Mahoosive NHS rant!

[xUniquex]

this is going to be long i warn you!I'm so fed up!Have been having a nightmare few weeks!

i just need to write it down!

Some of you may have read my posts about needing donor milk... well the donor milk allowed me to get ahead with my expressing and LO put on a little weight which was good!

Took to GP as ithought he had silent reflux,was told no not reflux,i just dont have enough milk!

Well LO was admitted to the childrens ward because an incompetent neonatal worker failed to book im an appointment with a consultant pead!

There they confirmed what i had been saying all along.. that LO has silent reflux!They also picked up a heart murmur,which has us worried sick!They sent him for chest x ray and found mucous plugs on his lungs from inhaling his own stomach acids they refused to do a heart scan to check severity of murmur

the doctor told me i ask too many q's and want to 'know everything' i also had formula shoved onto me again!to which i had to tell them IT WAS NOT AN OPTION and i know theres underlying issues which need sorting,not just shoving a bottle in his mouth!

the second day there the doc wanted me to feed LO 3 hourly and express and top him up with ebm.he also prescribed gaviscon and said he would arrange for a bf worker to help me (after i requested)

Come 4.30pm he came and asked how feeding was going,i explained it was the same ,he was not happy he wanted 3 hourly feeds,he asked about top ups ,i explained noone had brought me a breast pump (as promised) ,he asks how gaviscon is going, i tell him noone has brought LO meds!He then asks how did it go with bf advisor , i then explain nooone has visited me since he saw me that morning!(despute me asking for doc several times throughout the day!)

he then says LO needs to stay in again for 'monitoring' i then errupt into an absolute fit of rage !!

told him i was d/c LO, told him they are incompetent and have wasted our time!he says he is sorry nothing was done,but i need to understand there are other patients on the ward WTF?!he then wouldnt prescribe something for constipation,insisting that LO was constipated because of not having enough milk,not through gaviscon..aafter a bit more ranting he changed the prescription to renatidine and domperidone and we hot footed it out of there !

then the H.V comes to weigh LO two days later,he has gained yet shes still not happy,goes on about milk supply and baby rice and formula and how long do i plan to tandem feed as it has no nutritional value for my 16 month old (WTF!?)
She also telling me to have time away from the kids (like i wouldnt have to express two hourly still!)

then today my motherly instincts proved right again as LO was diagnosed with 50% posterior tongue tie by my LC.. got it snipped and hes like a different child!

As a BF mum i feel i have been battered by the NHS! I've had 3 docs and a H.V tell me i am not making enough milk,that i CANT make enough milk for two,that LO needs formula and baby rice,that he will become sick if i dont supplement!
Not ONCE was i referred to the Lactation Consultant,or even BF advisor!And even when i ASKED they still didnt do it|!

Where is the logic here? a baby who has not gained weight since the end of november is given no assistance in improving BF?

If you are still reading thanx!I just needed to let it out!i did try and vent to a friend earlier but she pissed me off more by going off on one saying formula aint all bad!Well SORRY but i find fit insulting when people are telling me i'm unable to feed my children when i'm telling them there's underlying issues affecting feeding and they wont listen!She couldn't grasp that it was the same as someone telling her to BF after FF for 5 months!

RRRAAAAAWWWWWWWWW!

that is all !

 

[summer rain]

I don't blame you, it is infuriating. My sister is 23 years old and when she was a baby my mum was pushed into supplementing with formula because she had prolonged jaundice and wasn't gaining weight. My sister ended up on virtually all formula, until my mum relactated. She didn't gain weight or thrive on the formula. 12 years later it was found my sister had a severe intolerance to dairy, and that's one reason why she didn't gain much as a baby, now she has Crohn's and arthritis. Three years ago I was bullied into switching to a comfort formula with my second youngest, because he was ok on that they refused to prescribe him a hypoallergenic formula, and now he still has problems with certain foods, again the NHS wash their hands. With my youngest a pediatrician tried to bully me into topping up with formula even though he was gaining way more than average and my youngest is also exhibiting signs of a milk allergy, they really just don't care and see formula as some type of magic panacea.

 

[xUniquex]

I don't blame you, it is infuriating. My sister is 23 years old and when she was a baby my mum was pushed into supplementing with formula because she had prolonged jaundice and wasn't gaining weight. My sister ended up on virtually all formula, until my mum relactated. She didn't gain weight or thrive on the formula. 12 years later it was found my sister had a severe intolerance to dairy, and that's one reason why she didn't gain much as a baby, now she has Crohn's and arthritis. Three years ago I was bullied into switching to a comfort formula with my second youngest, because he was ok on that they refused to prescribe him a hypoallergenic formula, and now he still has problems with certain foods, again the NHS wash their hands. With my youngest a pediatrician tried to bully me into topping up with formula even though he was gaining way more than average and my youngest is also exhibiting signs of a milk allergy, they really just don't care and see formula as some type of magic panacea.

got to agree with the bolded!

it's so degrading to be told over and ovar that you cant feed your child and some powder that you add to boiling water can do a better job!

My eldest has dairy allergy,as does my OH,this has strengthened my reasons for no Formula but docs just think they know everything!they wo0nt even test my youngest,said to 'just feed him some yoghurt amd see if he reacts' lovely!

 

[summer rain]

I was bullied into switching to formula with my second youngest, they point blank refused to refer him for allergy testing and tricked me into attending the main clinic in town I was told, we would be seeing a pediatrician. Instead we were seen by some jumped up newly qualified health visitor who just kept robotically telling me to take a yield of every feed and to try formula. I showed her his red book and that of my second eldest, as both showed identical patterns of sudden failure to gain weight past 8 weeks. So frustrating. My second eldest would have an anaphylactic reaction to dairy if even a drop went on his skin. With him our health visitor at the time pushed for a referral for allergy testing for him, still when all the allergy tests were done and he started gaining weight a bit better they just discharged us and my husband and I were left to our own devices as when to slowly try him with dairy and eggs again.

 

[MelanieAnn]

I am so, so, so totally with you on this NHS rant.

It is awful how little respect is given within the NHS.

Fancy coming on board as a lactivist? Breastfeeding Manifesto Coalition, Best Beginnings, Baby Milk Action, writing to MPs and organising petitions to ask for better training for HCPs?

Mel

 

[kelly29]

poor you and poor lo it makes me laugh how they go on about breast is best, when they quite clearly just wanted to force you into giving formula make you fee l like you inadaqute, not having enough milk? absolute arseholes docs never wanna listen, even tho i think mum's do know best, and hv are something else do gooders as hubby calls them sticking there noses in where its not wanted! ok so most mums don't have medical training but we do know when some things not right with our children xxx

my hv is a looooooser but she knows best lolol yeah ok lol

 

[xUniquex]

formula is so much easier for doctors! they are so technical and want to know how much baby is having and treat them like a textbook!

i'm still furious now,what upsets me is that the lactation consultant was not in the least bit suprised,so it'd obviously something that happens all the time,and this is coming from a baby friendly accredited hospital!

God only knows what non baby friendly hospitals are like!

 

[littlestar85]

deleted

 

[xUniquex]

Agh I totally understand your frustration! The NHS have disappointed me SO much with BF! My Lo was born 1 month early, was jaundiced and struggled to BF immediately after birth... which can happen with early babies... but they put a huge amount of pressure on me saying he had to have 30ml every 3 hours in order to get rid of the jaundice... now a) what mother is producing that much 24hrs after giving birth and b) what newborn can fit that much in their tummy?! We managed to established BF once we got home but he used to take down huge amounts of gas and take up to 2 hrs to feed at a time and took 5 weeks to re-gain his birth weight.

After reading Ina May's Guide to Breastfeeding I MYSELF discovered he was tongue tied when he was 5 weeks old! Not a single doctor, midwife, HV or lactation consultant had picked up on it and it took a further 5 weeks to get it sorted! Crazy! LO is in the 4th centile with weight (but 75th with length and head circ therefore not worried!) and the one time I went to baby clinic they acted all concerned that he was light and said we'd have to have him weighed regularly and then "assess what to do"... umm assess what?? So I never went again! Thankfully LO is happy, healthy, eating well and developing well - no thanks to the UN-baby friendly NHS!

You're right, they really do make you feel battered and inadequate, it's so frustrating!

they spend so long 'assesing' they miss the bloody bus!

my son is not even on a centile at the moment! his head is still growing though! he gets weighed again tomorrow so god help me ..i'm preparing for more indirect abuse form the H.V !

it's almost like the NHS says... YOU MUST BF... then when you do they say YOU ARE NOT GOOD ENOUGH AT THIS GIVE SOME FORMULA!

 

[littlestar85]

Exactly! I think they just don't really have a clue! Every member of NHS staff seems to have had different training, different opinions etc. so how exactly are we meant to 'learn' from them? It's ridiculous. I've just given up on them. If LO is ill I'll take him the doc, apart from that I have no interest in them at all. I learn more from books and from BnB!

If your LO's head is still growing then you know he's still growing. Weight is really not a great indicator of how a baby's doing. There's so many other things to look at too. They can't seem to look past their inaccurate dated charts!

 

[fantastica]

Sorry you're having such a hard time, the whole thing annoys me so much...they go on how 'breast is best', make it difficult for mums who maybe choose to ff or end up needing to due to circumstances and yet they're the first that try to force formula on you.

We were having a bad time bfing when LO was born, eventually they just said 'you'll have to give formula'...stupidly I was too ill to protest, but they then refuse to give any advice on it because they can't promote ff...yet what exactly do they think they're doing by bullying people into it?

Sorry to go off on one...but this is one of the things that really irritates me the most, stay strong, you're doing a fantastic job x

 

[xUniquex]

thanx fantastica! after BF for 5 months with a tongue tie and unmedicated silent reflux i'm not about to give up now!

 

[bky]

If it's a baby friendly hospital (accredited) other staff (not MWs) are required to have at least 3 hours of BF training per year (MWs and similar require 18). You may want to make a complaint to the administration because they could be in a position to lose funding or accreditation for not being compliant. At the least you might get the Dr sent off for more BF training.