The Breastfeeding Debate

[fussymum]

Originally Posted by SephiesMum

Will it make you stay away if it was????

Nah, just give me a whole lot more to talk about

Imperfect mummy, I was going to post this reply to you yesterday.....didn't for a number of reasons........I'm not expecting it to remain on here for long but I hope you get chance to read it:-

Your first question was why does CBC's advice bother me so much. I think I've made that quite clear in previous postings so won't go on about this too much but in a nut-shell - because there is plenty of evidence out there to say much of what she says (not all) is plain wrong. There are a number of threads on Mumsnet (which I discovered via this site!) which explain why her advice is so potentially damaging. My claims are not unsubstantiated. There is much research based evidence to refute much of CBC’s advice. Indeed, there is little research based evidence to back up what she says. Hopefully in years to come there will be a law protecting us from unsubstantiated advice from self appointed guru’s. Clare has had no formal breastfeeding training as such, and also didn’t breastfeed her own children .
Your second question was why am I confused that you asked CBC for help. I suppose it’s more a case of being confused as to what the original problem was. Was baby just purely unsettled (and I don’t mean to play it down, I have children of my own and have been there myself), were you concerned with baby’s growth, probably not explaining myself well but I was just keen to understand what the main issue was. I am trying to understand what lead you to believe you had a poor milk supply.

I am not a breastfeeding advisor – and I would be wary of ANYONE who called themselves a breastfeeding advisor. The role of a BFC is to provide information to help mothers make informed choices. Peer Supporters are there to uphold normal breastfeeding and act as an informed friends. I am a mum who has overcome her own breastfeeding difficulties despite unhelpful, misinformed, myths, perpetuated by the likes of CBC . I have spent (so far) a total of 7 years breastfeeding my children, and in those years have done much research and realised the importance of breastfeeding, and come across help and support that has been good, bad, and just plain wrong. I think I am right and CBC is wrong because there is plenty or research based evidence to back up what I’m saying.

I do have friends who are BFC’s and I see how much hard work and dedication they put into it. Any information or help they offer HAS to be evidence based not their own opinion If they (your words) “kept an open-mind and tried to use CBC’s advice to help others” it would not only be Russian roulette as to whether they picked the good stuff (there is *some*) but would be hung, drawn, and quartered by whichever association they belonged to. As I have repeatedly said, Clare, is a law unto herself.

My children (and my breasts) are my own personal evidence (which is only anecdotal btw) that expressing is a poor indicator of milk supply. By CBC’s reasoning they should have practically starved by 6 weeks but thankfully my baby’s got milk from my breasts much more efficiently than any pump, or my hands for that matter. I’ll take this opportunity to point you in the direction of this excellent leaflet - http://www.breastfeedingonline.com/4pdf.pdf.

I don’t know that much about test weighing tbh, but from what I have read it is only useful for a minority of babies, or premature babies. Could be completely wrong on this one.

What I do know is the best way to judge if your baby is getting enough milk is by the amount of wet and dirty nappies, weight gain (to some extent at least) and whether baby seems happy and alert between feedings. I suspect you may fall into the latter category but there are many other reasons for this. Please do take the time to read the leaflet if only to help you take CBC’s advice from a more informed POV.

Explaining how your supply hasn’t increased in 6 weeks is a hard one as (like Ladybug said) I haven’t met you or your baby. As I have already briefly touched on I would need to know exactly why you feel your milk supply is low. Is baby gaining weight and producing plenty of wet and dirty nappies?

If I remember correctly you said you gave equal amounts of ebm and artificial feeds as top-ups? Are you aware that ounce for ounce there are more calories in bm than artificial milk? A newborn baby’s stomach is the size of a marble and it stretches in time as the milk supply grows, it is quicker to digest and baby needs feeding frequently whereas formula needs to be given in greater volumes (to get the calories and nutrients) and is more difficult to digest. Although ebm is obviously much better than formula, if you give the same amount as you would formula then baby is going to feel bloated – a bit like after a big meal – and will appear to be more settled. There could be many, more reasons as to why your baby was unsettled but without knowing more details it is impossible to determine.

Once again, I don’t expect this reply to remain but I did want to reply to your post. Please ask CBC where she gets her information from. I have worked with children but that does not make me a teacher.

The slander allegations are quite laughable really. I don’t think I’ve said anything untrue that I can’t back up with evidence – yet CBC publishes books which albeit amongst some truths is much false information - especially the good old pumping bit.

It’s a shame because this site is in a position where it could make a real difference to mothers and baby’s yet runs the danger of putting many breastfeeding relationships in jeopardy.

[Ellie H]

I'm posting this from my mobile in a sleep deprived state so please forgive me if it's a bit blurry round the edges and lack of paragraphs. Fussymum - you have made the same point again for the umpteenth time. No-one has to justify their choices or opinions to you. I'm not sure what you think you are achieving. This forum is a community and I am politely suggesting that unless you actually want to make friends and a positive contribution elsewhere on the forum the perhaps it's time for you to go.

[admin]

It is clear that the majority of our mums want to move on from this debate.

We will be withdrawing some posts from the breastfeeding threads in the community forum as we have received a large number of complaints about derogatory and slanderous comments against others. We do encourage a lively debate but not when comments become excessively rude and extremely repetitive.

Under the forum's Proper Use Terms use of derogatory comments are not permitted, consequently any message containing comments likely to offend other visitors will be deleted.

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If members still insist on violating these terms then this may result in a ban from the forum.

This is a very friendly, open forum and I am sure we all want to keep it that way.