By the time she realised it was rubbish, it was too late to get her supply up so she ff'd. I was bf and my DB as well though. Sis has problems with her MIL though who always says 'how do you know she's getting enough? you should give her a bottlejust in case' Thankfully my MIL is very pro-bf and bf all five of her children, so for both DP and I bf is just what you do.
Oh and about the colostrum thing - babies have fat reserves to last up to 3 days so they can survive. Some cultures withold colostrum, and only start bf when the milk comes in.

my dh grandma who is just 80 fed her twins and was encouraged to do so.and she had enough milke for 3 babies so she set some up to scubu as well ( she tells me quite a alot)

My mum had to express for the first few weeks because i wouldn't feed properly but established breast feeding in the end. that was 26 years ago. this is interestngly exactly what my dd did!
she went on to feed my brother with no problems

so I have very supportive parents and grandparents on both sides who agree with breastfeeding.

I myself have mixed fed both my children as a choice because I knew I was going back to work early and didn't want to worry about my babies while I was there and my husband has always alternate nights with the kids so it was in my interest to maintain bottle feeding!