Breast feeding

[RubyShoe]

This Is so ignorant a child will go to the breast for countless reasons aside from thirst. My child had teeth from 4 months and a cup at 6 months with solids so you think what - time to give him the breastmilk of a cow Instead? WHO and NHS recommending breastfeeding until 2 years and beyond.

The lack of support in the UK and western world for breastfeeding mums is horrific when it IS what is BEST for baby.

It baffles me to think of bringing a child into this world and not wanting to give them the best start. Give them immunity from thousands of viruses and bacteria. Help them through any bugs they do pick up quicker with comfort the way nature intended. Why would you say no to this and shove a piece of plastic in their mouth instead?

How much money could our NHS save if more women breastfed- lower rates of Ovarian cancer, breast cancer , osteoporosis for mum, lower risk of childhood obesity , mental health problems for children, lower risk of SIDS .... I just can't comprehend why people don't give it a shot. Or is this information not widely known?

My heart aches for those who tried and couldn't for various reasons. However something like less than 5% of women are not able to produce enough milk. More often than not is lack of support/knowledge/pressure from family that means we have so many mums giving up. We need a huge shift in attitudes in this society , formula shouldn't be the go to or the norm.

"ignorant" or not, Hun. Its my opinion, to which I am entitled without a boring lecture from you. Perhaps Mumsnet would suit you better?? Off you toddle now xx

 

[Bigmama73]

This is a gossip website to be fair, you'll probably find thousands of things on here that offend you. Just my opinion.
That article mentions that breastfeeding up to the age of 7 is normal. Oh I just can't even .

This is a factual statistic. The average is 7 years because of countries where things are done differently either through nutritional necessity or cultural norms. Whereas we in the West are busy thinking feeding our own babies is disgusting because billion £ formula marketing companies told us so. And its not at all off topic because MH is soon to be playing her part in this saga. Can't wait to see how it unfolds....

 

[F the dust.]

Agreed it's not. And the support information and advice is not as it should be.
I'm not against formula feeding at all, I'm glad it is there as a plan B. I just don't understand when it is used as plan A without a drop of breastmilk.

There could be a plethora of reasons, someone might not want to divulge. It's a very personal choice. One of many we make as a parent. We can only ever do our best. While for you it means breast feeding, for others it doesn't. Parenthood is wonderful but bloody hard aswell. We navigate it the best we can. We should support others desions, and accept our opinions and ideals aren't always shared. By all means if someone asks you, your veiws, share them. If not then perhaps don't? If it's an open debate, be prepared to listen, you still may not agree but atleast you may understand better why some choose differently.

 

[F the dust.]

No woman should ever feel ashamed of not being able to breast feed. I tried with my first son, for two days and nights.We were in scbu. At one point there were no less than four staff pulling at me..my mam eventually flipped her lid at them. He was being topped up as I just couldn't produce milk. I never even leaked. Yet I tried and tried and inbetween I tried expressing. Nothing I had nothing. He lost weight and I felt like I was a rubbish mam. He went on formula and gained the weight needed to leave hospital. Its a very pesonal choice and although we each have an opinion..we should respect others and their choices!

 

[RubyShoe]

One thing I am really passionate/obsessed about is children safety. I will not pick on a mum that can’t bond with her baby or is struggling with certain things but I will pick on someone who will feed her baby too early. Baby’s tummy is ready for real food between 4-6 months however you can’t be sure the exact time. Some babies might be ready at 4 months but how can you be sure. So to be on the safe side you are supposed to wean at 6 months. Yes yes 20 years ago there was a different advice but we have evolved, science and all that. So it’s bad to wean too early because you run the risk of you baby having gut problems all their life. I was weaned early and I have had tummy problems. There is really 0 rush! They don’t need anything but formula or Brest milk until they are 1

Child safety? Because someone chooses to wean before 6 months its dangerous? We have "evolved" in the last 20 years? (Yes evolved into snowflakes hun lol).
Have you any idea how condescending that all sounds? [emoji23]

 

[Okayalright]

Well I was given beer in my bottle to make me sleep as a baby from my unconcerned father and I now have coeliac disease. Makes me wonder?! I do believe giving children certain things before their systems are fully developed can affect them.
Also, I gave my daughter some veg at 5 months on advice from the HV. My son is now 4 months old (was 5 weeks prem) and will be BLW so 6 months onwards, maybe later depending when he’s sitting up. Regulations do change.

This! I keep saying all these parents prematurely weening their children are causing long term health issues for their children in the future! Unless you’re advised by a medical professional then all your baby needs is boob or bottle until 6 months +. My Mum had Coeliac disease she said it was her poor diet as a kid also!

Just because you were fine when your mum gave you a burger at 3 months old, doesn’t mean your kid will be

I was advised to ween my eldest at 5 months due to reflux but she was not interested what so ever so was about 7 months when she started, my middle was ready around 6 and a half months and I’ll wait until my youngest is ready and showing signs once she’s old enough. Makes me so sad that people will see her giving her kid food and think it’s okay .

 

[Travelhappy]

Bore off Hun xx


And its quite embarassing that you lecture anyone whose opinion differs from your own too. I bet you are feeding more to suit your own needs than the childs. Do you believe in co sleeping till the child is 14 too?.

I don't "lecture"just because I have a different opinion , I'm stating facts and expressing misunderstanding at why people don't chose to give babies the best.
And horror at opinions like yours which are damaging.
My needs are certainly not being met - no sleep or time to myself, but it is a worthy sacrifice to give my baby the best start. His needs come first.

 

[ADBlocker]

I think this thread seems to be a place for open debate where opinions are shared wether asked for or not.
I am listening , or reading carefully. Especially to an earlier poster asking out of interest why some have chosen while pregnant not to breastfeed. I still can't comprehend given everything I know about the benefits of breastfeeding, or rather - what babies are born expecting. Sharing these facts in the hope of raising awareness.

Because it is their body and they have the right to utilise a perfectly good alternative. You have no right to question another woman’s decisions on what to do with her body.

How do you know if a woman is breastfeeding? Don’t worry she’ll tell you. Worse than vegans

P.S I’m currently breastfeeding, literally as I type this (see I told you, worse than a vegan).

 

[Toppsie]

I'm not one to defend Hinch by any means, but I didn't know how big the debate was until I was pregnant with my first. Not everyone can know if it's something they've never thought about. Unless pregnant, why would you give breastfeeding or car seats another thought? It is a learning curve. However, she should be able to do as she pleases with her own child. I didn't breast feed purely through choice, and my son was forward facing as soon as he was tall and heavy enough. Why? Because he's my kid and I'll do what I see is ok for him.

I really don't get this whole sanctimommy attitude. Maybe people should spend their time worrying about their own kids they have parental responsibility for rather than other peoples

 

[Littlemissmuppet]

Some of what you said is 100% true and great but the last thing you wrote had me laughing you try feeding a baby of just milk until 1, mine would be starved , grumpy & wouldn't sleep if I only ever have them milk!

I haven’t said you feed just milk however milk should be their main meal until really close to 1. Weaning should come more natural. I did baby lead weaning with kids I looked after and my own child and find filling up a baby with baby rice or rubbish cereal it’s really not a good idea

Child safety? Because someone chooses to wean before 6 months its dangerous? We have "evolved" in the last 20 years? (Yes evolved into snowflakes hun lol).
Have you any idea how condescending that all sounds? [emoji23]

. SM-G930F .

I suppose it’s up to parents to feed their kids whatever they want. Hey why stop at baby rice and not feed them pies at 4 months.

Also ruining your kids gut it’s dangerous it might not kill them but they will suffer their whole life. IBS is one of the things can happen to kids weaned to early. I for one was not prepared to take that risk with my baby. For an extra month or two of just milk?

 

[Brigitjonesbuttcheek]

Hello all only just found this thread.

I just wanted to say there is not enough support or encouragement. No one tells you how hard the first month is gonna be. Or that bleeding nipples, pain, thrush, engourgment pain and all the other shitty stuff that comes with it is normal and will pass. I've heard so many people say my nipples bleed so I had to give up. That's normal!

If my sister and law hadn't just been through it all I wouldn't have known, and if I hadn't had my mum supporting, I would have probably thought I can't do it and and given up.

We need to be more open with women about what breastfeeding actually looks like, we need more support and we need to be able to champion breastfeeding. Because it is better for babies and if we can't say that then it makes new mums feel like what's the point of going through all this pain and stress when it makes no difference what you feed them.

If you genuinely couldn't breastfeed then hearing breast is best shouldn't make you feel bad or guilty. If you didn't breastfeed because you didn't want to, then own your decision and don't try and stop people getting information out their to encourage breastfeeding.

I'm currently a year into breastfeeding my second. I was gonna stop around this time and TBH I want to. But with winter coming and rumours of a broncolitius and flu epidemic, I'm gonna keep going. Because it supports their immune systems. My first never got ill until I stopped breastfeeding and my second has still not been ill even when the rest of the house has been.

 

[Death2unicorns]

Breastfeeding should be given a hell of a lot more respect and resource then it currently gets, for a start none of us would even be here right now if it weren’t for the fact that women can breastfeed,

breastfeeding enabled the continuation of the human race,

it helps save money on buying formula,

it benefits the environment by reducing the huge industrial processing and packaging involved in manufacturing formula,

It reduces consumption of cows milk thus helping the poor dairy cows who can be treated appallingly, pumped full of drugs to promote a huge oversupply of milk,

it promotes more skin to skin time between baby and mother which has huge benefits to the baby,

it is always ready, at the perfect temperature and you don’t need to worry about whether you sterilised the bottle properly or not, or whether the water was hot enough to kill the bugs which can lurk in formula,

it is a live bioactive fluid which is constantly responding to and changing in accordance with your babies needs, the science behind it really is incredible, not to mention the potential health benefits for the mother too,

the current low rates of breastfeeding are really disappointing, I really really hope the pandemic goes some way towards encouraging women to breastfeed, this whole crisis could have been absolutely catastrophic for formula feeding mothers, at the start of this whole thing when people suspected lock down was coming and stated ransacking the supermarkets I seen a woman crying in the baby isle as there was no formula left for her two week old baby, she had no car to drive to another supermarket, I imagine she managed to get some fairly quickly but imagine if the virus had been much worse and massively affected the manufacturing and supply chain of formula, many people could have been left without formula for really young babies

sorry for the long post, I read this thread from the beginning and some of the negative comments towards breastfeeding have really dismayed me, it’s just crazy how breastfeeding is now in the huge minority when it’s the biological norm and the very reason the human race was able to continue, what the hell has gone wrong?

This is absolutely not aimed at people who tried to breastfeed but couldn’t continue for various reasons by the way, there just seems to be a rising number of women willing to get pregnant and push a baby out but not willing to even try breastfeeding.

 

[Bigmama73]

I completely support formula feeding mums, but I’m annoyed Hinch is showing off that perfect prep machine. It’s so transparent that she’s only setting up for formula feeding because the industry is worth more money. Although it was ‘gifted’ so not a #ad, at this point doesn’t even showing it count as an ad

She also did a question asking people if they recommend sma or aptamil "if she wasnt able to breastfeed". I mean what kind of fanny makes decisions about their baby's health based on an Instagram poll?

She has probably already breached the WHO Code on promoting formula by sharing that machine. Bets she'll have broken the law before junior is even out of hospital???

 

[Sloth]

So glad the two people above me have said they just didn’t want to. That was me! Never mind breastfeeders, we are the stigmatised group. I’ve got a very healthy smart 3yr old

 

[Duchesspink]

Who is the petition going to? How would it be actioned and by who? Wouldn't it be the same as the "take tattle down" petition?

There are risks associated with formula feeding and I was told about them when I was pregnant.
The risks associated with formula are rarely talked about though as its seen as shaming formula feeding parents and of course formula companies arent going to broadcast the information
Back at the start of this thread, someone has commented that sids guidelines and science changes all the time and people should stop telling parents what to do.
The fact is that the SIDS rate has been greatly reduced through this knowledge, the back to sleep campaign, all naps and sleeps in the same room as an adult until at least 6 months etc. Our knowledge moves on as we learn more and knowledge is power.
I know I tried to do everything possible to keep my son safe and well even though well meaning family and friends thought I should move him to his own room, leave him outside, just give a bottle or whatever.

Facts arent attacks and all mums should be given the full information so that they can make informed decisions. We all want to do what's best for our children and we can only do that If we know the dangers/risks to them

 

[Jdimlet]

"There is really 0 rush! They don’t need anything but formula or Brest milk until they are 1." These were your exact words! And please dont be facetious lol. Funny I have 4 healthy adult kids with no stomach problems (and none fed on pies ffs [emoji849][emoji849]).
I appreciate not everyone has same experiences but do people not have any common sense any more? Most Mothers know their own babies, without some do gooder ramming advice down their throats. And as an aside - most of todays advice will be old hat in another couple of years too. Your babies will be telling you experienced Mums in years to come, that you know jack shit [emoji1787][emoji1787]

. SM-G930F .

As someone who has yet to go through feeding and weening I can confidently say ‘common sense’ will absolutely not cut it for me. First time parents (especially) need the guidelines and advice that is available to them in order to make sensible and informed decisions. Decisions that are backed by medical research not just gut instinct (pardon the pun)!

Thankfully I’m not suckered into Hinch but if I were more impressionable or lacked the sense to research myself, I may follow some of the dangerous things she does. After all she is an influencer and we all can see just how much of an influence she has on so many who do RIDICULOUSLY dangerous things because of her. I don’t think we can trust that people who burn zoflora and whack sani pads in air fresheners would do their own research on safe weaning or sleeping

That is the problem here

 

[Snoopsville]

Out of personal interest, not for those who can’t breastfeed or have tried to and it didn’t work out, what would be the reasons that made your decision to formula feed before you baby has been born?

Mine was based on letting my husband have a more active role. I never really wanted to bf but also couldn’t say why I didn’t want to... just didn’t want 2

 

[SunshineDreamer]

I don't "lecture"just because I have a different opinion , I'm stating facts and expressing misunderstanding at why people don't chose to give babies the best.
And horror at opinions like yours which are damaging.
My needs are certainly not being met - no sleep or time to myself, but it is a worthy sacrifice to give my baby the best start. His needs come first.

I find that statement wrong on so many levels. Just because someone doesn’t breastfeed in no way means they aren’t giving their child the best start in life or putting them first.

 

[SmartieQueen]

No, she shouldn’t just give up and put Grey on a bottle because she’s finding it difficult and it’s comments and views like that which result in the low breastfeeding rates in the UK. Breastfeeding can be difficult, it can be agony, it’s tiring and it’s all on YOU. Good on her for continuing even though it’s difficult, she’s had mastitis in the first month and I’ve been there (7 times now actually) and the pain is horrific, I’d rather have the pain of labour than mastitis tbh. So, please stop putting her down over her feeding choices, it’s unnecessary.

 

[Travelhappy]

I find that statement wrong on so many levels. Just because someone doesn’t breastfeed in no way means they aren’t giving their child the best start in life or putting them first.

Breastmilk is the best start nutritionally for a child, this is scientific and cannot be denied. You're right in that not breastfeeding doesn't necessarily equal not putting baby first. It depends on the reason.