nct feeding response...is this true?

[stmarymead]

So, just back from my first NCT class... have to say it wasn't really my bag for various reasons, a good example being the teacher feeling 'compelled' to interrupt, when the group decided that fathers should help with night-time feeds, and saying "fathers won't be cut any slack at work when they're tired, and companies now are looking to get rid of people who are not up to par" so mothers should do the night-time feeds... of course my work-place has cut me huge slack for the last 8 months - HAHA!

But it was another comment that was the catalyst to my posting, we were asked to set out the questions we'd like answered during the course; breastfeeding was high on the list of the group, and I added that I would also like to understand more about bottle feeding...information to make my choice and all that. The response that came really shocked me and I would really like to know whether it is true. According to the teacher neither the NCT or NHS can tell parents how to bottle feed ...legally! Because if they teach how to bottle feed this could be construed as the promotion of bottle feeding which is apparently illegal. Is this really true??? Can only one method of feeding be taught at ante-natal classes? Surely this leaves a whole swathe of new parents without information which is crucial to them?

The instructor sounds like just the kind of idiot who gives the NCT a bad name. Next time ask her about epidurals and c sections
I do wonder about this new baby friendly directive though. I had my 28 week midwife appointment yesterday and she said next time, at 31 weeks, she had to talk to me about breastfeeding. I joked that I was fine without it, I fed dd for 10 months and ds til almost 3, but she said she still was obliged to outline the hospitals baby friendly policy. WHich I assume means she'll warn me off the big bad bottle. Bonkers.

What a nutty instructor! And she's wrong... The NCT Does say that it doesnt actively promote formula feeding, but it also specifically supports parents whatever their feeding method/choices: here are their website links to prove it And give you some info (you might like to share them with your NCT group and instructor??) my friend is an NCT BF counsellor and she says one of their specific remits is to support parents then let them make the decisions. Is this one an -ahem- older lady, as some of the more "original" members can be more natural-birthing-BF-only-inclined.

NCT website bottlefeed info

nct info on mixed feeding

NCT list of links including dept of health advice on making up bottles

hope that helps!

We had 1 session out of 8 about feeding, and it was mainly focussed on breastfeeding although the instructor did talk about some of the basics of bottle feeding (but perhaps the bits that overlap with EBF e.g. milk storage, sterilisation, bottle prep etc.)

TBH the breastfeeding session was VERY topline anyway and I felt it needed way more time, our q's on bottle feeding were answered but I didn't come away knowing much more about either.

erm, no that is not true at all!!!

I would actually put in a complaint to the NCT about this teacher because she is WAY off the mark and I imagine the NCT would be pretty pissed to find she is spouting this nonsense,.

the NHS produce a leaflet on how to bottle feed safely and all the ins and outs and fors and againsts of it... it's SO not illegal.

gah

That's interesting though, because when my DS was 5 (nearly 6) months old, having just spent 5 days in hospital on IV ABs with terrible mastitis and I was desperate to get DS to take a bottle, my HV told me the same thing.

I couldn't access any help at all , it was a bloody nightmare.

It's against NCT policy, but I'd be very surprised if it's illegal!

it's against NCT policy to tell people how to bottle feed?

am bloody glad I didn't choose to train as a BFC with them then. ffs.
women who breastfeed may choose to use bottles sometimes too, either for EBM or for formula on occasion.,

so they can't get any information from the NCT?

We finished our NCT course in October and were told similar. The teacher said they weren't supposed to be actively promoting it but she left some information leaflets on the side and said she wouldn't know if we took one she did mention she could get in trouble for it. All rules are down to interpretation though.

As for night feeds well that's all down to each couple isn't it, although I must admit we did do post natal and relationship session which tried to highlight that dads don't have it easy either, more mutual understanding than night feeds are a woman's job though.

Complain to the NCT. Seriously.

It is fine for bottlefeeding to be discussed during group antenatal classes and questions answered.

With regards to the NHS, here is what UNICEF Baby Friendly say:

"Routine demonstration of how to make up bottles of formula milk as part of antenatal classes normalises bottle feeding and conveys the message that health professionals do not expect mothers to breastfeed successfully. It is also unlikely to be useful even for women who intend to bottle feed, as such information will be difficult to retain fully until after the baby is born. Therefore it should not form part of group antenatal classes.

It is important to note that this standard is not intended to deny women information or to undermine safety. Other impartial information on formula milk can be given in antenatal classes. It is also expected that all postnatal mothers who have chosen to bottle feed will be shown how to make up a bottle correctly before discharge from hospital, and that community staff will check to ensure that mothers have received and understood this information."

well if thats true then i better let my mat ward know. when i had dd in march they came round and asked if anyone would like a lesson on how to make up bottles

this is why i can't stand the nct

I have to say of all the help I asked for when struggling to BF my first baby, NCT was by far the worst. I have never felt so judged.

Not saying it is representative of all NCT, obviously, but it certainly put me off approaching them when I had my second.

(my 2nd, BTW, I BFed until his 2nd birthday, largely thanks to wonderful non-judgemental help from elsewhere including the hospital)

When I had DS (now 7) the hv gave me advice on ff but asked me not to tell anyone as she wasn't supposed to. When I had DD (now 4) a different hv refused to even talk to me about ff even when DD was becoming very constipated. We ended up talking to a formula company helpline to get advice. The MWs in the hospital both times refused to offer any help with ff. So it seems a fair number of hcp think they are not allowed to talk about it!

Just to clarify I am medically unable to bf so refusing to talk about ff wasn't going to make me bf!

This is insane! I do want to bf but this sort of story is making me want to bottle feed just to strike a blow for freedom of choice :)

I would complain too, I'm sure it's not illegal.

I'd also put money on her saying that about Dad's not doing night feeds as another way to try to force bottle feeding off the agenda.

Sympathies - my NCT teacher was an utter twat too.

NCT are nazis! They are very prescriptive about breastfeeding and natural birthing. Our teacher refused to utter the word 'pain' and she tried to brainwash into thinking epidurals are dangerous.

We spent 2 out of 4 sessions with her banging on about the benefits of breasfeeding. Luckily all our group were mature and sufficiently cynical to do our own research and come to our own conclusions.

My problems with NCT were:

We all accepted the obvious and multiple benefits of bf and hoped to do it. Our real questions were how to manage if we were not able to do it, as we all have friends who have genuinely not been able to. We also believed it should be a free choice and not pushed onto mothers as the only way.

Re pain relief, again we were all hoping we could manage with gas and air, however we were aware that many many women change their birth plans and are unprepared for the pain and unable to manage the pain without strongr pain relief. We wanted objective facts, not brainwashing into believing that epidurals make you a failure.

Ridiculous, I wouldn't have breastfed until 3 years with my child if it wasn't for the fact I had to supplement for the first two weeks (no one tells you what a c section can do to your milk coming in either).

Hmmm, I didn't have this problem with the NCT, but I had a similar situation with my midwife post-birth and health visitor more recently.

I had a long, rough birth which ended in a c-section ten months ago.I expressed for 3 months, combined with FF but was never able to breast feed for various reasons.

The midwife told me she wasn't allowed to tell me how to make up bottles officially as they "didn't support it". She did tell me off the record to make the bottles up with cooled boiled water which could be stored on the kitchen counter

The health visitor refused to give me any advice on weaning when I asked when DD was 20 weeks and told me she "wasn't allowed" to give me the info until DD was 26 weeks. Never mind that I only went to get DD weighed every 6 weeks or so, or that I'm an intelligent human being who would quite like to read and digest the info ahead of time.

My mum had terrible trouble BFing both me & my sister- she was producing the milk OK, but I had difficulties latching on, and both of us had terribly upset stomachs which meant we (especially me) lost a lot of weight (much more than the normal expected loss after birth). My mum was pressured into continuing with the BFing, especially with me (I was her first) until I was 3 months old & becoming quite frail. As soon as she switched to bottle feeding my tummy problems cleared up & I put on weight. I've no idea what caused it (they tried all kinds of different diets on my mum etc) but am glad I know in case I have similar problems. I really hope I can BF, but won't be beating myself up if I can't. Bottle feeding was fairly straightforward- I remember helping out with my sister who was much younger than me- I'm sure the above links will cover it- I think the main things are the sterilisation,heating to the right temp & tilting the bottle so the baby doesn't swallow air as it sucks which causes wind etc. I'm sure people on here would be happy to give advice if it was needed.

I helped out with one of their nearly new sales and they refuse to sell bottles.the reason they gave was that it was against NCT policy!

I have no experience with NCT at all but have formula fed all 3 of my dds (youngest now 10 months) and after the birth the midwives came round all of us bottle feeding, distributing the NHS leaflet, asking had we any questions and double checking that those of us with a couple of years of a gap between children knew making up bottles guidelines had changed etc.

The HV on her first home visit also checked that I was making up bottles correctly, water first etc.

Rollersara, they also refuse to sell breastpumps too so I don't think it's that relevant. But just to reiterate everyone on the thread, I would definately email a complaint., the powers that be will otherwise have no idea of the crap being spouted at their classes.

thanks all... all these posts cheered me enormously ... I should've added (this will make you laugh/ blood boil)... said teacher also commented alongside her teaching-the-rudiments-of-bottle feeding-in-groups-being-illegal statement, she could teach us 121, but she personally wouldn't do this because... and this is a classic... we could SUE HER IF WE STERILISED THE BOTTLES WRONG.
now that's scraping the barrell!

We had similar problems with NCT, Midwives and Health Visitors. All stating they were not allowed to give any advice regarding bottle feeding as it was against policy.
NCT invested a whole session from our antenatal classes on feeding but brought in a breast feeding counsellor for that topic. We were all very pro BF, but some had family histories of problems with it and so admitted we were mentally prepared if need be to FF. The session was frustratingly preachy, wasted largely about the benefits of BF rather than practicalities - despite selling to the converted! She refused to acknowledge that some women may not be able to BF, snapping "your body has carried a baby for 9 months ok, why do women keep thinking it might not work to BF!" ... as it happened several weeks of BF counselling, groups, 121s and HV support didn't make BF work for me and DD (still no one knows what went wrong). It was a tough time made worse by lack of info and guilt as everyone we asked made FF seem as antisocial as smoking!

"we could SUE HER IF WE STERILISED THE BOTTLES WRONG" - is she American? FFS... Crap like this doesn't encourage and can distress women, and can cause health problems

I'm currently expecting my first and I wanted to look at NCT classes, but the local area one is too far away for me to get to without a car (or a driving licence - need to try & sort that one out when on ML). My mum has always been open with me that she BF me for 6 weeks but then had to switch to FF because she wasn't producing enough milk - Considering she was a SAH mum until I was nearly 2, I don't think there was any issue with not being able to BF regularly!! Also a few years ago, my mum also spent time talking with a friend of hers who'd had a long labour & an ECS, then a few days after the birth (while still in hospital) was beating herself up about having problem BFing - Mum encouraged her to keep trying, but not to see FF as a failure because sometimes mother nature can be a bit of an awkward cow. Far more sensible advice methinks.