Miscarriage guidelines - fabulous - but...

[hunkermunker]

mumsnet.com/miscarriagecodeofpractice.html

..will you be putting together some breastfeeding support ones?

Start your own thread then.

And I don't object to women having better support and information, however they feed their baby. Find me a post where I say I do.

yes but before you have a baby you haven't bought any tubs of formula have you??
It is all a mystery.

There is no literature available through the health service that I could find

And nothing in ante-natal classes as I have mentioned

where are you getting abuse?!

So would a helpline be ok for breastfeeding support? I think not...

i know that the NHS trust where i am provides info about breast and bottle feeding in the ante natal clinics, the bottle feeding leaflet is mainly how to safely make up and prepare feeds.

I've always thought that number was like what you get on just about every product you buy in the supermarket......would never have thought of ringing it for advice on feeding my baby .

Whereas even without attending antenatal classes with DS1 I knew about the various breastfeedig helplines from the leaflets that were thrust into my hand before I left the hospital.

I didn't have any "help" or "support" whatsoever when I switched to FF with DS2 and 3. Yes I knew a few people that had/were FFing their DC. But they were just as clueless as I was, or told me straight out that "they knew advice had changed but they didn't know how".

No HM you're not getting abuse for wanting better BFing support, you're getting abuse for failing to see that bottle feeders need support too - and aren't going to get that from better Breastfeeding support.

as someone who bottlefed, i am not sure what helplines bottle feeders would need? except to make up the feeds safely and to feed on demand/ responsively. ? am i missing something?

not being contentious, just a bit baffled

imo the side of the pack is screamingly unhelpful, telling you to boil a kettle and leave it for 30 mins etc (without mentioning why).

so i do think, actually, that two sets of info would be good, one for bfing, one for bottle. because there is a huge overlap anyway and bottlefeeding is a faff and imo not enough people know this in advance of labour.

there are ways of making it easier and smarter (and more importantly safer, because if you're running scared of the pack instructions you are left with 'what my mother did' ie making up in advance, which is no longer safest.

haven't read the misc guidelines, though. do they mention ectopic preg and other losses?

"he's constipated"
"he's refusing the bottle"
"he brings up lots of his feed"
"he only takes 2oz x 30 times a day" (I had one of those - eek it was awful went on for months- didn't have a clue what to do with him)

God I could make a list as long as my arm of problems I came across when FFing DS2 (and 3 to a certain extent). EVERY single concern I had was dismissed out of hand by every HV I saw, and I was hardly going to ring SMA and ask whether I should try a different brand of milk as SMA seemed to be making my baby unsettled was I? And ok HV's aren't allowed to promote any brands of formula, but a simple "yes why don't you try another one and see how you get on" (or no - offer him water/rub his tummy etc etc) would have been suffice.

Sorry I forgot - all us mum that have ever bottlefed just picked up a tin of formula, read the instructions and shoved the bottle in the babies mouth and sat there and thought how easy it all was........

I ended up formula feeding dd1 and imo the formula helpline was indeed very helpful, and when I needed I used to email them....they even started pushing their follow on milk to me too.

They give advice as to how long to sterilise bottles for, and which kinds of (their brand) formula is best for the age your child is at, they're actually very good, they even had videos showing how to formula feed ie make up bottles etc.....

I really could have done with better bf advice, I wouldn't have given up so quickly the first time round.

Stella - apart from the last one on that list (importance of nights feeds) those words and phrases are relevant to FF babies too.

well, topping up is quite a risk to a milk supply... and if you are obliged to do it you nevertheless want to do it safely but without having to boil a kettle thirty mins in advance of child becoming hungry etc.

excuse me stella there's no need to swear at me.

I was simply pointing out that those words and phrases are not "exclusive" to BFing and therefore IMO you were badly let down (whether you intended to BF or FF) in that respect in your antenatal care.

why on earth are you flying off the handle stella??
what is going on here?

Why can't breastfeeders and bottlefeeders have some support without it getting so nasty?