"'Breast is best' bias blamed for hundreds of dehydrated babies"

[beef]

let battle commence!

I'm saying nowt!

joelallie, in my opinion the support should basically be not leaving a new mum who wants to exclusively breastfeed to her own devices (ie slip through the net of midwife/health visitor) until she is really confident she knows how to latch correctly and she knows her baby is getting enough milk. And to empower her with information so that she knows what signs to look for that all is well with the baby and herself and when it's not, which I guess would include looking for signs of dehydration. Simple really, huh?

all i have to say is.........

did they have AVENT a thousand years ago??

I don't think that having BFCs on the ward would be pressurising. IME they're not pushy women with an agenda. Even if you've chosen not to bf at all, you might want some support and advice on how to cope with the almost inevitable engorgement. With my second child I asked a midwife for help - as there was nobody else to ask - and she grabbed my boob and shoved it at dd's mouth. Is that support? Is that help? And I was told over and over again that the latch was right, when I knew that it wasn't. The blood blisters were a bit of a giveaway. It wasn't until I left the hospital and was able to talk to a BFC that we got things sorted out. And I have to say that, otherwise, the post-natal care and support I got were, in general, excellent.

I agree with Soupy and others that it isn't the Breast is Best message that is wrong it is the fact that often there is at best crap support for bf.

Many midwives and hvs are a hindrance to getting a good bf relationship going - it falls to the unpaid volunteers of La Leche etc that help many of us continue and 'get it right' - not the paid 'professionals'.Though I must say the hv I've got with dd2 is bloody fab!

Hunker - you should have written underneath.

Rather than support free formula the bloody NHS should be diverting the funds into decent bf support for all mums!

i gave birth to my first baby 8 weeks ago. my community midwife recommended 'bestfeeding' by renfrew, fisher and arms, when i was about 25 weeks pregnant. my parentcraft midwife encouraged me to go to her breastfeeding cafe before i'd had my baby so i could see women breastfeeding. my hospital midwife who helped me give birth put my baby to my breast as soon as she was born and showed me how she'd crawl to find my nipple. and then my antenatal ward midwife wouldn't let me go home til she'd seen me breastfeed properly. all in all a fantastic experience, and that was in the leeds area btw.

Dizzybint - you are very lucky

Message withdrawn

There must be alot of rebellious people around if the pressure is so great to breast feed, but people still choose all the faff and expense of formula feeding over the lazy person's friend, breast feeding. I think the questionairre was probably phrased badly - Maybe the option wasn't there for people to tick the "were you encouraged to breast feed?" box.

Meanwhile, I think its definitely cheaper to print a few hundred posters than employ some really good breast feeding counsellors.

Message withdrawn

Has anyone else seen the latest issue of Flying Start magazine? We get it free through nursery. In it there's a page purporting to be about breastfeeding but actually again about bf problems, dehydration and the place for formula within bfing. Again Clare Byam-Cook is quoted and the report stems from a survey of new mums by NUK the "baby feeding experts". There are two "case studies", one of which implies that women who appear to be exclusively bfing are probably giving bottles of formula here and there!

Seems to be something of a theme running at the moment.

it sounds like a rabbit is loose, northender. don't think we will find it though.

methinks this 'theme' is more than coincidental.

dh and I have been discussing conspiracy theories and I'm now more convinced than ever having looked at the FS article again that something's afoot! A quote from one of the women featured "its only recently some of the mums have told me that they used to give their babies bottles before they came (to a baby group) so that it looked like they exclusively breast fed"
There's a phone no and website for more info on NUK products at the end of the article. It is almost blatant formula propaganda. I feel an e mail coming on..........

Should've also said this article is headed "Breast is Best- but 9 out of 10 women struggle" Coincidence?

Northender!

I really can't bear CBC - the more I read about her and from her, the more I loathe her.

And as for the "exclusively bfeeding mums give formula on the sly" - well, words fail me, they truly do.

NUK are welcome to look at the 6 pints of EBM I have in the freezer and then see if they can find a crumb of formula in the house - I'll be here while they look, but probably bfeeding my 26wo son.

The fuckers.

God, this makes me cross.

The place for formula in breastfeeding?

Fucking nowhere if bfeeding's supported properly.

The dirty lowdown rotten wanker fuckers (I speak of formula and bottle manufacturers). Why can't they just be fucking honest for once?

Why not say "look, we know bfeeding's best for babies, but we want to undermine women".

God, their agenda - it's worse than fucking nocotine peddlers!

I'm LIVID!

psssssssssst - check under hunker's rug.....

I swear there is formula lurking under there....

What is "nocotine" btw?

[puzzled emoticon]

So you're indifferent on this subject then hunker?

nicotine

I can't type straight when I'm angry.

No formula under my rug, VVV, you bastard

It's ground up bodies of people who tell tales about my house, VVV

I don't consider talking about ground up boddies an appropriant use of humour on a website for Mothers, do you?

Only mice have tales

It's not humour, DF. I'm very serious.

Hinker, I've read some of your threads and I think you have anger

I think you should just take the pressure off yourself, give him a bottle, go on, I mean it's as good as breast milk these days anyway, what's the difference, bubba won't notice, and a happy mum = happy babe!!!!!!!!

Hugs. xx