HelenTD

Why aren't you lot with babies breastfeeding? Would save all this trouble with formula and bottles. I travelled from Australia to UK and back when mine was 10 months old. Never needed any bottles for the entire trip.

Vash the Stampede

Thanks guys.

If only we could! Mrs Stampede and I are very pro-breastfeeding, but we were forced to start on formula when Numpty Bub's weight plateaued and she made no gain for several weeks. Incredibly, our health visitor referred us to social services who pulled us in for an interview with a pediatrician and insisted on weekly monitoring until they could see some improvement. I'm sure I don't need to tell you how that made us feel.

Of course, once Numpty Bub was on the bottle, she started refusing the breast and Mrs Stampede was forced to wean her early. I think she gave up at around 4 months. The only good thing to come out of it was that Numpty Bub's weight soared and social services left us alone. She just wasn't putting on pounds with the breast. It was a very distressing time for us.

northernbird

I had similar issues with my youngest (not the social services bit which incidentally is disgusting). I persevered until she was almost 6 and was down on the 5th percentile and not thriving at all. Put her on the bottle and within weeks she was up at the 40th percentile. Breastfeeding isn't for every child or parent and pressure should not be put on women to do it.

comet555

I do hope you mean 6 months old (not years) . Just teasing I do know what you mean

Regardless, breatfeeding or bottle feeding the babies are getting feed. I'm all for breastfeeding when it works and everyone is happy. There's Not much point in bringing it up now as if a mother is already bottle feeding there's not much they can do to go back to the breast. So pointing it out now doesn't accomplish much other than to try and provoke a bit of guilt. Everyone has their reasons and it's not really anyone's business which method is being used.

moneypenny20

Good for you. You're obviously very satisfied with yourself. Unfortunately there are others for whom it's not an option.

Gems

Great update,

HelenTD
Im another expat who had to do bottle feeding,due to medical issues.
Its great for those who can breastfeed, but dont try and make us who cant feel guilty.
It makes my blood boil when breastfeeders spout off at us without knowing the facts.

Gems

BadgeIsBack

Bottles - highly personal thing.

What I find incredible is that we've never used one to feed an infant in our lives. Never seen formula - wouldn't know how to use it(!)

Geelong Gent

Yes well some would say with a post like that you are a bit of a tit

We breastfeed up to 18 months with both however many friends could not from day 1 and they have turned out fine.

Breast feeding twins?
Breast feeding when no milk is being produced?
Bites? What do kids do when they are teething

Japonica

Great posts...I like the pics too and watching renos unfold...

GG: Usually teething babies is not an issue with nursing. If they bite once, they soon learn not to do it again...I nursed both of my kids, though they were also supplemented with formula at the same time. It doesn't have to be all or nothing. Kudos to the moms who gave it a go. I had to see 4 lactation consultants with my first...so I know it's definitely not easy.

Er, back to regular programming. Vash, how did we turn your update thread into a nursing discussion? LOL.

HelenTD

Hi Vash and Mrs Vash – I certainly did not mean to upset anyone and I will not post anything in the future late at night. I also did not intend to gatecrash your thread, which has been great to read.

What happened to you is appalling. Why on earth didn’t they refer you to a lactation consultant (or anyone else who has a problem with breastfeeding, in the UK or Australia)? Unfortunately many health professionals are not sufficiently trained in breastfeeding and do not provide the help that parents need, and my beef is with them. There are also a lot of myths in the general community about breastfeeding. The health professionals are not even using the right growth charts – they tend to use ones based on typical weight by artificially-fed babies, who gain more weight than breastfed ones. My eldest had some problems gaining weight initially, so I do understand what you have gone through.
You call yourself a gentleman using language like that?
Dealing with these sorts of issues is the speciality of lactation consultants (no, I am not one touting for trade, but I did have to use one to help with problems).

I was certainly not trying to make anyone feel guilty – if you feel guilty, it’s not coming from me.

I merely wanted to point out that there are no travel hassles with formula, bottles etc when you breastfeed. I obviously realised that the people posting were bottlefeeding, but there might be others tuning in planning a trip who might not have thought through the practicalities.

Vash the Stampede

It's fine, I wasn't offended; just explaining our situation.

They were convinced that breastfeeding would solve the problem and since our medical centre had "baby friendly" status, they could not officially recommend the use of formula milk. So they just kept telling us to breastfeed as much as we could.

Our baby's weight problem was not the only reason for the referral; we found a mark on the back of her hand which looked vaguely like a burn, and since we could not explain how it got there (we honestly had no idea; it just appeared one day!) they decided social services should get involved. Inexplicable "wound" + no weight gain for weeks = problem at home, apparently. So that was that. Nothing we said to them made any difference at this stage.

Fortunately the pediatrician they sent us to was wonderfully supportive, and eventually confirmed that it was a random skin infection; quite common, apparently. The social worker sent to study our case attended our first meeting with the pediatrician and immediately declared herself satisfied with the outcome, so we didn't have any hassle from her; she was actually very nice. But the weekly weighings continued, and we had some difficult weeks trying to fatten up Numpty Bub.

The irony was that this entire process left us completely unable to breastfeed, which was the exact reverse of what they'd intended!

Geelong Gent

Stop digging your almost in China

jad n rich

What do you give them when they need boiled water, eg in hot weather or tummy upsets or when you go out, and the babysitter feeds them

Our third one had a bottle due to medical reasons, was real sad then realised it made a bloody dream of a baby, slept through the night from a month, one nice little package in a nappy a day, after that used to say if we had no 4 he would get a bedtime bottle of formula from day 1

HelenTD

To answer all of above: breastmilk (expressed for babysitter).

From a lactation consultant website:
The World Health Organisation prioritises direct breastfeeding, the baby's mother's breastmilk, and donor breastmilk, as the lst, 2nd, and 3rd choices for infant feeding.

This whole matter is hijacking Vash's thread and although I am very interested in breastfeeding, I'm sorry that I brought it up. We should return to renovations or start a separate thread somewhere else.

jad n rich

Yes obviously, but if the kids never had a bottle in their lives, erm what container would it be fed in.

Getting a bub used to a bottle now and again is useful anyway, suppose mum gets ill or something.

Right back to Vashs decorating...