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On the news today I heard the Australian government are going to use an ad campaign to try and encourage parents to breastfeed their babies until at least a year old.
I believe if mothers were taught to breastfeed on a routine from day one in hospital with the 6 minute, 9 minute until their milk came in approach this would be much more successful than an add campaign, in fact I am going to twitter Kevin now and tell him LOL.
What amazes me is out of all my close friends (not clients and other breastfeeding mums i know) who started out breastfeeding the only two I know who fed until a year were the two who followed a routine from day one. All my other friends had given up by 6 months or earlier.
People too often think if they move to formula the sleep and behavioural problems will vanish but as I say in my book along with formula comes a routine.
Le gach dea-ghui, Tizzie
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23 thoughts on "Breastfeeding!"
Totally agree Tizzie!
My experience in hospital was so contradictory. I had different advice and points of view from over 12 different midwives in the four days I was in hospital (and this at a highly regarded private hospital).
Midwives need to sing from the same hymn sheet. I left hospital feeling confused, frustrated and scared, especially when my milk hadn’t come in and my baby had lost more than 10% of her body weight.
Most of the midwives said that my milk should have already come in and recommended a top up of 60mL of formula!
In reality, because my little girl was born late in the afternoon, when we left on day 4 she was really only 3 full days (72 hours) old. Midwives treat each part day as a day (e.g if a baby born at 11:30pm on a Tuesday, then they are ‘2 days old’ at 12:01am on Wednesday) and this I believe is also adding to the problem by making women top up because they believe their milk isn’t ever going to come.
The best advice I was given was from my sister in law who was blunt enough to say not to top up with formula and to stick to a routine if I wanted to breastfeed. While it was so frustrating and emotional to start with (my baby was hungry and it broke my heart that I couldn’t feed her), I am so glad I listened to her and I happily breastfed and never looked back. I doubt I would have been able to if I topped up with formula and didn’t stick to a routine.
An ad campaign won’t work, I think Mother’s know if they want to breastfeed or not, it’s the contradictory information that midwives are giving that makes it difficult for those that do.
Breastfeeding IS hard to START with, we need more support to START with.
Cheers,
Laura.
Hi Tizzie,
Sitting here with Bella and we are hoping that you are counting the 2 of us in your 2 BF friends LOL!!
We agree with Laura that their is so much conflicting advice out there and a routine is definately essential.
Cheers
Joanne & Bella
Laura: thanks for the comments, I am pleased to hear your sister was able to offer you such great advice.
Bella and Joanne: I guess I better make it 4 then!! LOL But Bella your are not a friend you are more like family and Joanne I didn’t know you when you first had Thomas LOL
Le gach dea-ghui, Tizzie
My son has never had a routine, never followed a routine, is always BF on demand and we are still going strong at 10 months with no signs of stopping anytime soon. Encouraging every single mother to BF to a routine from day 1 is the most ridiculous idea I’ve ever heard.
Kathryn: how many times a night does your son wake up?
Wow Tizzie, that’s interesting that you only know people who are still breastfeeding at one who are on routines. I am the opposite, I am involved in the ABA and I am part of two mother’s groups, one is from the ABA and the other from the maternal and child health clinic. They both have around 9 mums in them and the ABA one we are ALL still feeding at one year (with a few who are feeding toddlers as well – tandem). My MCHN group there are only 3 of us still feeding at 14 months (and the same when they were 1 year), we all do not have a routine and we all demand feed. All the routine mums weaned prior to 12 months as their babies were waking during the night and they believed that formula would help their babies sleep through! How sad that having a sleeping baby forces parents to use formula instead of just responding to their needs and using other methods to help eg. co-sleeping.
Hi Tizzie,
Kudos to you for posting a comment that you possibly find unsavoury. Lorinda, he has a feed at 10ish and then through til 7. I would feed him as often as he needs though. To me and for our family breastfeeding takes precedence over sleeping through.
I realise Tizzie’s blog and work is about encouraging babies to sleep and that for the families that use her and her methods, SLEEP is the number 1 priority and that is ok, for them. Every parent has a right to choose what is best for their family and how to go about it. I felt I had to post though as I think forcing/encouraging every mother, especially new mothers, to breastfeed to routine would be horribly detrimental to A LOT of families. Not everyone works that way. Tizzie’s way is not the only way, but it obviously works for a group of parents and that is fantastic that she has the resources available to help those parents and families. Encouraging everyone to work that way is just ludicrous. It would be the same as every mother being told that the best way to care for their baby would be to wear them, co sleep, breastfeed on demand.
Kathryn
Hi Kathryn and Michelle: If you are new to Save Our Sleep® welcome and thank you for posting your comments on my Blog!
Michelle: I am sorry I don’t think I worded my blog very well I know hundreds of Mum’s who have breastfed past a year but I was refereeing to close friends not clients and other mums I have come across in my travels. I am not sure if you have read my book but I talk about exactly what you are referring to in my book, lots of parents falsely believe if they introduce formula their baby will sleep through the night but as I say in my book along with formula so often comes a routine and was it the formula or the routine which helped the baby to sleep through the night, I believe it was the routine and if the mum had tried the routine and continued to breastfeed she would have had the same result. I find breastfed babies on a routine often sleep through the night faster than formula fed babies. Once again thank you for commenting on my blog and welcome to Save Our Sleep®.
Kathryn: I believe in free speech and am happy for people to comment on my blog even if it might contradict what I believe in I believe that’s what a blog is all about. Thank you for understanding that every parent should be allowed to use a parenting approach that suits them and my approach works for a group of parents. Once again thank you for commenting on my blog and welcome to Save Our Sleep®.
Le gach dea-ghui, Tizzie
Thanks for the welcome Tizzie. Yes I have read your book, I actually picked it up in Borders and read it over a few weeks when I was waiting patiently for my husband attend a his uni lectures. I would sit in borders feeding my daughter to sleep and then read for an hour or so whilst she slept. I guess I struggle with the one size fits all approach in your book and telling women to feed for a certain amount of time and even start solids (you state the perfect time is 4.5 months). I worry for parents who haven’t got the confidence to follow their own instincts and follow someone else’s routines which don’t fit their babies and cause havoc to their breastfeeding relationship and to their sanity full stop. For example, my son used to feed half an hour each side, so an hour of breastfeeding, but then he’d go for 4 hours between feeds. He did not sleep through the night until he was 8 months and has always been a happy and content baby and now a happy 10 yr old. My second daughter on the other hand has always liked to feed more often (anywhere from an hour to 4 hourly) and likes to fall asleep on the breast, be carried to sleep in our Ergo or to co-sleep with her. It’s not something we’ve actually chosen, but just something we have done from what she needed. This is why breastfeeding on demand and not breastfeeding to a ‘routine’ works, because all babies are different, even babies in the same family. I really believe in teaching parents to respond to their individual babies/child’s needs and to trust their instincts instead of feeling they have to do something a set way and feeling like a failure because that set way may actually not work for their baby/child.
Hi Michelle:
Thank you for your further comments. I just wanted to point out that I don’t actually proclaim that every parent MUST follow my approach and routines, I have written my book out of a huge need and as I say in my book on page 22 -“I don’t want to infer that demand feeding won’t work for everyone. In the end, all parents have to do what is best for them and if you are one of the lucky ones who can interpret your baby’s cries, that is great; continue to feed on demand when the baby is telling you he is hungry. But be aware that it is not always hunger that makes a baby cry and while a feed may temporarily quieten the baby, it is not always solving the problem”
Most parents come to me after failed attempts at demand feeding for one reason or another – the majority of time these parents come to me saying they are totally confused and don’t know why there baby is crying so much. They have totally lost confidence in what they are doing and need help. These parents are looking for something to help them interpret and understand their baby. It sounds like you are one of the very lucky ones who was surrounded by supportive family and friends and you were able to interpret what your babies were telling you but please remember not everyone is like this and that is where I come in. If my approach did not work then I would not be sitting here with a 4 week old newborn and 23 month old toddler who have followed my routines beautifully – nor would I be sitting here working and trying to help other parents, I would be on maternity leave! but alas I am not, I am run off my feet so while I believe that those like yourself who are lucky enough to be able to know what their baby is telling them a ‘demand feeding’ approach may work there is certainly a huge percentage of parents and babies that a ‘routine approach’ works for as well. As you point out you feel a ‘one size fits all’ routine approach is unrealistic but I also feel a ‘one size fits all’ demand feeding approach is also unrealistic. Thank you again for your comments.
Hi Bronwen:
If you are new to Save Our Sleep® welcome and thank you for your comment. As I state in my book and you have pointed out yes history has shown that routine feeding is detrimental to breastfeeding. However you must not be aware I do not recommend 4 hourly breastfeeding from day one and I teach parents how to express to keep their supply up, so they can have a happy contented sleeping baby on a routine but also breastfeed. This helps to avoid things such as reflux, colic sleep deprivation and post natal depression. Once again thank you for your comment and welcome to save our sleep.
Le gach dea-ghui, Tizzie
Kathryn, i was just curious to how many times a night your son would wake up, my son (now 15months) sleeps from 7pm to 7am & has done since 8 weeks of age, thanks to the angel Tizzie Hall. I also have nearly 4 year old twins who didnt start Tizzies routine until 5months of age, i had 2 VERY overtired babies & after meeting Tizzie and using her routines we have never looked back, Tizzie changed all our lives for the BETTER and when i had my son september 08 he was on the routine from day dot. TIZZIES ROUTINES ARE THE BEST.
Hi Mums 🙂
Just to share my story:
I had my baby in winter last year; she is my first. I have breastfed her all this while up until 2 weeks ago 🙁 I was forced to stop breastfeeding her as I contracted an ear infection and was placed on 2 courses of strong anti-biotics. She was 17 months and 1 week when we stopped breastfeeding.
When she was born, because it was winter, and because we were on our own (both my parents and in-laws live overseas), I could not follow the expressing routines. I was so tired and could not fathom dragging my backside out of bed in the cold dark mornings to do it!
Anyway, to cut a long story short, I demand-fed for the first 12 weeks. I was very very lucky in that I felt all I needed to do was to feed her and put her back to bed! Perhaps I have forgotten the difficult bits! I only started the routine by putting her to bed at 7pm and introducing the dreamfeed at Week 12 and she started to sleep through till 7am by Week 14.
From then on, I have followed the routines although I obviously had to tweak them to suit my girl. For eg. She was only 6.5 months when she went up one routine and again only 10 months when she went to one day sleep. This, in my opinion, is not “One Size Fits All”.
I guess what I’m trying to say is, Tizzie doesn’t do a “One Size Fits All”. She has written a book as a guide to what us mums can do, should we choose to do so. It is a good starting point to get yourself organised.
My girl is happy, healthy and gorgeous 🙂 I have Tizzie to thank for all this free time my husband and I have to ourselves every evening. So thank you, Tizzie.
Hi All
I would just like to say my now 17 month old son has followed Tizzie’s routines beautifully and I am so very grateful for my husband buying the book all those months ago!!!.
I do however feel the need to comment regarding breastfeeding. For some people breastfeeding is not an option and it does not matter how hard one tries or what routine for feeding they follow, it just cannot or does not happen. As one of these people, and as one of those people who has experienced people’s criticisms (despite being beyond my control) I would like to say that breastfeeding is not the be all and end all. My son is perfect and to this day has not had a single ailment. A point I like to make when people say that breastfed babies are far healthier than formula fed babies. I have friends whose breastfed bubs are always unwell and this has not been the case for us.
I understand that breastfeeding is optimal and completely agree that midwives and the like need to commence a more coordinated approach for mothers however, breastfeeding is not an option for all and my gorgeous little man has thrived on formula (as did I).
So thank you Tizzie, the “routine approach” was/is perfect for us. I just feel the need to speak on behalf of the poor Mum’s who are unable to breastfeed – routine or no routine, some just can’t!!
Hi
Tizzie I just wanted to say I completely agree that instead of just an add campaign if parents were taught your way of breastfeeding and expressing then a lot of new mum’s would be successful in BF.Midwives should all be taught the one thing so advice is the same no matter who was on what shift.
To all the mothers.
I do have to agree with Sally . I 100% believe that breastfeeding is the first and better option but people-especially mothers need to understand that not everyone can.I had three different lactation specialists come to my home numerous times in the weeks and months following my sons birth and ALL independently said he wasn’t suited as he would pull off as soon as the let down slowed and thus was going hungry and losing weight..this is while following Tizzies expressing advice..I then expressed for 5 months while taking motillium to keep/boast my milk up..The “breast is best brigade” need to stop making mothers feel so guilty over topping their bubs up or using formula.YES absolutely breast is best but when both mother and baby are suffering then formula is the next best option.Everyones situation/reasons are different and before telling a (possibly fragile) new mother that by not breastfeeding they are harming or causing irreversible damage to their precious babies THINK most woman want to breastfeed but for reasons cannot.Don’t get me wrong I don’t agree with mum’s who “choose” not to breastfeed without trying but some can’t and have tried really hard.I stopped going out to shops/places because of the judgment from other mum’s when I would bottle feed my son-not just looks but actual comments-even though it was expressed breast milk..I shouldn’t of had to justify myself.
Personally I think that a mother who is suffering with feeding problems, mastitis, etc and is in pain and depressed will not bond with her baby as well as a mother who is formula feeding and is happy, painfree and can spend all her time with bub bonding.
I will do my all to breastfeed my future children but will not be made to feel guilty and ashamed IF I can’t.
Tizzie thank you again for your routines, my son is a difficult bubba and he NEEDS the routine, everyone comments how wonderful he is at sleep times and how brilliantly and fuss free he goes to sleep, all by himself(well with his beloved puppy triplets.)Thank you.xo
Hi Lynn, Sally, Allison and Nicole:
Thank you for your comments and support. It is great to have them here for other parents to read.
Le gach dea-ghui, Tizzie
PS. Nicole, I love the triplets comment.
LOL I knew you would get it. especially since Darragh has twins.LOL. Gorgeous boys.
He has very original names for them he calls them Baaaaaaaaaaaaa one and Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaa two. If he drops one he says Ta Baaaaaaa two it’s very sweet.
Oh my goodness Tizzie that is so adorable-does he really know which is which?What a sweetie.
Joshua’s are still unnamed by him as he is a bit slow on the talking front-still only says muma and daddy.Oh well he will call them what he wants eventually.LOL.
No I don’t think he knows which is which he just knows he only has Baaa one and Baaa two is missing.
Hi Tizzie,
Thanks for your book- my sister and i have benefitted greatly from it. We have followed it and everything works!!!
Routine is the only way to breastfeed and have sleep!!!! Also, as a school teacher, I can see how having a baby on a routine, encourages babies to become accustomed to a routine of when to have morning tea etc.
God bless you heaps, you’re a Godsend!
Hi Sarah:
Thank you for your kind words, I hope you and your sister have a very merry christmas.
Le gach dea-ghui, Tizzie