BabyFriendly????

[susanmt]

In another thread someone (Mears?) mentioned this and I think it was some type of accreditation for hospitals? Am I right? It's just that my dh is a doctor and he's on a committee reviewing maternity services locally and he's never heard of this and wondered if it could be something which would help in getting the kind of service we could do with!!
Thanks!

Thanks!!
Sounds like we have a long way to go, given my experience!!

The majority of UK maternity units have declared themselves as 'working towards Baby friendly', and there are a good number who have the full accreditation, and some who have a 'certificate of committment' . The impetus usually comes from midwives, so maybe that's why your dh hasn't heard of it, Susan. It's a worldwide thing. There is also a parrallel initiative for the community.

It takes a lot of work for a unit to become Baby Friendly....usually a few years. Even then, they have to continue to keep up their standards, and they have to be reassessed after a time .

Yes, I'm with susanmt. I halfway through my second pregnancy and i'm still waiting for someone/anyone in the nhs to say congratulations. When I called a private ob/gyn, it was the first thing her secretary said to me when I said i was pregnant.

I think it's more likely that dh hasn't heard of it because the local hospital, while great with birth etc, is of the 'oh dear, give him to me, you have a sleep, we'll give him a bottle' type of attitude. To be honest, there just isn't enough to do with under 200 births a year in the unit. We have the lowest breastfeeding rate in the UK - I wonder why. But this new Maternity Services Implementation Group has been started by the new midwife manager, so hopefully things will improve!!!

I had ds in the Queen Mother's Maternity Hopital in Glasgow which had the Baby Friendly accreditation - of which it was extremely proud. I got fantastic support b/f - both while I was in the hospital (6 days, as ds needed phototherapy for jaundice) and afterwards, at a weekly b/f support group run by a couple of the midwives.

I had real difficulties getting ds to attach (or to wake up for a feed!) - and sometimes the midwives would be with me for up to an hour in the middle of the night, trying to help me get him "on".

Much of the "baby friendly" accreditation is in the subtle things, like having no formula ready made up - although the midwives/auxilliaries will make up formula on request (so there is no judgement if you choose NOT to b/f).

They were going to through re-accreditation when ds was about 6 months old - I seem to remember that the b/f specialist midwife who ran the support group was concerned that they might have problems as quite a few of the recent mums had found b/f "success" through a small amount of mixed feeding, which was a "no-no" for the accreditation. In her view, if it kept mums b/f (given that Glasgow has one of the lowest rates in the country and is also heavily post-code related), who were others to judge!

She also had a very pragamtic view of "nipple confusion" - in fact she was the one, when ds wasn't gaining weight (he progressively dropped through the centiles, from the 91st at birth to just underneath the charts where he trundleed along until about 3 months, when he started to gradually move back "into" the averages, albeit low ones - but he was happy and alert throughout), who lent me one of the hospitals electric expressing machines and got me to start giving him bottles of EBM. That way, we established that he was feeding plenty - and we eventually came to the conclusion that he just had a "fast metabolism"! Because of the support I got from the hospital, I never had to "risk" advice from well meaning HVs!

I would say that the support from the hospital is a large part of the reason why I went on to fully b/f for a year. I even went back to work f/t when he was 4 months old - but I was so used to expressing by then (using an Avent hand pump) that it was a doddle!

After reading some of the info on baby friendly accrediataion I'm glad that I didn't give birth in a baby friendly hospital. The thought of skin to skin contact straight after giving birth with my baby covered in goo appaled me. And it was hard enough feeding her in the night with ready made formula, imagine if I'd had to request it be made up for me each time.

I hated rooming in, I so wanted someone to take her away for a few hours in the night so that I could get some sleep. I couldn't wait to get home so that I could put her in her own room and my husband could do the night feeds.

I fed on demand for the first 6 weeks which were an absolute nightmare, then I started a strict feeding routine and life improved dramatically.

My point is that yes mothers who want to breastfeed should be given every encouragment and support but those that don't want to shouldn't be made to feel like lepers as I was at my antenatal classes.

Julie

JileF - I am very sorry you were made to feel like a leper - that's just plain unprofessional as we all have a right to make our own decisions.

My experience of a "baby friendly" hospital" wasn't like that at all! While they might "encourage" certain things, they didn't impose anything!

Things like "skin to skin" contact after birth is up to the mum - if you wanted the baby to be cleaned and/or swaddled before being given to you, then that's what they would have done. I had specifically requested maximum skin contact immediately after birth, but as he was forceps, by the time they put him on me, from memory (a bit fuzzy), he was already half wrapped!

At the ante natal classes, while b/f was promoted, no-one was made to feel a leper if they were choosing not to b/f. I don't even recall them asking us! Indeed, their research had shown that to a large extent, decisions are made at a much earlier stage, even before pregnancy and much of their effort goes into outreach and talking to school kids.

They ran b/f worskhops for those that WERE interested in b/f - but again, no compulsion whatsoever to attend.

Also, after the birth, it was all very matter of fact back on the ward. The midwife would ask how you were intending to feed, and if the answer was formula, then they would simply ask if you had a preferred brand. In terms of time taken to make up the formula, from observation, it was no longer than for ready made, as it could be made up "warm" while the ready made would have needed to be heated up. The important thing was, it wasn't there as "temptation" to those people who WERE trying to give b/f a go (and it IS hard in the first few days!). I know from talking to mums who gave birth at the other Glasgow hospitals that the cupboard full rows of ready made formula was a very real temptation.

"Rooming in" is a more difficult one - but I believe is a practice that most hospitals, "baby friendly" or not, now follow. I do know that midwives/auxilliairies on my ward were always more than happy to look after a baby for a wee while if the Mum wanted a rest. Most(!) of them are in the profession because they love babies!

Susanmt, that's an interesting observation about your Mat unit. There is a MW led unit near me, which would love to have as many as 200 births a year! Yet it has the highest BF rates in Scotland because the quietness of the unit means MW's can, if necessary, spend hours helping a mum to bf. The MW's work with NCT BFC's and the figures seem to show that they are doing something right, which is wonderful for our local mums and babies.

Julie - how were you made to feel like a leper? I am asking out of genuine interest, as I talk to mothers antenatally about bf, and I try my very best not to make anyone feel bad about their choices...is there something class leaders/facilitators could do/not do to not make you feel this way? Or was it other class members who said things to you?

At my antenatal classes we had the session on feeding and everyone was asked who was planning on breastfeeding. I was the only one who didn't put my hand up and everyone turned to look at me. While everyone else was watching a video on breastfeeding the midwife came up to me, asked why I wasn't going to breastfeed and I just felt awkward. I think that if the pros and cons were discussed without everyone being asked to state their intentions inpublic I wouldn't have felt so bad.

With regards to the ready made forumula, I wasn't told that the ward had a bottle warmer so I fed it to her cold anyway.

My feelings on rooming in are probably a bit biased. I had a bad experience in hospital in that when I pressed my emergency buzzer no-one came to me and the hospital literature stated that there were no staff to look after your baby if you wanted them to. If you had a bath or something your baby was left alone except for the other mothers on the ward. I had accidentally banged my babys head and I was worried sick, no-one looked at her for almost 2 hours after I told the midwives what had happened.

I hope that my original posting didn't sound too antagonistic. In a lot of ways I have changed my attitude on things since giving birth, goo doesn't bother me at all now!

I would also definatly breastfeed next time. In fact in the area where I live now, I moved house a month ago, I attend a breastfeeding support group, mostly for contact with other mums and in the session on counsellor training I gave my insight into what made me decide to bottlefeed and what might have made a difference.

Thanks, Julie....I don't think there is ever any justification for a show of hands, still less a personal one-to-one from the health profession - aaargh, dreadful. I never do this - I ask the group generally if they have thought about feeding, and let them contribute if they want to by speaking out. In many classes there are shades of grey anyway - people who are not sure 100 per cent.

Glad you have had the chance to get some contact with other mothers and that you may have another think about feeding!

Feeding is a social/emotional decision, more than a nutritional/health one. It needs sensitive discussion, and no assumptions.