More research help requested, but just a quickie this time!

[tenacityflux]

Thanks again to all the wonderful mumsnetters who replied to my last post - this one is a suplimentary which should allow for both venting of spleens and singing of praises!

Who gave you or where did you find the best breast feeding advice/help?

Who gave you or where did you find the worst breast feeding advice/help?

Thank you for all the time you have given me and your help with my project.

Best: peer BF counsellor, specialist counsellor from a hospital far away and the lady was still kind enough to talk to me as my hospital were crap did not have BF counsellors.

Worst: Midwives, no knowledge or advice. Health visitor, who was worse than useless and literally had no advice and was unable to offer support beyond a nervous laugh when I showed her the damage that was being done to my nipples.

Best: NHS Antenatal classes

Worst: No real bad advice - HV who didn't point out to me that a 4 week old feeding 4 hourly would probably wake up at night and then feed all night wasn't that helpful, but not bad advice per se

best - local baby cafe (nhs breastfeding support)

worst - every tom dick and harry that wants to give there opinion on bf

kesh x

Best - Mumsnet board & NCT Telephone helpline
Worse - Health Care Worker running our local breastfeeding support group She has since moved on thank goodness.

best - all the books that had a relaxed attitude particularly "How not to be a perfect mother" by Libby perves.Also "mother and Baby" magazine.

Worst - Family and friends.
I was going to say health visitors/midwives etc, but I wouldn't say they gave bad advice,they just wern't very supportive.

Best - specialist bf health visitor at a breastfeeding support group, took one look and said you need to lift his chin up more and after 9 excruciating weeks the pain just went away..
Worst - inexperienced health visitor who saw me at home was convinced baby failing to thrive and told me to give formula which i started to do..mixed feeding. Eventually he started to put weight on but only after the right advice re b/f..

Best: local NCT group

Worst: Gina Ford book (only book I've ever thrown in the rubbish rather than donate to a charity shop as 1 weeks after starting trying to follow it my milk was all but dried up. Lovely local NCT group got me back on the right path.)

Am I allowed to be really really negative?

Best - I wouldn't say I've had any good advice. kellymom.com was quite good but I found it too late to make a difference.

Worst - literally everyone. We were told from day one what an 'amazing' job we were doing and how 'fantastic' it was, despite DS not gaining any weight, not even to his birth weight for 5 weeks until we mix fed. My local BF group were particularly bad IMO, giving me horror stories of formula and saying that all I needed to do was 'feed feed feed'. No one I went to see picked up the fact DS wasn't swallowing anything, including HVs, midwives and BFCs. I hadn't discovered MN then.

I was quite well informed WRT BF before hand and very very determind but it wasn't enough.

I'm a right moany cow about this.

Best: MN and my BfN BFC

Worst: HVs, sadly

Best: NHS BF Counsellor / Kellymom / MN

Worst: Majority of MW on postnatal ward / HV / GP (GP quotes "you'll need to top up with 4oz formula after every feed" when DC2 had slow weight gain at 4wks and "Oh lot's of women don't manage to Bfeed their 2nd baby - don't worry about it" )

Best - Councillor from the National Breastfeeding Federation who visited me at home watched me feed then taught me how to effect a text book latch etc. The same individual has been my BF guru for 3 children.
Worst - every single NHS/PCT employee including the MW who grabbed my breast, grabbed DC1s head and slammed the 2 together!

Sorry I meant Breastfeeding Network (BfN).

best - childrens nurse on postnatal ward who spent about half an hour showing me how to hold DS comfortably & get him latched on well; breastfeeding support worker from local hospital who visited me at home when DS was a week old & solved the problem of him only feeding well from 1 side within about 5 mins; DP who has been v supportive of me bfing & defended me from criticism/advice from family members & helped with other stuff so i can concentrate on feeding

worst - MW on postnatal ward who spent about 10 seconds forcing my nipple into DS's mouth when i buzzed for help; DP's aunt who told me that DS should only be feeding for 5 mins each side (at 4 weeks old!); various family members telling me i look exhausted & helpfully advising that perhaps i should think about switching to formula (actually, offering to take DS off my hands for an hour so i can have a nap would be more helpful ... )

Best - Mumsnet. My midwife. Bestfeeding book (Mary Renfrew). Lactation consultant. A wonderful HCA in the hospital.

Worst - HVs. Mum.

"Who gave you or where did you find the best breast feeding advice/help?"

NHS counsellor/midwife/health visitor/nurses in maternity hospital. All seemed to be singing from the same hymn sheet. Never read any books apart from the standard bumpf supplied in Bounty pack.

"Who gave you or where did you find the worst breast feeding advice/help?"

Ironically, the best advice (which encouraged me to persevere with breastfeeding) was also the worst advice, for me, as none of us knew that dd had a disability which limited her ability to suckle (only picked up 11 yrs later). So in a way, she might have been better off if I had found myself in one of those areas where breastfeeding advice is absolutely shoddy and noone would think of sending out a counsellor to your home. She would have had formula and not become undernourished. But of course I don't really wish that- we are very proud of our local hospital! More power to them! Also, never had a bad experience with an HV- they were great and very in line with modern thinking, not like some of the dinosaurs you read about on Mumsnet.

Best BF advice - from my mum
Worst BF advice - from health visitors