"Disheartened by breastfeeding support"

I had my son in Daisy Hill as an elective caesarean section. The pre-op staff were fantastic. The surgery staff were also brilliant, especially the anaesthetist, who put me at ease.

I did not however have a good experience on the ward. This was mainly in regard to breast feeding support. I found the advice given was far from evidence-based. For example one of the midwives held my son's head to help him latch. Another pushed my nipple into his mouth. Something else that concerned me was what I overheard from another bay. I heard the member of staff advise another mother to put her baby down in the cot if she was falling asleep. This was non remarkable, but she followed up with saying that the baby will fall out of the bed and crack their skull on the floor. I find this quite shocking to say, and wholly inappropriate. 

Post-discharge, the midwives attending me at home were unfortunately very poorly informed regarding breast feeding. On my day 3 visit, the midwife advised me if in the case of mastitis I should feed. I know this to be outdated due to a significant change in NICE guidelines that I would expect a midwife to know.

The midwife at day 5 was fantastic, but disappointment happened again at what I believe to be the day 10 visit. My son had lost weight. I was given various pieces of incorrect information- namely advising me that he was not getting hind milk, and that that is what puts the beef on. I know that the hind milk/fore milk debate has long been discredited, so I was disheartened to be given this advice.

I was also quizzed about my diet, asking if I drank milk or ate porridge. I was given the impression that these were required to make high quality milk, which I also know not to be factual. It is also quite personal to insinuate the mother’s inadequate diet was to blame for weight loss. This was despite me explaining the latch was very poor and shallow.

A feed was observed with hands on support, which I appreciated, but there was no tangible advice to improve the latch or any signposting done. I was also not reassured very much. If this was my first breast feeding experience, I think I would have given up. In contrast, the same midwife from day 5 attended at the next weigh-in, and her kind words about his weight will never be forgotten. 

Last thing to raise is the seeming fixation on reflux. This was mentioned to me as early as 7 days by 3 different HCPs. I know from my personal education that GORD is highly over-diagnosed in Northern Ireland, with 20% of infants diagnosed with this when the reported prevalence is 1%. It seems that normal infant behaviour such as posseting, not wanting to be put down, or lying on their back is treated as GORD, and worryingly medicated with strong preparations such as PPIs.