Claire Byam Cook was wonderful

[clara333]

I just wanted to register my positive experiences with Claire BC. After very painful attempts to breastfeed my eldest daughter (she had a strong latch), Claire came to help advise me on how to adjust things to make the experience less painful. Without a doubt, her advice and encouragement helped me continue breastfeeding and without it I am sure I would have given up. I managed to breastfeed her for 8 months.
With my second daughter, I had different problems breastfeeding - she was very reluctant to latch. Again, Claire helped calm me down (I felt quite emotional about a second failure to magically naturally breastfeed...) and gave me good advice. By this time my youngest daughter was rapidly loosing weight and needed topping up with formula to remain healthy. I persisted attempting to breastfeed but after 12 weeks of expressing every feed whilst attempting to latch my daughter & breastfeed, I had to face the reality that breastfeeding wasn't going to work for us with 2 under 2. I felt I'd given it a good shot and didn't beat myself up with guilt.
It seems to be so different with each baby and it is very easy to get very wound up about managing to breastfeed. I have no axe to grind and I know many people hold strong views about breastfeeding. I just wanted to note down my positive experience with Claire BC.

bex - I really didn't like our local NCT bf counsellor when I first met her. but when I had latching problems, she was amazingly good - couldn't fault her. so liking or not your local counsellor is not such a big issue

thedollshouse - you are describing an approach which is not so much 'hippy' as simply not listening and jumping to conclusions about someone else's feelings. I agree this is not acceptable!

yes, think you are right, i should not have judged. i guess i was lucky in that i was able to bf without needing to call on a BFC, but i am sure if i had needed help, she would have been able to give it, and probably would have done it gladly.
I guess the old adage about books and covers springs to mind . sorry, been a bit of a misery guts today.

I didn't mean to be obscure about the charges - CBC was £100 for me just under 2 years ago as well. She then came back for free to help me with my second daughter. I'm glad I spent the money - my first daughter had over 7 months of additional breastfeeding as a result and my youngest had 3 months of breastmilk, if not breastfed (for no want of much mutual trying).
I'd love to have been able to bf without a BFC but it wasn't to be. I did try other BFCs than CBC and they weren't as good for me. I'm pretty pro 'alternative' approaches generally, both my births were drug-free hypno water births. But the first BFCs I came across were evangelical rather than helpful. I remember sitting on the sofa, tears rolling silently down my cheeks, as one lady who was trying to 'help' bf me continued to bang on about the evils of fish oil in formula without noticing. I think tiktok's point about not listening is spot on - a good BFC needs to listen and be aware and have some empathy. If they can do that, & if they help me get results, I don't mind about much else.
I knew I was walking into the lions den (sorry, supportive mums network) when I posted this as it goes against the conventional wisdom of the regular users. A few of the more catty posts were a bit unnerving at first ('would they say this to my face? if so, do they have any non-virtual friends?!') but based on some of the more recent postings, I'm pleased I posted. The recent debate on the qualities that make a good BFC, and not pre-judging, has been positive and interesting. If anyone else has experiences they are thinking of posting, don't fear getting 'flamed', if that's the word. Interesting discussion should be about comparing different views to come up with a fuller understanding, not following a herd.

When I had problems breastfeeding, health visitors came to my house and sat with me in my living room. Didn't cost me a penny. And then the hospital sent out a lactation counsellor. The advantage was that I managed to turn round my dd without resorting to formula. Admittedly, I have sometimes wondered if this was the right decision- it is possible that given dd's particular medical condition we would actually have been better off with formula- but there is no doubt those NHS people knew their stuff. In my case, anyway.

"I knew I was walking into the lions den (sorry, supportive mums network)"

LOL, love your posting style

Well, now you have survived a debating thread in the Breast and Bottle board can we tempt you into the forum proper ?

You might consider avoiding the "Am I Being Unreasonable" (AIBU) board unless you really like a bun fight

Cory You were exceptionally lucky to get that level of NHS support, I assume you don't live in London? I couldn't even get a midwife visit, let alone a home visit from a bf counsellor! I was discharged from hospital after the usual 24 hrs, was told I wouldn't get a midwife visit for 3 days but managed to beg one for the day after I left hospital...and that was it, my sole home visit! If I wanted any other care (and believe me I needed it, the long-winded story is set out in my earlier link) my husband had to drive me round south London to find it. The health visitor finally made her first and only visit 6 weeks after my daughter was born!

The NHS bf counsellor I eventually saw was brilliant but I had to travel 1/2 an hour or so in each direction to see her. This meant lots of walking and using the tube when I should have been recovering from a very traumatic birth.