Its official - only breastmilk for 6 months

[GRMUM]

I hesitate to post this after messing up on the special needs thread!But here goes...
guardian.co.uk/medecine/story/0,11381,953912,00.html

sorry but the links aren't working for me today. There isn't a lot of support for women who want to breastfeed here in Greece but milk only (whatever type) for 6 months has been the norm for many years here.

And what was that about industrial expressing twice a day every day plus breastfeeding. What's she trying to do? B/f a small third world nation?

LucieB - Found the other article (I think)- can't link to it though, so hope it's ok to copy it here:

Advice to Make Mums Feel Worse

BABIES should be breastfed until they're six months old, according to the latest Make Mums Feel Worse bulletin from the Department of Health.

Who are the people who come up with this stuff ? Have they ever tried to combine a baby and a job, as 60 per cent of British women do?

Whitehall may be some kind of peasant idyll, where mothers wander round with their young in a sling, suckling on demand: the rest of us have to try to get back into our clothes and go to the office. Squeezing two boiling boulders with embarrassing trickledown effect into but, no, let's not go down Mammary Lane. Yes, maternity leave is now 26 weeks, but only a fraction of that is on full pay and most mums have to go back earlier. No, we cannot, as the DoH suggests, always express milk and hand it over to a carer.

Not unless we want to end up like a friend of mine who had to break off from interviewing the Chancellor of the Exchequer to run into an office and fire the contents of her chest into a Number 11 Downing Street wastepaper basket.

In Britain, we already have enough problems persuading new mums to try breastfeeding.

Raising the bar to six months is demoralising and offensive to those of us who did the best we could for our babies.

Yes, mother's milk gives immunity from everything - germs, Sars, criminal prosecution - but it can be a struggle to provide enough if you lead anything approaching an active life.

I CAN remember feeling appallingly guilty when my hungry son would drain first one side of the milk bar, then the other, and yodel until I produced a bottle of formula. This he would knock back like a prop-forward downing a yard of ale.

Try telling that boy at 3am that if he gave the bottle a miss he'd be less prone to obesity in adulthood. Not me: I needed the sleep.

The breastfeeding counsellor, a person so wholesome she was woven from camomile, suggested that I go to bed every afternoon to get my milk supply up. I smiled politely and wondered in what kind of a life it would be possible to devote three whole hours to boob recharging.

Only at the Department of Health, presumably.

That's exactly the sort of article I was reffering to in my first message!.

I work on a City trading floor and expressed twice a day for 14 months with my first baby, including during 2 week long business trips. I personally didn't find it that big a deal.

Ah but Bells2, surely you realise that it is not like that for all of us? I had a terrible time breastfeeding! Not only was it very painful, but I had problems latching her on correctly, and embarrassingly leaky breasts! I couldn't really do any vigorous exercise as these wet patches around my breasts would soon show! I tried expressing so that I could go out once in a while, but I was never very good at it, and I didn't get the help and support I needed from my HV to really make a success of it. I b/f exclusively for 4 months and through a bout of mastitis, before eventually calling it a day. I was tired and wanted my life back, selfish as that sounds! I had been pregnant for 9 months and b/f for 4, so I had put my life on hold for over a year, and now I just needed some space.

Breastfeeding is not always easy or simple, and some mothers do try really hard, but give up either because of lack of support or from well-meaning people telling them how simple it was, so they felt they were doing something wrong if it hurt all the time. Mothers should be supported no matter what they decide to do. And no-one should assume that because it was easy for them, it will be easy for the rest of the population!

Of course I understand that I was lucky and I was only giving my personal experience. As I have already said though, I did have a very difficult time getting feeding established and my DS's failure to gain weight saw him being referred to a paediatrician.

My point though is simply that advice (and it is only advice after all) from the Department of Health should reflect current medical thinking on what is best for the baby. I personally don't think that we shouldn't be entitled to receive the most up to date medical advice simply because it may engender feelings of guilt in some mothers. This is what some of these articles appear to be suggesting.

It goes without saying that all the necessary support, encouragement etc should be provided to mothers and of course that mothers who don't / can't breastfeed shouldn't be made to feel guilty by the medical establishment for that decision. It is just a question of access to the information.

Fair enough Bells2. I just hate the thought of the government agencies telling us mums what to do! For instance at one time we were told to eat lots of oily fish, now we are told not to because of the mercury that's in there. Maybe if the government spent more time in cleaning up our food and environment instead of dishing out common sense advice, we'd all be better off!

It's testimony to the love we have for our babies that some people take these guidelines so bloody personally, I suppose!! I didn't bf exl any of my three babies to six months - but I dunno, I don't feel guilty about it at all. I did the best I could at the time with the knowledge I had at the time.

As bells says, it's government's role to issue guidelines based on up to date health research. They are not forcing anyone to do anything.

People need guidance. They're not going to be able to read the research themselves. And sure as eggs is eggs, they aren't going to get good information from companies whose raison d'etre is to sell formula or baby foods.

Health professionals need guidance. HVs often tell mothers they 'must' give solids at 16 weeks (read these boards for the evidence). They tell the mothers of happy, bouncing excl bf four month olds that they 'have to give solids' or they won't learn to chew/will waste away/will nevr sleep through the night - whatever. It's rubbish. The guidelines support mothers who see their healthy babies thriving, and who don't want the hassle of messing about with piddly bits of puree, and prefer to wait till the baby can manage a bit of finger food by himself.

It is not especially harmful to give solids before six months (in most cases - allergies and food intolerance may be another issue). It's just unnecessary. Now if you want to wait until your baby shows you he's ready for something else, instead of looking at the calendar to make your mind up, you can do so knowing you have research and official guidance on your side.

If you don't want to wait, or feel your baby needs more than milk sooner than 6 mths, then for goodness sake, just give him solids! No one is saying you're a bad mother....sheesh.

Actually I can't see why mums who didn't BF exclusively to six months feel so affronted - after all they are by far the majority. I delayed introducing solids until 5 mths - got lots of lectures from HV and was one of the last to do it in my NCT group. I think I was one of 2 who kept BF going after 6 mths and was constantly asked when I was going to wean - most of my group stopped around 4-5 mths, for their own reasons, and nobody appeared to feel guilty at all - it was just the norm, either because they felt their milk supply was inadequate or because they wanted their lifestyle/boobs back. When I went back to work, I was the only person expressing at my workplace and I got the impression I was extremely unusual. Given statistics on how long UK babies are BF, surely it is BF'ers who need support? If the guidelines go some way towards that, isn't that better than the current situation? After all the govt tells us not to smoke, not to eat too much fat and sugar and to exercise in moderation, drink no more than x units of alcohol a day - and if we don't follow these guidelines, that's up to us!

Not only did I not get support for extended breastfeeding / expressing at work I got a cacophany of mooing noises from my dozen or so male colleagues everytime I slunk off with my cool bag!.

That's insulting and belittling, bells.

I suppose it's too late for you to bring a sexual harrassment charge?

You would probably be told you lacked a 'sense of humour'....bah.

It is quite true that mothers who bf excl to 6 mths and who do it after going back to work may have a very bad time. If we are talking stress and pressure, these are the mothers who feel it.

Once again can I state that I only managed to feed my last dd exclusively breastmilk till 6 months ( plus express for the special care baby unit). However, I do not feel the least bit guilty about not managing it with the other 3 babies. I got heartily sick and tired of my health visitor telling me that I was going to have problems with my dd starting solids because I was planning to start so late. If this guidance will stp HV's harrassing mothers to start solids at 12 weeks or 14 lbs in weight, that will be a bonus.

well I know that is what is best for my dd but unfortunately she did not get it.... she was fed by nasal gastric tube for three months and I was not able to express for the whole time... i did as much as I could.. but also my milk never really 'came in'. she had breastmilk for about six weeks via the ng tube but I just could not keep up with her and she was on a mixture of ebm and formula from three weeks. Having said that - once her surgery was done.. she is a very healthy happy nine month old who was weaned at four months - 6 months very very slowly over that three month period... despite being told as a child with down syndrome she would be difficult to wean. And do you know what - I don't feel guilty for a minute... nor do I take on board anyone else's attempts to make me feel guilty..... ( not referring to anyone here - just some I know tried it on me.....)

I'm not entirely sure I see what all the fuss is about. The recommendations are that it is "best" to exclusively breastfeed until 6 months, not that you "must" do it. It's a fact. Should they tell lies just to make people feel better? Yes, breast milk is best and it's best if babies have it exclusively for 6 months but it certainly doesn't make me feel guilty about introducing solids earlier.

Should they stop promoting the benefits of eating 5 portions of fresh fruit & vegetables a day so that people who don't like them aren't made to feel guilty?

It's a recommendation, not a edict whereby you will be taken out and shot if you don't do it!

I don't feel guilty about introducing solids earlier than 6mths, either. (With 28yr old mainly ff DS, it was at 6 weeks!!!) If I had my time again, I would aim for 6 months, as much for the convenience of missing out that 'gloopy' stage as anything else. But that was then, this is now, and I welcome information that helps us decide what is right for us.

I don't feel guilty about not bf exclusively till 6 months with my first 4 babies. That's because I didn't know it was the optimal scenario. All the hvs that I met promoted weaning at 4 months (or 16 weeks) Now that I know 6 months is better that's what I will try to do (if I have no.5!). I don't know how easy it will be but I'll give it a go.

The DoH has informed me and I am making my choice. Thank you to the DoH

Bells2, I think you are fantastic for continuing to express under those circumstances. Have to admit, DH calls me Moo-cow sometimes which is slightly irritating, esp as he encourages DS to do it as well...

Bells I think that is appalling...how on earth did you manage to cope with that?

Reading through this thread and other bf ones it makes me realise what an unusual bunch of mums I have met. The majority of the mums bf exclusively for at least 22 weeks, they are still feeding at a year - the average age of weaning seems to be 14 months and I have met mums feeding for a lot longer. I only know 2 mums that moved over to formula!
But wouldn't formula for the first six months be better than introducing solids at 16 weeks? Surely it doesn't just have to be exclusive breast milk? If you have to go back to work it must be a lot easier for the person looking after your child to give them a bottle than spoon food in. So delaying solids shouldn't really make any difference if you are working or not.
I have to say I only managed to express milk a couple of times as it made me feel like a cow going into the dairy shed but I think I would have thumped anyone if they had made a comment on it! Are you still bf your youngest bells?

I believe, that exclusive breastfeeding to six months has been researched and "proven" to be optimal. Exclusive bottle feeding to six months hasn't been researched yet.

Bear in mind too that it's probably due to the development of the digestive tract rather than an exact day they're ready anyway. You can't tell me that at midnight one night it is totally inappropriate to give your child solids, and at one minute past it's perfectly fine. Each child develops at a different rate.

I think they would be better giving some sort of material out listing the signs that your child might be ready for solids. (if there are any? anyone know?)

Certainly our HVs weren't too bad in that respect. We were told 4 months was absolute minimum and start by 6 months (okay, not quite the advice now given but you weren't under pressure to introduce at 4 months - rather the emphasis was on those mums who were desperate to start solids at 3 months were encouraged to delay).

Personally I started on solids bang on the 4 months - I'd just recovered from my second bout of mastitis and the antibiotics had seriously reduced my supply. It was suggested by my HV that I could introduce solids now if I wanted to as ds was ravenous and very miserable. So for a week I just gave him a few spoonfuls of baby rice mixed with breastmilk and he loved it. We then worked from there.

It probably wasn't "optimal" but it was the right time for us, I believe, due to external circumstances as well as ds' readiness. From that point onwards he never seemed to enjoy milk much, always preferred his solid feeds. We did keep up the breastfeeding until he was 8 months though when he suddenly decided to go cold turkey. I expressed for a week in the hope he would go back, but he never did. That I feel far more guilty about, despite it being irrational as ds made the decision for me

Judetheobscure, you're right about formula to six months not being researched.

I think if I had a baby who needed something more (in small amounts) than breastmilk before six months (for whatever reason), I'd probably plump for solids rather than formula (if the baby was over four months, say).

Reason being that solids (assuming you give fruit or veg or plain rice) are much simpler, less processed foods than formula. Have a look at the ingredients on a pack of formula and you'll see what I mean.

Just my non-research based opinion!

I wanted to do breast feeding only for 1st 6 months but HVs said they would not support me if I did. THey also convinced me that all the signs of DD being ready for weaning were there.
If I have another baby I will brerast feed only until I think it it time.
DD still has breast at bedtime and when she wakes in the morning

Count me in as one more guilty mother....

It would be such a novelty for me to brfeed exclusively to 6 months. I just can't imagine doing it. When my babies were born I whole-heartedly meant to exclusively brfeed both to 6 months, but curiousity got the better of me so I gave them little finger tastes around 16-17 weeks and the little buggers instantly loved solids. 2nd baby, especially, would A) drool, B) waggle every limb excitedly, C) cry pitifully and eagerly at the sight of food. Doesn't La Leche League advise that you watch the child, not the calender??

Feel like I can't get it right....

And me zebra ... I gave my DS solids at 13 weeks (Shock horror!!!) Well, he was drinking 48 fl oz per day and was fit to pop ... I had to do something to reduce his milk intake!!! (My HV agreed with me BTW ... about the only thing she agreed with me about!!