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What would you have done? BFing advice

2 replies

mrsmartin1984 · 10/09/2013 12:38

I bumped into someone earlier who had come to BFing group before. She told me that she had to give up BFing because she didn't produce enough milk. All of a sudden (when her LO was 5 weeks old) he started feeding non stop. She asked HV for advice and she said to try FFing for 24 hours to see if it's better. It was so she gave up. But she also said that she was gutted and was trying to express so LO got some breast milk.

I think the HV advice was terrible. The baby was clearly having a feeding frenzy which is normal. They don't last forever. She didn't need to give up. I don't think she would have if she was given better advice. I told her she could re established BFing and gave her some advice.

I didn't tell her that the HV advice was wrong. She seemed upset and didn't want to upset her further. But now I am thinking that maybe I should have told her. Firstly because she would be more likely to start BFing again but more importantly she could put in a complaint about the HV. And so they wouldn't give such terrible advice. I feel angry for her. Not because she has started FFing but because she has done it based on information that is not true

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tiktok · 10/09/2013 13:49

It sounds dreadful advice - but you can't be sure the HV really did say that! She may have misunderstood the HV completely, or misheard.

What you can say for future reference in cases like this is 'that seems very unusual advice to give....' and then say why it is 'unusual' and what the effects of following it might be.

She can begin bf again if she wants. You can say this to her....perhaps by saying 'I saw how upset you were....if you wanted to, you could start bf again, and I can help you or explain how....is this something you might like to explore?'

You can also tell the whole tale to whichever HCP is connected with your bf group. You don't need to say the mother's name (in fact for confidentiality you should not). If this HV is the one who runs the group, you can let her know that you were puzzled by the advice you heard that she had given another mother - but do keep an open mind and don't assume anything :)