Breastfeeding what are the politics?

Reality What's more, the FF/BF debate has turned otherwise sisterly women against each other in droves, which is shit.

Yes you're right - that's a really good point and I've read a book about how the media basically sparked off a lot of the SAHMvWAHM - it's an American book but very illuminating on the topic - The Truth Behind the Mommy Wars. It's cheap second hand.

Your post reminded me of it. I think the media really likes to categorise women into opposing positions and it it is very unhelpful to women as a whole group.

Thanks for the link Eau, I particularly like her last sentence:

After 28 years in a culture where women's bodies belong to pretty much anyone but them, it was only my children that showed me that my body, even mine, belongs to me to give

I think some mention of nurse-maiding should be made when talking about breastfeeding politics (although I hate that expression because it summons up images of rich people employing other women to breastfeed their babies and that's not what I mean but I can't think of another word so forgive me!). What I mean is groups of women helping other women out sometimes by helping to breast feed children when the mother is knackered, ill etc. I would imagine the thought of another woman breast-feeding your child would be shocking to most in a modern day context but it did used to happen in the past (or am I thinking of some kind of Utopia that never really existed?).

The other thing that bears mentioning is the sexualisation of breasts which inevitably takes the focus off their true function and seems to give some men a sense of entitlement in terms of how they should be used .

And I agree with Reality with regards FF/BF. I find it really sad that people are castigated for making valid choices. Take Kym Marsh for example. Some awful things have been said about her and the fact that she is FF her 7-week premature baby (which was always going to be difficult lets face it). I am pro BFing btw but recognise that some situations negate that choice or make it very difficult. And most of the time it comes down to support either from professionals, partners, family etc.

Agree with Reality aswell.

Agree with reality.

Sakura is good on this topic. About how what women can do, and used to know how to do, has been basically taken away for profit.

right, re: continuing BF if your DP doesn't want you too.
Breastfeeding has benefits no matter how old the child is. Why would the other parent not want this? I think we (as a society) tend to infantilise men a lot and this is another way. 'Oh, he wants you back' or 'he's tired of haveing to share you and wants some adult time'. Well, you can have all these things and if your partenr didn't want to share for a long time maybe they shouldn't have had children with you. Maybe they should just grow up a bit and start putting the baby's needs first rather than it all being about them and their wants.
Also adult time (for that read sex for most people) and BF aren't mutually exclusive.

Ha! Eaurouge, I reckon you know what my opinion would be

EauRouge that's a really interesting blog - thanks for posting that.

There are also health benefits to the mother, like reduced risk of certain cancers. I consider myself a feminist and I don't see that BF clashes with this. I really like this blog post. I would like for society to make it easier for women to work and breastfeed by providing childcare nearer to work places, comfortable areas to express and fridges for storing milk.

I'm a serial lurker in the feminism forum because I'm a bit scared and I've glad you've brought this up. I've seen several threads where a woman wants to continue BF and her partner wants her to stop. I've always thought that it should be the woman's decision since it's her body but I've heard other people say that it should be a joint decision. I would love to know people's thoughts on this.

Have you read Gabrielle Plalmer's book?
For me one of the main things was that while DH couldn't feed our babies he was 'freed up' up for other stuff - cooking, cleaning etc. I wasn't expected to do a lot in the first months because I was sitting nursing a baby most of the time.
Of the peopleI know who have formula fed usually one of the reasons is that everyone else can have their 'turn' feeding the baby/cuddling the baby (and are left sometimes unable to get their baby back off domineering relatives) and DH/P can do some of the night-time feeds. OFten they complain that this doens't actually happen and turns into another burden on a woman who has just had a baby.

I expressed bm and OH used that in bottles when I wasn't available.