Antibreastfeeding?

[Redebs]

Having just browsed some of the 'Help articles' on here, I'm shocked at how Mumsnet is discouraging breastfeeding.

There's one on how normal it is to wean off the breast at two months because of all the 'problems you will have'.

There's one on 'combi feeding', which is about giving formula feeds to breastfed babies - the surest way to reduce your milk supply in reality.

There's another one about packing dummies and bottles in your hospital labour bag. This is definitely going to interfere with newborns getting colostrum and learning to latch. If a baby needs anything, the hospital will provide it in reality.

I know some women choose to formula feed, but these are insidious, supposedly helpful, undermining tactics aimed at new mothers trying to breastfeed. Most of these are sponsored by the baby bottle manufacturer MAM.

If formula companies were promoting this, they would be, rightly, in contravention of advertising rules.

All medical and scientific advice is to give exclusively breastmilk for the first six months and to continue to at least twelve months or longer.

I do have many friends thank you 😊 I never made out I'm superior at all.

I'm allowed to be proud. He is an amazing baba. My mam can't get over how good he is and says its a credit to me.

Thank you. That's all I was doing providing evidence.

Oh and another thing when he was about 2 months old I had gastroenteritis. He never caught that. I was bad with that for like nearly 2 weeks. Just providing evidence 🤷‍♀️

…apart from that isn’t evidence

Like all our babies as well 😊

Check again. I have not posted any studies.

Either you don’t understand what evidence means or you’re on the wind-up.

All women deep down know breastfeeding is the right thing to do. It is just society makes it easy to think of excuses not to.

@Emmamoo89 you aren't painting yourself in roses here either.

If your LO had never been sick then you might have a point (although it would still be anecdotal), but as it stands they have. Unless there's a sibling you haven't mentioned who didn't get as ill, and all the variables were the same bar feeding method, your anecdote isn't in the slightest bit conclusive.

And literally everyone on this thread is proud of their babies. We all think they're amazing, and I'll bet all our mums do too. Whether we BF or not.

I would absolutely love breastfeeding rates to improve and for women who want to do it to be supported to do so, but I hate this sort of goady, unhelpful nonsense. The right thing to do is feed your baby. That’s it.

And we’re proud of our healthy formula fed DC’s. Why do you think your bond is greater?

That’s a supremely unhelpful way of describing the situation.
Try ;
Most women are aware of the health benefits of breastfeeding. But societal messages are often contradictory and postpartum women get bombarded with opinions about their baby’s feeding habits/regime. Combined with the pressure many mums feel to do the best they possibly can for their baby, we get a range of fairly unhappy outcomes.

• mums who really don’t want to breastfeed at all for whatever reason being made to feel guilty.
• mums who desperately want to breastfeed but who have some problems to begin with left unsupported and worried, leading them to switch to formula and feel guilty about it. Some of these mums really did need to switch for medical reasons, some on them would have been fine with a little more help and support.
• mums who use some/all formula who feel the need to deny/minimize the health benefits of breastfeeding in order to justify their decision to themselves/others.
• Mums who breastfeed despite being told they should stop by people who don’t know enough about breastfeeding/don’t respect it’s importance for mums and babies - sometimes these mums feel the need to overstate the benefits of breastfeeding to justify their decision to themselves or to others.
• mums who breastfeed exclusively and adamantly refuse any supplementation with formula even when it is medically necessary/would be helpful for their baby’s health/growth.

All of these are bad outcomes! And all leave the mums feeling shit and contribute to stupidly combative threads like this one. Actually though, the solution to all these things is the same thing. Support for new mums and societal education on breastfeeding and formula feeding- not just the benefits of breastmilk but what’s normal breastfed infant behavior and growth, what the data on formula vs breastfeeding actually means, and how to safely prepare formula, including best practice and acceptable practices and, how to transition between breastfeeding and formula/cowsmilk. Women should be able to choose how to feed their baby and feel free and confident to alter this (appropriately) as their baby grows without continually feeling like they are making the wrong choice.

It’s best to gloss over this poster. She seems to manifest whenever the word ‘breastfeeding’ is written out on Mumsnet and goes on and on about her magic ‘boobies’. If I’m feeling charitable I sort of laugh at her kindly for being a very PFB FTM, but occasionally the posts don’t seem so pleasant, and are a bit more…troll.

It’s not always the ‘right’ thing to do. I’d say if it came at the cost of the mother’s mental health, it’s very much not the right thing to do. We’re very fortunate to have a wonderful alternative that allows us choice. And that whatever any individual mother chooses to do, that’s the right choice.

Exactly!

These threads and discussions always become so toxic.

Breastmilk is best for a baby, but breastfeeding isn't always the best for a family and that's fine, formula nowadays is great. Sure there are benefits to breastfeeding, but I think the exaggeration of these along with the demonisation of formula companies and as a PP touched on the assumption that women can't make informed decisions without being influenced by them doesn't help open discussion at all.

There are many reasons we have low breastfeeding rates in this country and its not because women aren't aware of the bReAst Is BeSt message.

Can't be arsed to read the whole thread but letting women know there is a perfectly safe alternative to breastfeeding is fine. Breastfeeding isn't as important as bf fans like to make out. Your baby will be fine either way. If a woman wants to do it, fantastic, she should be supported to do so. If it's not working for her or she just doesn't want to, then formula is a great alternative.

Breastfeeding is not more important than a mother's mental health but the pressure put on women to bf at all costs is awful.

That's not evidence that ,s an anecdote .

Personally I would ignore cuppasoupmonster they are blatantly sealioning and do it on most breastfeeding threads I have seen so must be bored. It doesn't matter what posters present they will keep doing it!

When you read the definition of sealioning next to their posts it's extremely obvious

Sealioning (also sea-lioning and sea lioning) is a type of trolling or harassment that consists of pursuing people with relentless requests for evidence, often tangential or previously addressed, while maintaining a pretense of civility and sincerity ("I'm just trying to have a debate

I didn’t even know what it meant 😂 plus I’m not the one who has been demanding STUDY STUDY STUDY on here, nor have I posted one!

Maybe if you had read the thread, or at least the o/p and articles, you’d realise that the point of the thread has nothing to do with this.

the point is that mn has posted at least one article, sponsored by a formula company, that has misleading information on combi feeding, and talks about only the positives of giving formula without mentioning the possible detrimental effects on breastfeeding.

so pretty much the opposite to your post.

And then when you find them some proper evidence it becomes obvious they have no idea how to interpret it anyway. I particularly liked the dismissal of a metastudy as ´not a real study anyway’. That one is definitely not an epidemiologist or a data scientist.

Is your Mam a first time grandparent?My mum was the same when her first grandson was born ,she spoke about him.endlessly to.whoever would listen ,she loves all four o f her grandsons equally ,but the first one arrived it was like nobody had ever been a grandma before .
look im, sure your baby is a lovely delightful.little chap.and you are besotted with him but ALL.mothers feel that way about.their babies
My bottle Fed babies were also lovely ,cuddly ,giggly boys and I thought they were the best thing since sliced bread like all.mothers do

I think the breast is best message is very firmly established OP. That was why I was stressing and in tears while trying to pump to provide breast milk to my very poorly baby who was in NICU on a ventilator and failing miserably because I was more concerned about whether she was going to survive or not.

I felt like the most useless mother in the world and think it would have been ten times worse if one of the other lovely mums who was also in my position saw how distressed I was and made me realise that the most important thing was that I was there for her not that I turned up with a pitiful amount of breast milk compared to others who seemed to be able to provide loads.

I think that pressure either way is wrong and I certainly don't believe formula companies are acting out of the goodness of their hearts. Each woman should have all the facts and be able to make her own decision with the appropriate support. I think that kind of support is not not necessarily available in the UK and I think that there are also militant supporters on either side who try to make women feel guilty about their choices.