has this happened to you, when you had your LO's?

[minties]

Yes, the hospital I birthed at has a strict breastfeeding only rule. There were no facilities for bottle feeding at all.

Only women who couldn't physically breastfeed would have been given any assistance for bottlefeeding, i.e had had a mastectomy or something similar.

When I had trouble breastfeeding in the first couple of days, a midwife "milked" my colostrum and feed it to the baby from a syringe.

 

[newmommy23]

the opposite. very pushy with the formula >.<

 

[lilyd]

Sorry if this is repetitive, I haven't read all the replies. My hospital wouldn't give out formula and if you were intending to FF then you had to take your own in with you.

Both Cow & Gate and SMA do hospital packswith ready made glass bottles and disposeable teats in. Could you or someone get some of these to her?

Hope she's ok and home soon x

 

[tu123]

Yes, the hospital I birthed at has a strict breastfeeding only rule. There were no facilities for bottle feeding at all.

Only women who couldn't physically breastfeed would have been given any assistance for bottlefeeding, i.e had had a mastectomy or something similar.

When I had trouble breastfeeding in the first couple of days, a midwife "milked" my colostrum and feed it to the baby from a syringe.

What a fantastic midwife!

I dont think you can have no formula on the wards and expect people to bring their own (unless they have totally decided to FF). Someone or some baby will be needing a top up or some mum may have had complications and be quite ill-eradicating formula off the warsd totally would be difficult.

I was determined to breast feed but was in theatre for four hrs post the birth and then again a few days later. My OH was given a bottle to feed LO whilst i was under anaesthetic and it went bad from then on with not latching-screaming at the breast, etc. I asked so many times to see someone to help me with the latch. All the MWs said my latch was fine and she'll stop screaming eventaully! It never happened and a week later she was a pound below her birth weight (born at 7lbs 15oz) and below even more three weeks later.

I'd never have thought to bring formula with me becasue i believed i wouldnt need it. We eneded up spending a week in hospital and OH did go out and buy some for just in casies.

If the ward did not have top ups available i dont know what i would have done. I dont understand hospitals that dont provide formula. What happens if the mum is to ill to feed? Or do they thoroughly infom people antenataly?

It would be alot better for there to be more midwives who have adequate training to help with breastfeeding and more midwives so that even in busy periods someone is around to help.

My MWs on the nightshift were horrendous, mean and nasty-the amount of men i saw argueing with them about the lack of care...

 

[linsayp]

That's awful!
Maybe she could get someone to go to Asda for her and get the newborn starter kits (think they're cow & gate) that have something like 13 premade bottles (the same as the ones you USUALLY get in hospitals) so that she could just feed him from her bed?

Can't believe that! Liam fed every hour and a half in the early days and I think it would've killed me doing all that walking - and I didn't even have a c-section.

Sorry - didn't read all 9 pages of replies so I think this has probably already been said!

 

[Dragonfly]

The reason she couldn't breast feed was beacuse the medication she is on for her gall bladder to ease the pain of that
she was told it could intefere with BF.

The ward she is on had equipment and steriliser for BF mums, but they moved the steriliser for
The FF mums to another ward.
I'll also add the steriliser stuff for BF mums to use was in a its own feeding room, I could understand
If they left it in that room there's nothing wrong with that.
And I'm sure a new mum wouldn't just see the formula stuff and think they'll give up if they see it

I'm all for premoting BF but there's a right way and a wrong way, if FF was that bad why wouldn't they just take
It off the shelves. This hospital is doing it the wrong way for putting people like
My cousin on a guilt trip if they are unable to, Or those who choose not too making them
Feel as if they are making wrong desisions and what is an already stressful time for new mums
x

I dont get why they where trying to get her to breastfeed if she was told her meds would interfere.I do know that I have breastfed on heavy meds from the c section and birth, (both me and Alex where throwing up! and Alex was out for a day and couldnt feed). But she was on them constantly so that I dont get. Thats weird the way they have split the wards in two? everyone was mixed in mine. i was with william only one bresatfeeding and all the ff mums where shaking heads and asking me why I bothered and couldnt get over what they where seeing second time around everyone was breastfeeding!

i dont think they should give free forumla if you want or have to ff you bring your own. I had a tin in my bag.

I don't think they were encouraging her to breast feed as they obviously knew her situation,
But when she asked where the steralising equipment was she said they had moved it to another ward
To encourage ladies to breast feed so they didn't have to walk there, but I don't think a walk
Is gonna encourage or put off a mum from breast feeding.

They were mixed wards there's one main ward and its cut off into bays with the beds and a few
Single private rooms and the feeding room which was all set up for BF mums with
All they equipment they could use including a little steraliser thing for exspressing I'm guessing
Even a few bottles for them to use. When she asked if she could use that steraliser as she was in pain that's
When they told her where it had been moved to and why it was moved

It was moved to a normal ward for pregnant women, so FF mums have to walk down past the main entrance
Of the hospital if they wanna feed their babies.

The hospital is absolutly shocking when my cousin was in labour, my aunt (her mum) was her birthpartner along
With the babys dad. My aunt was sitting in the room and there was a strong smell of urine.
It wasn't untill later on she relised it was the chair she had been sat on all night.
It had been been wee'd on that manytimes it had soaked through the cushion.
When my dad was in their with cancer her caught MRSA and they sent him home like
It at 10pm with his wound from having the tumor removed gaping open.
There was a blooded swab left on the floor all day!! And one of the nurses was so rude to my mum

There bed side manner was appauling, I'm currently training to be a nurse and then
Hoping to specialise in midwifery I would never dream of treating my patients like this!!

what a shitty hospitle. They just all sounds mean and nasty, I do know what that feels like to from hospital staff and not good at that vulnerable time. You never forget when your babies are born and to have nasty staff and a bad hospital experience can be very bitter memory that you shouldnt have robbing you of that time you should be happy. Though this hospital your friend was in sounds like they would treat everyone like shit not just ff mums. Making it harder of course , and I know how hard it is to walk from a c section I was taunted from a midwife that they had several c sections and none the way I was acting I was barked at and all and treated ,like I was lazy!
I hope more nice people like you train as these arseholes that dont need a job need out.

 

[Windmills]

Yes, the hospital I birthed at has a strict breastfeeding only rule. There were no facilities for bottle feeding at all.

Only women who couldn't physically breastfeed would have been given any assistance for bottlefeeding, i.e had had a mastectomy or something similar.

When I had trouble breastfeeding in the first couple of days, a midwife "milked" my colostrum and feed it to the baby from a syringe.

That's insane
How can they ban you from feeding your baby how you want to?

 

[hinkybinky]

There were no bottles or formula available at all in the birth centre I was in.

Was that Crowborough or somewhere else? As I thought the same too, until the second night when my LO was screaming at about 2am and the midwife offered me some: "I'm not supposed to say this but..."! And that's meant to be a real pro-breastfeeding place. In fact, I've heard so many stories of bf women having formula pushed on them before their milk comes in because "your baby is hungry".

 

[leelee]

Yes, the hospital I birthed at has a strict breastfeeding only rule. There were no facilities for bottle feeding at all.

Only women who couldn't physically breastfeed would have been given any assistance for bottlefeeding, i.e had had a mastectomy or something similar.

When I had trouble breastfeeding in the first couple of days, a midwife "milked" my colostrum and feed it to the baby from a syringe.

That's insane
How can they ban you from feeding your baby how you want to?

I think it is crazy too. And also a bit insulting to say keep the formula out of sight so people aren't tempted to go for it! Maybe if NCT and the NHS ante natal classes were a bit more realistic about the possible difficulties associated with BF the rate wouldn't be so low. I was led to believe that the baby would just latch and that would be it.

Minties - the MW did the same thing in my hospital - milked out my colostrum and fed it to LO with a syringe.

 

[highhopes19]

The reason she couldn't breast feed was beacuse the medication she is on for her gall bladder to ease the pain of that
she was told it could intefere with BF.

The ward she is on had equipment and steriliser for BF mums, but they moved the steriliser for
The FF mums to another ward.
I'll also add the steriliser stuff for BF mums to use was in a its own feeding room, I could understand
If they left it in that room there's nothing wrong with that.
And I'm sure a new mum wouldn't just see the formula stuff and think they'll give up if they see it

I'm all for premoting BF but there's a right way and a wrong way, if FF was that bad why wouldn't they just take
It off the shelves. This hospital is doing it the wrong way for putting people like
My cousin on a guilt trip if they are unable to, Or those who choose not too making them
Feel as if they are making wrong desisions and what is an already stressful time for new mums
x

I dont get why they where trying to get her to breastfeed if she was told her meds would interfere.I do know that I have breastfed on heavy meds from the c section and birth, (both me and Alex where throwing up! and Alex was out for a day and couldnt feed). But she was on them constantly so that I dont get. Thats weird the way they have split the wards in two? everyone was mixed in mine. i was with william only one bresatfeeding and all the ff mums where shaking heads and asking me why I bothered and couldnt get over what they where seeing second time around everyone was breastfeeding!

i dont think they should give free forumla if you want or have to ff you bring your own. I had a tin in my bag.

I don't think they were encouraging her to breast feed as they obviously knew her situation,
But when she asked where the steralising equipment was she said they had moved it to another ward
To encourage ladies to breast feed so they didn't have to walk there, but I don't think a walk
Is gonna encourage or put off a mum from breast feeding.

They were mixed wards there's one main ward and its cut off into bays with the beds and a few
Single private rooms and the feeding room which was all set up for BF mums with
All they equipment they could use including a little steraliser thing for exspressing I'm guessing
Even a few bottles for them to use. When she asked if she could use that steraliser as she was in pain that's
When they told her where it had been moved to and why it was moved

It was moved to a normal ward for pregnant women, so FF mums have to walk down past the main entrance
Of the hospital if they wanna feed their babies.

The hospital is absolutly shocking when my cousin was in labour, my aunt (her mum) was her birthpartner along
With the babys dad. My aunt was sitting in the room and there was a strong smell of urine.
It wasn't untill later on she relised it was the chair she had been sat on all night.
It had been been wee'd on that manytimes it had soaked through the cushion.
When my dad was in their with cancer her caught MRSA and they sent him home like
It at 10pm with his wound from having the tumor removed gaping open.
There was a blooded swab left on the floor all day!! And one of the nurses was so rude to my mum

There bed side manner was appauling, I'm currently training to be a nurse and then
Hoping to specialise in midwifery I would never dream of treating my patients like this!!

not being funny but if i were your cousin i would never of booked in at that hospital after what happened to your Dad! And if i did,i'd expect a poor level of care!

not saying it's ok for the hospital to be that way,because it's not, but for things like health and childbirth etc i've always researched where to go and asked others what it's like because you can't afford to take chances on health!

i hope she can get home soon xxx

darenth valley (the hospital shes at), it is the only hosptal near to us.
the other hospital near us shut down a few years ago for just being poor in genral and a lot were transfering to darenth valley.
ive heard alot of bad experiences from nearly all the hospitals that are close to us for all different reasons tbh.
she did research into other possibilities, but she obviously thought that this one would be the best one for her and her baby, just because ive had bad experiences there i also know a lot of people that had great experiences there.

 

[jstarr]

I agree that bf should be encouraged and formula shouldnt just be shoved under everyones noses because yes it might sway some mothers who were undecided, but the fact is that by intentionally putting bottles in a place where mothers who have had traumatic births, c-sections etc have to walk a distance that is very painfull is just cruel, whether they intended to FF or not.

 

[aob1013]

But what's the alternative, you know?

 

[Mum2b_Claire]

There were no bottles or formula available at all in the birth centre I was in.

Was that Crowborough or somewhere else? As I thought the same too, until the second night when my LO was screaming at about 2am and the midwife offered me some: "I'm not supposed to say this but..."! And that's meant to be a real pro-breastfeeding place. In fact, I've heard so many stories of bf women having formula pushed on them before their milk comes in because "your baby is hungry".

I had Ruby in London as that was where we lived at the time, in fact we had the same situation at 2am on the 2nd night but the MW said OH would have to go to a 24 hour Tescos to get formula if we wanted it. However we didn't, and Ruby did settle down and latch on for 5 mins or so the next morning and we went home, but I never got her to latch on again

 

[leelee]

But what's the alternative, you know?

My hospital was very good. I was trying to BF and everytime I pressed a button a MW was there to help me latch him on. A MW also helped me express colostrum onto a syringe. However, LO was very hoarse and dehydrated and when he became clear he wasn't latching on they made me aware that there was formula available but got me to feed him from the cap so he didn't get used to the teat. When I did use formula it was just brought to me (I had no idea where to get it and still don't).

There was no judgement, fuss or disapproval. They just did it.

 

[charli87]

I haven't read any other replies but thats really bad. There should of been some kind of nurse around to get the stuff for her, I know there was at my hospital as another ladie called them every couple of hours, even though they are really pro breast feeding

 

[AppleBlossom]

My hospital were pretty good. G latched well but if I asked them to check they always did and encouraged me. I had someone come in and tell me how to make up a bottle of formula incase I ever needed to know.

 

[ttc_lolly]

Oh no that's awful Your poor cousin x

 

[jstarr]

More education and support i suppose and better ways of getting information to people, so that when they get to that point in the hospital they know what they are going to say when they are asked 'how are you feeding?'..and then let people get on with their choice, FF is never going to dissappear no matter how far away they shove it!

I do think that if FF mums get things free so should BF mums, or noone should have freebies (apart from cases where formula is needed for medical reasons)

 

[Tasha]

This is the exact same as the hospital I was at with my youngest. I was taken to the high dependency bay which was a six bed bay, and there were women (also on the high dependency bit) crying because they were trying to get down to the sterilising room which was at the opposite end of the long corridor. These women were less than two hours after sections, and still had their catheta's in etc, it was horrible to watch.

They do have a policy of being up and about quickly (within six hours), cos it is good for you, which is fine for some like me but others just couldnt.

I was BF and they were awful to me, she latched well the first couple of times, but about 4am the next morning she wouldnt, I was exhausted and asking for help, the mw was screaming at me that I have flat nipples so it was always going to be hard. I tried for four hours, and in the end asked for a bottle, to be told they didnt have them, so my husband went and got the SMA prefilled ones from Boots, but wasnt allowed in until visiting times (10am) by which time it was six hours from when she started crying so we had six hours of screaming/dozing off for five minutes/screaming again. I gave her the bottle, we both slept for a few hours, woke up and we BF perfectly, just tiredness and lack of support for us both I guess.

 

[leelee]

This is the exact same as the hospital I was at with my youngest. I was taken to the high dependency bay which was a six bed bay, and there were women (also on the high dependency bit) crying because they were trying to get down to the sterilising room which was at the opposite end of the long corridor. These women were less than two hours after sections, and still had their catheta's in etc, it was horrible to watch.

They do have a policy of being up and about quickly (within six hours), cos it is good for you, which is fine for some like me but others just couldnt.

I was BF and they were awful to me, she latched well the first couple of times, but about 4am the next morning she wouldnt, I was exhausted and asking for help, the mw was screaming at me that I have flat nipples so it was always going to be hard. I tried for four hours, and in the end asked for a bottle, to be told they didnt have them, so my husband went and got the SMA prefilled ones from Boots, but wasnt allowed in until visiting times (10am) by which time it was six hours from when she started crying so we had six hours of screaming/dozing off for five minutes/screaming again. I gave her the bottle, we both slept for a few hours, woke up and we BF perfectly, just tiredness and lack of support for us both I guess.

That is horrendous. You poor thing