Confusion from Parenting Class

[LtEveDallas]

Hi all,

My friend has ust come back from a 'parenting class' (she is due in 7 weeks) and has told me a couple of things that I am a bit about.

Now it's 4 yrs since I had a Newborn, so maybe I'm out of touch, but could anyone confirm/deny the following statements made by the Midwife running the course as I'm tempted to just shout BOLLOCKS, but I suppose I could be wrong :

1. My friend intends to BF but today asked about giving the newborn water as well as we are living in a hot country (45 degrees in the summer). Midwife said no because "baby would get nipple confusion"....... I did this, no problem, never heard of nipple confusion????

1. She also said "Breastfed babies dont take as well to dummies"....... Mine did, but was I just lucky?

1. Also, after a discussion on EBM she told them "Not to express for 14 days because the milk wouldnt be good enough, it takes 14 days for it to come in properly".......WTF???

I'm concerned that my friend is being told bollocks, but dont want to confuse her. Help me out here, please!!

1. Babies living in hot countries don't need extra water, just extra breast milk.

1. I don't know but why would anyone want to use a dummy anyway if they are breastfeeding?

1. I don't think expressing is a good idea until breastfeeding is properly established.

So basically I think the advice your friend is getting sounds fine.

Nipple confusion (it is a well known term!) - babies should not get any teats or dummies when they are learning to breastfeed. They don't need water anywhere in the world (breastmilk is something like 90 per cent water anyway!) and it is possible that a learner breastfeeder would learn less effectively if given a different thing to suck. The main reason against water is the fact that babies don't need it, and anything other than breastmilk introduces a risk of infection and a risk that bf is not successful.

Dummies - no idea about bf babies not taking 'as well' to dummies, but they don't need them and prob should not have them until bf is well established.

Expressing - not necessary, terrific hassle, only do it if you have to in the early days, but nothing to do with the milk not being good enough for 14 days...that is strange advice.

Hope this helps!

bumping for the experts, but I think that the midwife is right actually on all those points

It sounds about right to me.

I think you'll find that it's not necessary to give a fully BF baby water regardless of where you live.

Bottles and dummies can cause nipple confussion as the sucking action is different (easier I believe and therefore could cause the baby to reject the breast) I imagine the 14 days is really about establishing a responsive milk supply ie supply / demand kind of thing. Don't think it's recommended to express too much too early as it'd cause your body some confussion.

1. Breastfed babies don't need plain water just unlimited access to breastmilk.

1. No idea

1. You can express straight away milk and/or colostrum, however unless there is a pressing need why do it. New mums usually have enough to do without worrying about expressing as well.

Sounds very odd to me. I am NOT an expert but nipple confusion is something midwives talk about. AFAIK it's to do with the fact that sucking on a baby bottle is very different to b/f so for a newborn, could affect their ability to latch onto the mother.

But am not sure whether anyone really needs to give water to a b/f baby anyway, sounds like an urban myth to me. Otherwise populations in hot countries would have died out in the days before formula was developed!

Dummies thing sounds like rubbish, I've known plenty of newborns who are b/f and have dummies

Personally I wouldn't express for a newborn - why go through that hassle? But where mothers are advised to express, you can do it from Day 1 - my sister was told to by (admittedly crappy) hospital midwives. The first milk is colostrum, which is what newborns need for the first couple of days, before 'standard/real/whatever' b/m comes in.

Well I was going to reply but tiktok (oh great tiktok!) has summed it all up really and in a much more informed whay than I ever could have so I'll go now!

1. My friend intends to BF but today asked about giving the newborn water as well as we are living in a hot country (45 degrees in the summer). Midwife said no because "baby would get nipple confusion"....... I did this, no problem, never heard of nipple confusion????

The Midwife is correct. BM is all she will need to keep her baby hydrated. It is advised not to introduce a bottle too early as it can cause nipple confusion - i.e. the baby finds it much easier to feed from the bottle that the baby becomes reluctant to feed from the breast.

1. She also said "Breastfed babies dont take as well to dummies"....... Mine did, but was I just lucky?

Not necessarily true - however the advice is not to give dummies until at least a month old for the same reason as above. Now my ds has had a dummy since day 3 but I think I was lucky (still bfing at 14mo) but I would NOT advise others to do the same.

1. Also, after a discussion on EBM she told them "Not to express for 14 days because the milk wouldnt be good enough, it takes 14 days for it to come in properly".......WTF???

Now that is bollox. It takes 3-5 days for the milk to come in, but even colustrum can be expressed (generally into a syringe as it is only produced in tiny amounts because it is super concentrated). Often newborns are given EBM when they have a difficulty feeding - especially premmies.

HTH

Oh Guys, thanks so much. I wont shout BOLLOCKS then

I suppose it's just because I did everything so differently. My DD was in SCBU for first 4 weeks and I had to express so they could see how much she was getting, the SCBU nurses kept giving her a dummy (I would steel it every time I saw it, but whenever I went back she had a new one!) and the water thing we were advised to do......

So glad I kept my mouth shut (Oh the EBM thing, she asked about it because she has something she wanted to go to the week after her due date, so was going to leave baby with her DH and a bottle of EBM - thats the only reason she wanted to do it. I did point out nicely that she may find she's not quite up to going out at that stage!)

Guys you are great, thanks

Hey, don't be !

At least you didn't immediately tell her what you thought was correct - you did the right thing in looking for confirmation/clarification. Now you can go back to her friend armed with more helpful information.

I'm sure she'll change her mind about the leaving baby only a few days after birth!!

I think the advice she has been given is all sound tbh.
I generally advise not to express for the first few weeks, because imo and ime it can affect supply a little i.e. I would advise putting the baby to the breast as often as possible to make sure supply is established. I think not doing it for 14 days is wuite reasonable advice.
giving a baby water can also affect supply. if a baby want to et or drink, then s/he shoudl be given bm in the early days.
hth

LtEve, If your DD was a premmie then the dummy thing is probably different as I'm pretty certain it's used to help them get used to suckling. Not an expert though, just something I've heard from others.

Ginger, yes she was 6 weeks (3lb) so I suppose that is why they did it - wasn't fun trying to get rid of it 3 yrs later tho'