One out of the 4 classes was devoted to brast feeding. Much of the session was propaganda, and I don't think it wold have convinced me if I had not already planned to breast feed - it was so obviously one sided. The only helpful part was that there were two b/f mums along to answer questions.

Support in the hospital was variable, but I got fairly good support from m/ws and my H/V once back home.

Hello and welcome to the group.

It's over 11 years since I attended an antenatal group, so I'm sure things will have changed since then. We had group sessions at the hospital, and feeding was mentioned one week.

I b/f (with difficulty to start with) and continued for about 4 months when ds 'self weaned'.

With dd, I didn't bother with the sessions and found b/feeding much easier (being more confident in my abilities, I suppose) and continued for over 12 months with her.

Hi there!

I went to a 'special' antenatal class when I was about 7 months pregnant that was dedicated purely to breastfeeding, and there were only women there. It was really good - I'd already decided to breastfeed, and the advice was really helpful.
However, I wish that my experiences post-partum had been so good. I had a diamorphine and an epidural during the birth, my son didn't feed immediately and was disinterested in feeding for at least 48 hours, and, I feel I was treated appaulingly. I was not allowed to sleep! I was expected to sit on a pump all night. They REALLY beasted me when I could have done without it, but offered nothing in the way of real, constructive, assistance.
They eventually got sick of me and let me go home - my 'support' was the occassional phonecall from someone who a) didn't listen to a word I said b) dismissed my mastitis as 'sensitivity' and I 'should try harder' c) at 6 weeks didn't think it was a bit odd that I didn't need breastpads. As it happened, my son ended up in hospital with failure to thrive, and - after tests - it was decreed that I was just unable to produce enough milk (also probably not helped by him being too weak to get a good suck). I asked to borrow a pump to increase my flow - not possible. So I ended up with formula, and I've beaten myself up about it ever since, if I'm honest.

Ante natal advice is brilliant, and I applaud you. In reality, however, you may well find that your good work is undone by those who are supposed to carry the torch for you after birth. Shouting 'Your latch is ALL wrong' and then walking off is NOT helpful. I understand that resources are scarce within the NHS, and I applaud those volunteers who are peer supporters and do more than phone you once a week and cheer you on as though you're a racehorse, but, my god, do they have their work cut out.

So, in short - antenatal advice was great. Postnatal advice - absolutely dreadful, 'commanding', guilt-tripping, non-constructive and, ultimately, destructive. I'm NHS Lanarkshire, by the way....who 'promote' breastfeeding 100%. Mmm. A bit like Hitler 'promoted' invading Poland.....

I breastfed my first for 2 yrs and I am breastfeeding my second. What helped was not so much the antenatal advice, it was the hands on support of some very good midwives and my mother (who breastfed me when I was a baby!) so knew what to advise. And the health visitors at my baby clinic cause they had a room for breastfeeding mums where we could feed without being stared at by everyone and they had a breastfeeding trained health visitor in there weighing our babies and giving us advice, plus the other mums were full of advice too. Lots of mothers who want to breastfeed can't, or end up having to stop long before they want to, because of rubbish advice/lack of support from health visitors and midwives.

Antenatal advice I think should be geared towards allowing mothers to make an informed choice, and informed choice means accurate information, not just propaganda. For example they say breastfeeding protects against allergies, maybe it does a little but if you have allergies in the family it's genetic. Both my babies have had eczema severe enough to be seen by a skin specialist, cause it's in my family, nothing to do with whether they were breastfed or formula fed. There's a tendancy for health professionals to exaggerate the benefits of breastfeeding and I don't think it's helpful for anyone.

Also it's important to say that many mothers find it very hard to get breastfeeding established, and also explain how to get the support they have problems. The antenatal advice I got re breastfeeding did not say anything much about what to do if you have problems, or warn about possible difficulties (other than giving free samples of lansinoh nipple cream, which actually is excellent, but there are a lot more potential problems than sore nipples). My first baby had a lot of difficulty latching on. Both of mine were born by c-section and that makes breastfeeding much more difficult as you're paralysed from the waist down and you can't feel if the baby's latched on right cause of the painkillers plus your milk comes in a day or so later. With my first I think I would have given up in despair if I hadn't had such good support from the hospital midwives and my mum. My second baby was much easier to feed, she latched on right from the start and my milk came in on time even though I had a c-section again. But there needs to be warnings about the possible difficulties and how to deal with them, rather than just the propaganda giving the impression it's totally easy and natural, cause when it's not easy it makes you think you're a failure.

Helly lynnby and I hope the response so far has been helpful to you, welcome to the forum
ursh x

Hi Lynnby,

Your results sound great, I was just interested to find out, do you continue BF support after the birth or do you give details of where to get that support. Do the mums pay for your services- do you think that means you mainly see mums who want/have a strong desire to BF anyway?

I only ask because I'm starting a new job in sept doing 1-1 visits with pregnant mums and partners to go through BF it will be an hour visit and then I will be providing peer support afterwards. This is a new scheme in this area and will be done on an "opt out" basis.
Our goals are to increase initiation (1 feed) so thats trying to convince mums just to give it a go. This is the hard one for me to get my head round because I'm worried that mums who don't want to - won't even have the visit. After all you can't force someone to BF or to listen if they don't want to.
Also we are trying to increase the no's of mums still feeding at 6 weeks so making sure those that start and want to continue get good support in those difficult early weeks.

I agree that antenatel information needs to be a bit more honest, It can be hard, and you need to be prepared for constant feeding, growth spurts etc and if a mum is equipped with prior knowledge that this is "normal" for a BF baby they will worry less.
I think going to a BF group whilst pregnant helps enormously because you get to watch people feeding and get tips and real advice before the baby comes, but in reality we don't get many pregnant mums through the door at all, I dont know if that is because they are still working or because they just aren't "ready" to think about feeding until baby is here?

Me personally I was always going to BF, just didn't go through my mind that I wouldn't. We had one antenatel session on BF, which I don't recall much from. The most convincing thing for me was seeing a mum of seven BF her three week old and she was very slim no "bump" left or anything- Didn't work quite that way for me with my first LOL.
I had lots of soreness for a long while and it was only my own stubborness and good support from a group that things would improve that kept me going- My midwives were good, but just kept telling me the latch looked good- So I can sympathise fully with anyone who wouldn't want to continue when it is hurting. I discovered after having my second child that my soreness was due to both my children having a high palette. Not something that was well known or looked for when I had my ED. I got some good advice from my BF councillor which meant I was less sore with YS and it didn't last as long, but it was easier to deal with because I knew why and that it would improve.

I actually learnt much more about BF after the fact by going to BF group, then doing the 7 week peer supporter training. If there was a way to condense that info into an antenatel session for new mums that would be great because it is just so fascinating- knowing WHY your newborn needs to feed every 2 hours makes it much easier to deal with IMO, knowing how milk production works and all that other detailed stuff means you have more faith in your milk supply regardless of what others say, also knowing what to look out for in regards to common problems and where to get good help and advice.

Sorry for the very long post!

Hi

I can't really remember learning anything about it at antenatal classes, but I do remember being given lots of leaflets and it being written about in the various books I was given. I remember being quite worried about getting the physical latching on right, but when it came to it I was very lucky with both mine, as they managed to latch on with no help from me whatsoever.

However, what I found difficult wasn't the latching on but the shock at how often they wanted to feed, the worry about whether they were getting enough, whether they were using me as a dummy and whether that was okay etc. I think it would be good to have a lot more info about all of those sorts of things, rather than the purely physical aspect, as with the best will in the world you can't "know" how to breastfeed until your baby is there in your arms.

HTH.

No I don't agree with your comparison here MOT! As far as history tells us, at least old Adolf tried his best to conquer Europe which is more than can be said for NHS Lankarshire trying to ensure you were successful at breastfeeding!

Good point, Trish, LOL!

Lynnby - you're a star! I just wanted to wish you the very best of luck with everything - you have the passion, and dedication, and deserve every success.