Article in Le Monde about "le maternage intensif"

[AuldAlliance]

There is an article in Le Monde about a shocking & controversial new parenting trend, where fanatical mothers are doing incredible things: BFing beyond 6mths, sleeping in the same room and even the same bed as their babies, and sometimes even going so far as to carry them around in slings. These 'excesses', which will obviously lead to children being unable to attain autonomy, are criticised by a Prof from Paris V.

It would be funny if it wasn't so sad.

[shallishanti]

it's those mad English to blame

[Heathcliffscathy]

you know auld, i don't think it's sad, i think it's an evolution of thinking in the continent. you still find articles with the tone adopted at the end of this one in GB now, and for the most part the article is very fair on the reasoning and theoretical underpinning of attachment parenting.

think it's rather heartening to see this in le monde.

i'm not a pure AP but i subscribe absolutely to the notion that meeting the basic needs for security and love of a child allow it to develop a true sense of independence.

[Francagoestohollywood]

Us continental already face concrete possibilities of having our children living with us until they reach their 30s...

[Francagoestohollywood]

sorry posted before finishing...

seriously, is AP really a "new" thing in France?

[pinkhousesarebest]

Our school yard is full of these breast feeding, sling happy mummies, and they are deffo not Brits.

[Othersideofthechannel]

It's not a new trend but AP is not very widespread so I can imagine academics in ivory towers have only just come across it. I remember reading articles for and against in baby/parent magazines when I was pregnant 8 years ago.

[AuldAlliance]

Maybe I have a skewed impression of how widespread AP might be in the UK, from MN. The presentation by the journalist suggests that the women mentioned are very rare and unusual cases.

DH spotted the article, and told me I was part of an extremist "groupuscule" in France.

What I thought was sad was the tone, and the way that things were presented. The mother who said 75% of her friends think she is harming her child's development, for instance. And the fact that going back to work after a whole 6 months is so unusual and extreme a choice.
Also, the dismissive reaction of the Paris V Professor is placed at the end of the article, to conclude it.
Some of the readers' comments were v scathing, one about how the French borrow everything from the Americans and soon all the kids here will weigh hundreds of kilos.

My GP, who is in his 30's, and apparently fairly open-minded, still hasn't got his head around the fact that I am BFing my 9-mth-old.

[dilbertina]

Auld, the dcs doctor was a bit that I was still breastfeeding dd at 5 months, she was totally aghast I hadn't been giving her vitamin drops (and simply didn't believe it wasn't the norm in UK). I have to go get injection done soon - i may not tell her I'm still BF at 9mths....

However, when dd was littler and needed feeding in public (shopping centre etc) I did have an entirely positive response from passerbys, lots of smiles from older French ladies.

[slim22]

LOL at this.
La mere ou la putain. Nothing new under the french sun.

[averagemum]

I completely know what you mean about attitudes to bfing in France (the shock that you might want to make it past 6 weeks!) and the vitamin drops thing (I lied) but, I dunno, I don't think that what Prof Paris V is too outrageous: parenting is about negotiating separations. That's just true isn't it? Eventually a baby won't bf, will probably sleep in its own bed etc., it's just a question of when and how.

[Weta]

I actually think the article was reasonably balanced... could do without the professor chap but that applies to most French academics! and thought it did present this as a possibly positive option - and the comments by her friends sound pretty much par for the course in France.

But I do think attitudes are changing a bit, and the fact that you see more articles like this is a good sign really.

My gynecologist congratulated me in tones of amazement when I said I'd breastfed DS1 in NZ for 15 months, and nearly fell off her chair when I said I had him without an epidural and it took 14 hours.

But I never had any adverse comments about breastfeeding DS2 for 15 months, and the paediatrician and GP were actually very supportive and prescribed Motilium to up my supply when I had trouble after being ill. Though I did feel uncomfortable in public after 6 months or so.

[AuldAlliance]

I am an academic in France.
Does that make me a French academic?

[dilbertina]

Did someone say something?

[winnybella]

I'm glad I'm not the only one- when I posted here that DD's doctor just stopped short of calling me an idiot for not giving her the vitamin D drops and said that she will definitely go on to develop rickets, people on MN thought it was a wind up.

I have yet to see anyone giving me an evil eye for bf in public and I do it in restaurants and parks in Paris all the time.

I don't see that many mothers with slings or bf, though.

[Weta]

I just gave the vitamin drops an dfluoride and stuff every now and again, and sweetly took a new prescription every time we saw the paediatrician even though we never finished the bottles (which I never owned up to).

What got me was being given everything in suppository form!! though actually it was easier