*** Charts for breastfed babies *** The real ones!

[Tasha20]

Breastfed babies put on weight at a different rate than formula fed babies.

So it looked like they were under weight and subsequently uniformed HVs were telling mums their baby is underweight and should go onto formula, when in fact they were growing very well.

Yes Melanie they are way ahead and I think the way they do it were you live is how it should be

I wonder why the UK turned so pro formula ? what went wrong

 

[budge]

Breastfed babies put on weight at a different rate than formula fed babies.

So it looked like they were under weight and subsequently uniformed HVs were telling mums their baby is underweight and should go onto formula, when in fact they were growing very well.

Yes Melanie they are way ahead and I think the way they do it were you live is how it should be

I wonder why the UK turned so pro formula ? what went wrong

not sure what went wrong - but things are getting better now thanks to people like you promoting breastfeeding in a positive light

 

[Tasha20]

Aww thanks. I hope it does get better and there will be more support and less bad advise one day in the future

 

[budge]

no i meant wouldn't it make your baby look obese as in ff babies would be high over the top and bf babies would be on the average line

sorry didn't read it back

makes sense to me.

the problem i have is by overly promoting breast feeding, those who end up forumla feeding because bf didn't work out for one reason or another end up feeling crap. i know i felt naff when bf didn't work for us and i felt like i had left alice down & was getting too stressed out about the whole thing. but seeing her now, doing so fantastic on formula, im happy i made that decision.

i personally think "happy mummy and baby is best" they need to make the benefits of both types clear and let individuals decide what is best for them. but i do agree that formula feeding was the norm over breast feeding, now i feel its more evened out.

people are indivduals with individual ideas and beliefs. They need to treat them as such.

why couldn't you breastfeed sam?

 

[Sammystar]

I think the attitude in central Europe is different to in the UK. I'm really suprised to read all the posts about how breast feeding mums get ridiculed in public etc. Here it's the opposite. They are very pro breast feeding and I can say that I had soooooooo much support whilst feeding my babies. Unfortunately for me I had a very hard time doing it, despite me REALLY wanting to do it.
I managed with Molly for four months, Aimee ten weeks and Sam only three weeks
I so wish I'd been able to go for longer, but despite all the support I was getting (I had a midwife and a lactation counsellor here every day during the first three weeks!, they even LASERED my nipples at home!!) It just didn't happen for us. In the end it was the specialists who advised me to stop, much to my dismay

I feel so bad that I wasn't able to do it 'right' as I would have so loved to experience the magic of BF-ing, instead of it being a complete nightmare

I just thank my lucky stars I was able to offer an alternative to my kids, and though I still fret daily about Sam's weight gain as a formula fed baby, I know that he's doing fine and the main thing is we're both happy and relaxed these days........

Breast is best for sure, but thank goodness there's formula as well!

 

[EllieG]

I asked my HV about the new bf charts an she pulled them out of her bag, these ones were printed on assertates (sp?) she put them over the origional charts and there is really little difference in te two, I was suprised. I gave up bf my middle daughter because she was 'failure to thrive' but i felt itcould be due to the wrong chart that she was coming up FTT.
I am exclusivly brest feeding Freya and decided only to get er weighed two weekly so as not to obsess about her weight, as lng as she is weeing and pooing plenty I am happy.

 

[EllieG]

seems my ''h'' button isnt working well, sorry about all the typos

 

[Tasha20]

I think the attitude in central Europe is different to in the UK. I'm really suprised to read all the posts about how breast feeding mums get ridiculed in public etc. Here it's the opposite. They are very pro breast feeding and I can say that I had soooooooo much support whilst feeding my babies. Unfortunately for me I had a very hard time doing it, despite me REALLY wanting to do it.
I managed with Molly for four months, Aimee ten weeks and Sam only three weeks
I so wish I'd been able to go for longer, but despite all the support I was getting (I had a midwife and a lactation counsellor here every day during the first three weeks!, they even LASERED my nipples at home!!) It just didn't happen for us. In the end it was the specialists who advised me to stop, much to my dismay

I feel so bad that I wasn't able to do it 'right' as I would have so loved to experience the magic of BF-ing, instead of it being a complete nightmare

I just thank my lucky stars I was able to offer an alternative to my kids, and though I still fret daily about Sam's weight gain as a formula fed baby, I know that he's doing fine and the main thing is we're both happy and relaxed these days........

Breast is best for sure, but thank goodness there's formula as well!

First of all!

I totaly agree, thankgod it is there, but as a last alternative when its really needed.

Hun you did everything in your power to breastfeed, and I really have alot of respect for you! you still managed to give your baby some of that great goodness, be proud of yourself!

If there was more support like that over here more women would be able to breastfeed and know that they did everything in their power to give it ago, even if it was for a few weeks, then noone would feel like a failer, feel guilty or think they did wrong.

Hun you really did do your best, be happy knowing that you gave it ago and you tryed

Ellie its sad that your experience of ' failer to thrive ' is still so common now, its not until you have had more than one child that you feel confident enough to know what your doing is right, and trust what your doing.

Yes the charts arnt to different, but it makes enough difference when the hvs come to weigh your baby.

Its funny how some of the Hvs have access to these charts and dont use them?

My Hv has never heard about the bfing charts

 

[SarahB]

I never saw a breastfeeding chart and really wish I had, they should definitley be more readily available, good find Tasha

 

[Tasha20]

Im glad I can help

I really love helping

 

[SarahB]

Im glad I can help

I really love helping

aww bless ya!!

 

[Dee1985]

i think breast feeding is nothing out of the ordinary nower days i know so many more mums that are breast feeding then bottle feeding, i think things have changed alot now from a few years back.
i just think regarding the HV's it depends on what kind you get, i had one who was breast feeding mad i recon she had a ocd in it
i had one that told you the benifits gave the you support if you wanted to but didnt push
and i had one that was all for bottle feeding.

i think alot of it depends on how they bought their own children up too

maybe all HV should sing from the same book then no one would feel they are not getting anough support

 

[Tasha20]

Yes things are starting to change and very slowley tho I think more mums bf now more than say 3 yrs ago.


I think there needs to be consistency if women are going to get the right support.

You are right some are pro bf and some are for formula.

But there are more for formula and are to quick to put mums on to formula because of there lack of correct information on bfing, but thats only from my experience and many other mums, not just that its the hospital nurses which have a lack in support too and they have the most important role being there just after the birth of your baby.

I am sure it will change and more women will be happier and confident to breastfeed.

 

[unicorndawn]

You know i like the idea of changing over the charts to be the breastfeeding ones as standard.
That way midwives like the one that visited me, a few days after coming home from hospital would not exist. My tot is a bright bushy tailed 117cm ish 3yr old with a lovely build but as a first time mother breastfeeding i did get the ugly side and thankfully, i had a friend that instinctively knew something was wrong when she phoned me.
Over the week after i brought my slim but long son home i had a community midwife constantly on at me, even arranging numerous "surprise" visits from herself and a doctor in my practice<see not just midwives>. All because my tot was allegedly not being fed proper, as he was dropping off the centile line he was born on, he was not latching correctly and appeared to be underweight and i was attempting to carry on with this breastfeeding.......
I remember watching the olympics at night breastfeeding tears rolling down my face thinking if this is not a happy hungry contented baby i do not know what is. A friend phoned me straight away asking, what’s wrong with u and i told her, even though she bottle fed her kids she knew my tot was not in distress. Being detached from the situation she phoned a midwife she knew and explained the situation, that midwife made a special visit out to me to find out that it was mum that was distressed and my tot was infact a bit of a pig and was taking rather a lot at each feed, i was doing everything right and he has never looked back.
I remember the utter despair, upset and feeling of being useless, very well even after all this time, and anything that stops another new mother feeling like that is good in my book. If it also has various health benefits for the babies as well even better.

 

[hopefulmummy]

Unfortunately I think everyone is too obsessed with lo's gaining a certain amount of weight in a certain amount of time. Also, unfortunately again, I think breadtfeeding in a class thing. Generally (don't jump down my throat!) middle class women bf, working class women Ff. And even inthe relatively middle class area I live in, of the 7 girls from My nct group, only 2 of us are still exclusively bf, the rest combination fed for a bit then moved onto Totally ff. And inthink it was because the maternity nurses they had encouraged them To ff as it's easier to see how much baby has drunk, and midwives and hv are obsessed with "ooh, baby has only gained x amount of weight instead of x amount" it takes a new mum confident in her abilities to say, no Sod off, my baby is happy and I'm not not going to obsess about that. I really think if everyone just relaxed and chilled out More ladies would bf.

 

[Sassysugar]

Thanks for this tasha I've been bf since Colby was born and have my first HV visit tomorrow, so interested to find out what weight Colby is now

 

[Esoames]

Check your red books girls as mine IS for breastfed babies

 

[Maria1977]

Check your red books girls as mine IS for breastfed babies

Mine too.

I'm a working class girl breastfeeding btw, and it took alot of commitment and determination, not anything to do with my background.

And also, thisis a very old thread!