Advice on hv's advice... (cmpi)

[QuietBatMummy]

Froglet had her 6 month visit this morning (although she is 7 months) and we have been blw for over 4 weeks now. It is going really well and I'm trying to include lots of foods that have calcium as she has cmpi.

I had no intention of telling the hv I was doing blw as she is very condescending and has previously bothered me about breastfeeding (in the early days I really struggled) and co-sleeping (something else I had no intention of mentionning today after her reaction previously).

Anyway, I asked if I should be giving any supplements (Vit D or calcium) and, although I didn't admit to blw (Isn't this ridiculous - to feel as though I have to lie?!), I think she worked it out from my cagey responses. She hinted that I should be ensuring she gets large amounts of calcium rich veg by spoon feeding and that I should be encouraging Froglet to take less breastmilk to encourage her appetite (I don't think there is anything wrong with her appetite - I don't know where that comment came from).

I really am trying hard to get calcium into her diet - we make porridge and white sauce with added calcium oat milk, she gets bean dips and hummous with sesame paste, plently of broccoli, etc. I think I am doing not to badly. I'm also very reluctant to hold back my milk from her. Really reluctant.

She is going to refer Froglet to the dietician which I initially thought was great but am I going to end up feeling the same way, as if I have to hide how I am doing things? I'm usually very confident in myself but when it comes to this I just lose all confidence.

I don't even really know what I am asking you guys!! Has anyone else been in this situation? I think I will probably ignore what she said and carry on as I have been... Is this irresponsible?

Sorry for the long post. I have rambled on a bit!

[MumtoMonsters]

So, the only worry is that she has a cow's milk protein intolerance and therefore may struggle to get enough calcium into her diet?

If that's the case then personally I wouldn't worry at all. I would make sure that you eat a healthy balanced diet so that she gets a reasonable amount of calcium through BM, and make sure that I offered her a healthy balanced diet too. But that is exactly what you're doing.

Feel free to ignore the HV. You are most certainly not being irresponsible!

[Eleanor]

I would take up the offer of a chat with the dietitian about the CMPI issue - no harm in getting specialised information. They're not going to take away your mothering licence if you don't follow every suggestion

[ches]

Er, she gets all the calcium she needs (and then some) from bf! This HV is an idiot - she's telling you to cut back on nature's best food for baby and then cram other foods into your baby to make up the deficiencies cutting back bf creates. And even then, it's not a good substitution, because milk is almost completely digested, whereas her gut is just learning how to digest food. I would say go to the dietician for advice on when she does start to eat lots of food and naturally cuts back on bf. Just because you get the advice from someone who does know what they're talking about now, it doesn't mean you need to USE it now.

[gali]

Ugh, this sort of 'advice' from HVs really gets me mad! Trust your instinct Mummy ... it's the only way!

If your journey along the allergy/intolerance road is a long one you may have to get used to the fact that you end up knowing more about allergies/intolerances than a lot of healthcare professionals do, especially those in primary care ... a dietician may be useful once baby is older than one year but before that of less use I'd say.

Here are a few bits of EVIDENCE based advice on calcium/bf/milk which may be of interest (and whilst you are reading them why don't you print a copy and mail them to your HV?!):
http://www.home.kellymom.net/bf/weaning ... #othermilk
http://www.kellymom.com/nutrition/vitamins/calcium.html
http://kellymom.com/babyconcerns/food-sensitivity.html

[BadgersMommy]

Agree with PPs about CMPI and getting calcium through breast milk, and your HV being dead wrong. My daughter has CMPI and is still breast feeding loads at 27 months!

Do be sure that you're getting plenty of calcium in your own diet too, though -- not for Froglet's sake (breast milk has an incredible facility to find the nutrients that babies need, regardless of mother's diet) but your own. I know once I stopped eating dairy for Badger's sake I didn't really replace it with anything as I don't like any of the milk replacers, and I've only just recently started making more of an effort to get calcium into my own diet.

[messtins]

My DS2 (now 21m) is CMPI and we've been seeing a paed dietician every 6 months. We've seen 2 different people and they've both been really supportive of me breastfeeding and have known a heap more about CMPI than any of the GPs and paeds that we've seen. I would say you are doing exactly the right thing at the moment, your LO will get plenty of calcium from breastmilk and introducing calcium rich foods will help as naturally BM becomes gradually less important. My DS has been on a liquid calcium supplement from being 1 - the guidelines are that breastfeeding can provide approx 1/3 of calcium requirements from 12-24m and he is a bit reluxctant to drink the calcium supplemented oat milk so doesn't get the required 350mg without the supplement.
As a BF mum you need 1250mg of calcium a day and that's quite difficult to get from your diet so a supplement for you is a good idea particularly if you have to be dairy free to feed LO.

Ignore the HV, but take up the offer of seeing someone who actually knows what they are talking about! Jen x

[QuietBatMummy]

Thanks everyone! That's all very useful and pretty much what I'd thought previously. The hv did grimace when she told me that Froglet wouldn't get enough calcium from my milk. I did wonder about that! I take calcium supplements but might go and check just how much that and the oat milk will give me.

I will def go to the dietician... Will just be interesting to see how they deal with it compared with the hv.

Oh and I met someone earlier who had her 6 month visit half an hour before mine. I asked her how it went and her response was, "Oh alright. I just always feel as though I am doing everything wrong after one of those visits".

Thanks again to everyone. Really do appreciate it!!

Clare