Refreshing talk today with HV's regarding BFing

[lindseymw]

I haven't read all the way through, but from the pages I have read I see it's turned into an argument.

I completely agree with the OP that information should be given with regards to formula feeding. It's all well & good say "just read the instructions" theres a bit more to it than that. How to sterilse properly, how to make the bottles up (this advice changes all the time, from can make them in advance, make them up as you go etc), even down to something like how to hold the bottle properly to reduce wind.

By "hiding" the advice, it is not going to encourage BFing if the mother is set on FF. For mothers who did give BF ago, but were not successful, I'm sure they would agree that more support in the beginning & for a few weeks after would be more beneficial than just being shown how to latch.

With DS1, I got some help in the first few days whilst he was in SCBU but as soon we were out of the hospital, I left to my own devices. A MW came round a week after he was discharged. I switched to FF at 7weeks, I didn't get any advice. It was presumed that I knew how to make a bottle up. (I did know, but that's not the point).

With DS2, I got no help with BF, as I had done it before! A MW tried to show me how to use the hospital pump, but she didn't have a clue.

 

[Laura2919]

I think it just goes to show how different the NHS trusts are.

The first time my sister saw a midwife was when Morgan was 5 days old and they came to take her stitch out from her section.

As for the books, no I didnt get any book when booking in apart from a pack about breastfeeding. So like I said in a previous post I am not sure whether it is because I live in an area with very low breastfeeding mums or not but no book here

 

[Laura2919]

There is going to be a MW about from the first feed anyway. Most people try and BF the first few days and the baby isnt going to starve in 1 day from not getting much from the breast. If they wish to move on from FF then you see a MW or HV a lot in the first few weeks.

This might be true in your experience but not in mine. Morgan I saw a mw twice and hv when I went to the clinic once every 2-3 weeks. Naomi-Mae very similar. Honey I saw no one (different I know but I had still give birth). Kyasie Blossom I had an emergency section was discharged 3 days post delivery and first saw a mw 11 days post delivery and never saw a hv, and Riley Rae nearly five months on and I have seen no one. Just thought you might like to know the different experiences that are out there (sorry if someone else has said, not read all the way through yet)

Really? A mw came out everyday for the first 4 days then every 2nd til day 10. After that hv came out maybe 3 times a week for 2 more weeks. We seen them liads, was a pain tbh lol.

My HV came to take my section stitch out and I didnt see a midwife at all even though my girls spent 4 weeks in NNU nobody came out to see us.

 

[Blah11]

Wow I'm really shocked by this :/ looks like I'm really lucky and my nhs trust OS really invested in maternity services.

 

[indy and lara]

^^^ We had constant visits too. Never blooming ending, never told what time coming and always a bit annoyed when she came at 9am and me and Emma were sleeping!

 

[Snuffy]

God knows how often I'll see my health visitor this time, the surgery only has one who works part time now. They have also moved baby clinic from our surgery to a community centre that's too far away for me to be faffed to walk so they can merge it with another surgery's.

There is a surgery literally 5 minutes walk up the road that also runs a baby clinic each week so I think I'll go there instead - I am sure I was once told that you can go to any baby clinic, it doesn't have to be your HV's. I tried to join that surgery when we moved here but their patient list is always full.

 

[Tasha]

Really? A mw came out everyday for the first 4 days then every 2nd til day 10. After that hv came out maybe 3 times a week for 2 more weeks. We seen them liads, was a pain tbh lol.

Wow, that is a lot. Yeah, I hardly see any one when I have a baby. Kaysie Blossom I only saw someone at day 10 cos I was getting really angry because my staples needing taking out at day 5-7 and were really tugging, plus I was BF for the first time.

I think with my experiences you can begin to see why FF feels so unsupported, they dont get the info during pregnancy and quite often there is no one to ask during the first days/week. And also why the BF after a week etc is so low, because there isnt the support and I didnt know about LLL etc when I had Kaysie Blossom because I never received any BF information at all (here you dont get any info as a 2nd time + mum), I very much felt like as I was a BF for the first time on my 3rd baby they believed I wouldnt do or if I did I would fail, in the end I did fail but I was proud of myself for the six of weeks I exclusively BF and the three weeks mixed.

You and Indy and Lara seem to have very similar experiences, are you under the same trust?

 

[indy and lara]

Yip Tasha. NHS Lothian.

 

[24/7]

You really were lucky blah, mine never came and were useless - When I said BF wasnt really working out, she just turned and said "Hmm, well its probably your brain not working properly and producing enough milk, I'm sure the HV will help when you see her, but I'm discharging you now" and she asked what actually made me want to BF when it was so difficult - So yeah, not much help!!

 

[leighbaby]

Not sure which NHS trust - but in Surrey/North Hampshire, the MW and HVs are excellent. I had a midwife come every day for about 6 days (at my request) and could see a HV if I wanted at various clinics through out the week.

 

[discoclare]

Haven't read the whole thread but when I was in the hospital I was constantly pressurised to give my daughter formula by the mws. I was in for 5 days due to complications with my emergency c section (problems with me, my daughter was fine) and my milk didn't come in until about a few hours before being discharged. The mws were cross that my baby was hungry and crying and angry with me for not giving her formula. In the end she had to have a couple of bottles anyway as she was jaundiced and had to do 12 hours under a UV lamp. My friend had her DD at the same hospital by c section and was also pressurised to FF.

After we were discharged we went home and I continued BFing. About a week later a HV came to the house on the introduction visit. I explained I was BFing and she gave me a leaflet on how to prepare and sterilise bottles! So I'm confused that they aren't allowed to give that out. I didn't even want the leaflet, I was BFing my daughter! IME here in London clearly Camden PCT are pro-FF (even though they try and say that they are pro-breast).

 

[summer rain]

Haven't read the whole thread but when I was in the hospital I was constantly pressurised to give my daughter formula by the mws. I was in for 5 days due to complications with my emergency c section (problems with me, my daughter was fine) and my milk didn't come in until about a few hours before being discharged. The mws were cross that my baby was hungry and crying and angry with me for not giving her formula. In the end she had to have a couple of bottles anyway as she was jaundiced and had to do 12 hours under a UV lamp. My friend had her DD at the same hospital by c section and was also pressurised to FF.

After we were discharged we went home and I continued BFing. About a week later a HV came to the house on the introduction visit. I explained I was BFing and she gave me a leaflet on how to prepare and sterilise bottles! So I'm confused that they aren't allowed to give that out. I didn't even want the leaflet, I was BFing my daughter! IME here in London clearly Camden PCT are pro-FF (even though they try and say that they are pro-breast).

I've had the same experience with Barking, Havering and Redbridge PCT (also in London); they also give out leaflets how to sterilise bottles and prepare formula even when not asked and they push combi feeding from the start. Also with both of mine who were readmitted with jaundice they gave them both formula without me wanting them too, even though the type of jaundice my babies have is hereditary and nothing to do with not getting enough-in my husbands family even the FF babies need phototherapy, but they were just so keen to give formula that they didn't care about that. Even when discharged from SCBU they put on his discharge notes that he was fully on formula (he'd had less than one full glass bottle and nothing since) and I was told their policy was only to discharge when babies had successfully had bottles of formula so they had to write that. After another two weeks when my son still had fairly moderate levels of bilirubin but was gaining 10-12oz a week and was otherwise fine and alert, a paediatrician there told me I had to give him 2-3oz of formula after every feed to flush out the jaundice quickly, he even tried to say my sons weight gain was extremely poor and he was clearly dehydrated to try to make me feel that he wasn't getting enough to eat. When I said excuse me but 10-12oz a week is well above average and he has about 10-12 sopping wet nappies a day he said that my son was getting too much fluids(!) and that only formula would help him retain enough fluid to pick up the bilirubin and take it out of his body...

 

[Laura2919]

Not sure which NHS trust - but in Surrey/North Hampshire, the MW and HVs are excellent. I had a midwife come every day for about 6 days (at my request) and could see a HV if I wanted at various clinics through out the week.

Im in Surrey, I was booked in at Epsom General - thats where I got my breastfeeding pack, nothing about formula feeding
I had the girls in St Georges in Tooting (london) - I wanted to express, I had a midwife come over, put my clean breastpump on her breast and say this is how you do it and left.
The girls were transferred to William Harvey in Kent, Jaycee went at a few hours old and Chloe went at 9 hours old. - I see doctors and midwives there they knew I was already struggling with expressing and no help
at 8 days old the girls were transferred back up to where I live to St Helier Hospital and nobody helped me there either and I struggled even more cos the dopey nurse from William Harvey left my milk and it defrosted so I couldnt use it and it put me under pressure so at 10 days old the girls were switched from breastmilk to nutri-prem2.

Thats 4 hospitals and not one person helped me..

 

[Laura2919]

Haven't read the whole thread but when I was in the hospital I was constantly pressurised to give my daughter formula by the mws. I was in for 5 days due to complications with my emergency c section (problems with me, my daughter was fine) and my milk didn't come in until about a few hours before being discharged. The mws were cross that my baby was hungry and crying and angry with me for not giving her formula. In the end she had to have a couple of bottles anyway as she was jaundiced and had to do 12 hours under a UV lamp. My friend had her DD at the same hospital by c section and was also pressurised to FF.

After we were discharged we went home and I continued BFing. About a week later a HV came to the house on the introduction visit. I explained I was BFing and she gave me a leaflet on how to prepare and sterilise bottles! So I'm confused that they aren't allowed to give that out. I didn't even want the leaflet, I was BFing my daughter! IME here in London clearly Camden PCT are pro-FF (even though they try and say that they are pro-breast).

I definitely wouldnt say London as a whole. Myself and one other person havent had that experience and we had our babies in London hospitals.

 

[24/7]

Haven't read the whole thread but when I was in the hospital I was constantly pressurised to give my daughter formula by the mws. I was in for 5 days due to complications with my emergency c section (problems with me, my daughter was fine) and my milk didn't come in until about a few hours before being discharged. The mws were cross that my baby was hungry and crying and angry with me for not giving her formula. In the end she had to have a couple of bottles anyway as she was jaundiced and had to do 12 hours under a UV lamp. My friend had her DD at the same hospital by c section and was also pressurised to FF.

After we were discharged we went home and I continued BFing. About a week later a HV came to the house on the introduction visit. I explained I was BFing and she gave me a leaflet on how to prepare and sterilise bottles! So I'm confused that they aren't allowed to give that out. I didn't even want the leaflet, I was BFing my daughter! IME here in London clearly Camden PCT are pro-FF (even though they try and say that they are pro-breast).

I definitely wouldnt say London as a whole. Myself and one other person havent had that experience and we had our babies in London hospitals.

South London NHS cover where I live. xx

 

[Tasha]

Agreed Laura. I have had Morgan in Ealing Hospital, Naomi-Mae in Queen Charlotte's and Chelsea Hospital (Hammersmith), Honey in West Middlesex Hospital, Kaysie the first part of her care was at Queen Charlotte's and then from 22/24 weeks it was from Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, and Riley Rae was born at Queen Charlotte's, so a wide variety of London hospital's have all provided me little information and/or support.

 

[Tasha]

Oh and they are all under different trusts

 

[Laura2919]

Tasha, my cousins little boy is in Chelsea and Westminster at the moment. He is a year old and has only spent a few weeks out of hospital. He is a really poorly boy.

Epsom and St Helier are in the same NHS trust, St georges in another and William Harvey in another.

 

[Tasha]

I am really sorry to read that Laura. Poor little boy, and your family. C&W Hospital is fantastic, I moved there because Queen Charlotte's werent looking after me right and well C&W did. My mum is a paediatric nurse and has worked there, and it has very good children's wards (although she doesnt work there now).

I really hope he gets better soon Laura

 

[summer rain]

IME here in London clearly Camden PCT are pro-FF (even though they try and say that they are pro-breast).

Where did discoclare say ALL London NHS trusts are pro-FF? She didn't, she said in London she knows that Camden are pro-FF-big difference. Some NHS trusts in London are very pro-FF to the extent they do not really support BF just because you haven't had this experience doesn't mean its not true. In this area most HVs, MWs and GPs are very biased towards formula as well. I have heard similar about Homerton (not sure of the trust) from some ladies but others say they have had a completely different experience more recently, maybe they have improved now.