HV suggesting baby rice for my 16 wk ds2. I am confused.

[princessmel]

I thought guidelines were 6 months these days. I mentioned this and possible damage to his gut and she said 'we'll talk about that in 2 weeks' (she was busy and that's when I'm seeing her next)

She said he could start at 17 weeks...with baby rice. Which I thought had less calories in than breast milk anyway. I said I wasn't keen.
She said if he drops down on the chart any more then we'll review it again. He was born between the 91st and 75th centile and is around the 25th now. I thought this was normal with bf babies too. He is 14 lb 21/2oz. He put on 7 oz in the last 2 weeks. Btw he had a chest infection a few weeks ago with Ab's.

I told her he feeds 2 hourly normally.

She said 'has he ever slept through the night?' . I told her he has (in the past) gone from 8/9pm ish to 4/5am ish a few times but is waking at 2/3 ish more recently. But I also said I expect to be woken for feeds, he is a baby after all!!

She also asked 'is he looking at you when you eat?' and I said he is, but tbh he looks at me whatever I do.

So what do you think? I wasn't planning on doing food till 6 months and then giving blw a go..with a bit of mush thown in.

tia

No, eating cakes does not affect the quality of your milk! How could it??

Also breast milk is made directly from your blood stream and therefore what you put in calorie and nutrient wise is really important, maybe some people can get away with that but a lot of people cannot and eating properly and resting sufficently are really key to keep up a good quality.

No, it's not key!!!! You'd have to be seriously malnourished!

not eating cakes no, but eating enough becuase after birth your body is spending a good deal of its energy repairing you and if there are not enough calories or nutrients your body will get pillaged as breast milk production takes a lot out of you. Fortunately most people have good stores to rely on but this can be why some people find it all so exhausting because there is just not enough to do everything needed.

Yes, it is importnat for everyone (breastfeeding or not) to eat healthily but it won't affect the quality of your milk.

Are you actually suggesting that milk quality can only go down if you are seriously malnourised??

yes

ok, well i beg to differ, i expect a lot of people here after a good rest and good food have found things to get better - it is true of me and i have breastfed three children for over a year and am now a peer supporter too - when people are having issues with babies feeding and feeding, the first port of call is rest and food and generally it seems to help.

I am not sure it is about being malnourished in these cases i think it is the feeding competing with the body trying to recover from birth.

Is it a competition of who fed teh longest? Because you fed for a year you'd know?

Im sorry but I know what happened to me, and if I didnt eat loads and loads of calories (only really able to manage it via cakes etc) then my milk stopped. I hated it and felt sick at eating so much and we experimented (my dh and I) with reducing the amount and each time my milk (which wasnt actually produced in high quantities anyway) dried up. It doesnt matter what theoretically you say - I know how my body worked. I obviously needed more calories than most to produce milk! It was the only way, and my HV said 'rubbish' until my dh said to her to join us in the experiment, and she (who by the way is a well known breast feeding counscellor in this area and incredibly experienced) now agrees that it does appear to make a difference in some people, although theoretically a good diet should be sufficient.

How do you know your milk dried up? Really, it wouldnt happen just like that and then suddenly reappear after a day of cakes.

And why then rainbow, do so many people not manage to feed and produce enough milk? Everybody must be different.

because they get crap support and advice from hvs usually and believe the myths that go around about breastfeeding.

HAve you looked at kellymoms website?

I cant link to it at the moment due to child lock thing.

rainbow - don't be defensive. It is not a competition - I am just saying i have done it for about 4 years all in all and have gone through various crises in that time so i think i speak with experience (apart from any training i have had) - there isn't any need to be offensive I am talking about my experience and exhaustion and not eating properly has caused me problems when feeding my lot.

rainbow - don't be defensive. It is not a competition - I am just saying i have done it for about 4 years all in all and have gone through various crises in that time so i think i speak with experience (apart from any training i have had) - there isn't any need to be offensive I am talking about my experience and exhaustion and not eating properly has caused me problems when feeding my lot.

rainbow - don't be defensive. It is not a competition - I am just saying i have done it for about 4 years all in all and have gone through various crises in that time so i think i speak with experience (apart from any training i have had) - there isn't any need to be offensive I am talking about my experience and exhaustion and not eating properly has caused me problems when feeding my lot.

I've breastfed in total for 7 years

IF you do an advanced search on mumsnet and put in quality and diet and search under tiktok's name you'll see lots of posts where she explains it.

rainbow - don't be defensive. It is not a competition - I am just saying i have done it for about 4 years all in all and have gone through various crises in that time so i think i speak with experience (apart from any training i have had) - there isn't any need to be offensive I am talking about my experience and exhaustion and not eating properly has caused me problems when feeding my lot.

ooh sorry posted twice somehow

But it did rainbow - maybe a day is an exaggeration, but very quickly within a few days the milk flowed again. And I know my milk dried up by the baby screaming and fidgeting, constant feeding and never ever being satisfied, and the fact that I couldnt get anything at all out of the nipple itself. Also significant weight loss in my dd initially. After eating loads again, within a day or two (can remember it not taking too long but maybe two or three days) baby settled, boobs felt fuller and life went on. Honest - I swear that was the case. We only found out initially as after dd born and a few weeks old, I was eating a normal healthy diet with puddings etc but struggling to feed dd. Then, in a state of pure exhaustion and depression after she refused the bottle that I had to offer her (serious weight loss in her) I ate loads of cakes and choc as I do at times of stress. Coincendentally within a few days of eating loads of crap through pure exhaustion, my milk improved. I then got more rested and felt less depressed and ate normal, but normal high calorie, diet. Back to square one. It was my (totally non medical, never read a book on feeding etc) dh who said eat more again - it worked. And three bf dds later, and many times of trying to reduce the amount of crap I was eating, we KNOW that it was helping my milk.

frog - this is really a common experience for a lot of people - it is not in your head!

oh in fact posted a lot of times - apologies

Honestly, why dont you read a little about it. It sounds like you were more relaxed and chilled which probably helped the baby and your let down. There were many times I was unable to express anything but this has no bearing on how much milk you have.