If you were giving a talk on BF to some childcare students....

[FourArms]

...what would you include?

Thinking benefits, basic physiology, how it feels for the mum. These students are doing a course similar to the old NNEB, so will become nannies I think, or nursery workers. Maybe a bit about EBM and how to handle it?

Presentation tomorrow.... powerpointing now!

Include the fact that bfing doesn't have to stop at any particular point - not at 6m, not when establishing solids, not at 12m. That it is perfectly normal to bf a child with teeth, and a child that can ask for a feed. That it's not 'babying' a toddler to bf them, nor does it hold them back in any way. Also that the bfing relationship changes as he child gets older. And finally, please lay to rest the myth that bf babies don't sleep through the night!

I would say if they're going on to become nannies/nursery carers it would be vital to include info on use of EBM -storage/defrosting/warming etc, and as prettycandles has pointed out, be sure to include the fact that there is no recommended 'stopping point' for BF.

I sometimes wonder if some childcarers wonder what the point of bothering with EBM is, so I would lay out the health benefits of BF until at least one year+

What do you mean how it feels for the mum? Emotionally or actually physically

How easy it is to breastfeed once it is going well

the convenience

I definitely got more sleep in the early days with DD than i did with DS - i co-slept and it was an utter lifesaver

also, how intense it can be at the start and that it doesn't fit to a 3/4 hourly timetable but once it does settle how quick feeds become

how it is soothing for them and this is OK - that comfort feeding is not a bad thing

Not sure rubyslippers - I've been asked specifically to include that though. Maybe both.

Thanks for all these points - all great. Am currently adapting 10 facts from WHO into text, but want to put a real-life angle on it too.

Need to look up exact NHS guidelines on EBM!

I would add:

1. Along with nutrient benefits, it is cheaper than FF

1. Skin to skin contact - not just in the first hours after birth - but in the first days / weeks can help establish bfing

1. Bfing can be easier if co-sleeping

1. Bfing children are not clingier than others due to bfing (well, certain babies might be clingy, but likely to be personality rather than method of feeding)

1. Bf can be a great pleasure to a mum, it's not all cracked nipples and broken sleep

Do you still need more? Will put thinking cap on, if so.

it is interesting as i was asked twice what it felt like and i couldn't really describe it as physically doesn't feel like anything

Sometimes DD nips me or pulls, and i may feel a bit of a dragging but often there is no sensation IYSWIM

time saved on sterilising

also if you do give EBM you don't have to sterilise anything (just hot, soapy water)

Info on when women can't breastfeed: hiv, TB, certain drugs, insufficient gladular tissue etc

Main sources for further info: nct, la leche etc

I was going to say that they should know that children feed until they are older, but others have beaten me to it.

Thanks guys! Presentation finished and all ideas included. Wish me luck for tomorrow!!!

How to store it when Mums send babies with an expressed bottle.

and that when a Mum says "I am breastfeeding, do I send in a bottle daily ?" that you don't say "you send in the boiled water in the bottle and the powder in a pot and we make it up"

how did it go fourarms?

Oh I'd wish I'd seen this earlier.

I've had 10 years experience as a nanny and am now a maternity nurse.

One thing I wish I'd known(and still have to remind myself of now) is that BFing takes time and paitience and perserverance. I'm going to start including this info in my professional development folder for interviews. As most of the mothers I work with don't realise how normal it is to feed for so many hours in a 24 hour period. It's very hard to explain to a motehr that it is normal for a baby to feed after two hours, it is normal to feed for longer than ten minutes - I think most of my motehrs expect to feed for ten minutes a time every four hours.

From a nanny point of view it's very important to offer mother drink and snack at each feed.

Went well thanks. Went on for 90 minutes as I invited questions during and after.

I did mention the snacks thing... I always think you should have a drink and a biscuit at each feed. One of the girls did say her sister had given up as the baby wanted to feed for two hours every feed, so I went through the reasons this might be (cluster feeding, growth spurt, comfort, getting hind milk, increasing milk supply, how to take a genuinely sleeping baby off breast...), and explained that it was normal.

I hope I made some of it clear from a childcare provider angle, and gave some clear unbiased information to future mothers. Happy to email presentation if anyone else could use it?