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.

No drug is 100% safe not even paracetamol no drug is tested in lab trials on pregnant or lactating mothers it's against ethics guidance in the UK that's why even strepsils say on the box to consult a Dr.
That's why the bf drug network exists who examine components of medication and milk transfer. It's used by Dr's, consultants and bf women.

Yeah we get it OP.
You're a better mother than those mums who chose to FF and were stupid enough not to see through the marketing.

👏👏

Equating SMOKING in pregnancy to using formula. Wow.

Seriously,why do you care how other mothers choose to.feed their babies ,what business is it of yours?

That's just rude.
I tie myself in knots trying not to upset people usually, but this is important enough to keep banging on about.

You are talking out of your backside 🙄

Why is it important what on earth has it to to.do.with you?

But why is it more ‘important to you’ when it’s other people’s children, who they love and adore and have committed to far more than you ever will?

That's just rude.
I tie myself in knots trying not to upset people usually, but this is important enough to keep banging on about.

Your posts are rude and smug. I just hope a new mum who might have chosen to FF her baby because it is the right decision for HER, HER family and HER mental health doesn't stumble across this thread.

To compare smoking and FF is so ridiculous and uneducated.
Smoking around your baby is proven to be harmful but FF isn't harmful, BF may be optimal (for most babies ) but you are not causing harm to your baby if you use formula.

If you really want to support women on their BF journey then shaming mothers who are trying their best really isn't best way to go about it

I’m honestly aghast at the superior judgement here:

Equating use of formula to smoking in pregnancy…

Suggesting the Strep A outbreak was likely among the wretched formula fed…

Suggesting that mothers who choose formula are lazy, stupid, ‘looking for excuses’…

An assumption that those of us who disagree with this overzealous approach to breastfeeding are these feckless formula mothers… we

Some of us breastfed and still think that the mindset shown on here is appalling. And so linear and lacking in critical thought.

I’m shocked that supposedly intelligent women genuinely cannot begin to understand the complex and nuanced feelings and reasons tangled up in feeding choices. But whatever they are, they’re valid and fuck all to do with you.

Unless, of course, the truth of the matter is, you don’t actually care about the nuance. You really just want to tell yourself that they’re stupid and worse than you because they didn’t do exactly as you did. That they didn’t make and do the ‘superior’ things you did, they’re lazy and feckless and not as good as you.

It always happens among those parts of parenting that seem to make certain women go a bit mental and obsessive. The same applies to cloth nappies and Co-sleeping.

It always descends into BF mums mocking FF mums for saying they were judged and disbelieving it, and saying that in fact they were judged for making their superior feeding choices…

I cannot believe that we’re still tearing strips off each other in 2023. It is truly fucking miserable.

Leave other women alone.

Luckily your comments don’t count for anything as parents can decide for themselves how to feed their babies. DC’s were 100% on formula - totally healthy!

I agree your not causing harm by formula feeding in that moment, but at the same time you are not preventing harm either, because the reality is the baby has less antibodies to fight off any infection that comes their way in the future.

Midwives should support parents with whatever choices they make on feeding their babies. Mine helped me with formula feeding.

Some of us breastfed and still think that the mindset shown on here is appalling. And so linear and lacking in critical thought.

Absolutely, it isn’t really about concern for children - there are kids beaten, starved, fed alcohol, allowed to be extremely obese by the age of 4, allowed to vape/smoke, attacked by dogs, living in mouldy houses… I’m not going to work myself up over a perfectly safe feeding choice that at worst gives a child a raised risk of an ear infection, especially when it’s likely the mum has chosen it for a good reason.

If OP really cared she should save the pious threads and train as a lactation consultant herself or do some fundraising for breastfeeding causes. But… nope, easier to post on here isn’t it 🤷🏼‍♀️

I agree your not causing harm by formula feeding in that moment, but at the same time you are not preventing harm either, because the reality is the baby has less antibodies to fight off any infection that comes their way in the future.

But that difference is negligible, otherwise it would be obvious in class full of children who had been BF and who had been FF.

Do you live in the countryside? Own a dog? Feed your kids only organic food and filtered water? Do they have over an hour’s physical outdoor activity per day? If not I suggest you get cracking, because by your logic they will be less able to fight off infections in future, and you’re harming them. No excuses, please.

Do the certain few posters genuinely believe there are tangible differences between children who were breastfed and those who were formula fed? 😬

My god, I left this thread but they are doubling down!

There are a myriad reasons why some people do not breastfeed. One being that they do not want to - that is sufficient. News flash (especially for you @Citycentre3 with 2 v small children but apparently a seasoned mother... lol) but there will be ways in which those mothers 'mother' better than you because everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses. Why on earth anyone would have the audacity to be so sanctimonious about one tiny aspect of parenting is beyond me. You'd better hope you've done everything perfectly before you start calling other women selfish.

Better hope spelling and grammar skills are improved by breastmilk too

Not saying they shouldn't. Each to their own what they do. Every mother knows what's right for their child.

Its not just breastfed to formula. I've seen plenty of women who do formula feed slate breastfeeding mothers.

And formula was amazing for my DC’s. Healthy babies and importantly happy parents. My and DH’s parents flew over for regular visits and did all the night feeds so we weren’t struggling for sleep.

What I’ve witnessed on here, many times, is FF mothers saying, for example, “I was criticised in the cafe the other day for feeding from a bottle. This woman just came up to me and said I’d let my baby down. I’m so upset…”

Cue onslaught of BF mothers saying, “well, I’ve never witnessed that so I don’t believe it happens to FF. FF is ‘the norm’ so why would anyone criticise you? Whereas I was BF in John Lewis cafe the other day and an old man told me I should cover up and stop showing off. I’m devastated. And rightly so. Where the BF support?”

I don’t think I’ve seen a FF mother criticise breastfeeding or women that do it. The worst you’ll see is a woman feeling understandably defensive when a thread goes a similar way to this absolute shitshow, and who then likely feels the need to justify her choice to FF, which for many has included an emotional and difficult decision.

But really, I don’t give a shit how anyone else feeds their child. I wish they’d extend the same courtesy to others. It’s a MINUSCULE element of parenting. And I have BF.

It doesn’t fucking matter. They’re still going to mainline shit alcohol and kebabs as soon as they get to Freshers’ Week.

I mean, unless you avoid ever breathing in a particulate, eat entirely organic and are sugar free, consume only totally filtered water from a melted glacier, exercise for 450 minutes a week at least and sleep for ten hours a night without waking, you’re basically as fucked as anyone else.

Seriously,why do you care how other mothers choose to.feed their babies ,what business is it of yours?
It's perfectly
normal to care about other people's children.

Care! You mean telling other parents that they’re selfish and making poor choices by using formula!!