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, there is help there in some areas for those mothers who are able to access it. There is certainly not universal, readily available and fully accessible quality support.

Yes I found little in the way of support ,I was open minded about feeding befor e I had ds1,but wanted to give breast feeding a go ,it wasent,easy and the staff in hospital did little in the.way to help , he was only 5lb14oz,s and I was a neurotic new mother and terrified of him losing weight
so quickly turned to bottle feeding ,had there been more support available maybe i would have stuck with it for longer
but regardless of circumstances nobody should be made to feel bad about their feeding choice ,s .

I'm sorry I didn't realise I needed your permission to have an opinion.

The whole of the uk is anti breastfeeding, the pressure to stop at two months, six months, a year. The fight for medication whilst breastfeeding, lack of places to breast feed, dolls which are bottle fed ( I have a bf two year old who bottles feeds her doll!), the comments from random strangers, I am lucky that there’s no pressure to stop from family.

maybe the answer is a ban on all advertising of formula, bottles etc, provide more spaces to breastfeed and then let everyone make their own choice. Because it seems every mother feels under pressure about how she feeds.

👏👏👏

I found the messaging before I had a baby could be summarised as "fed is best... But breastfeeding is really really difficult and painful so you should probably expect to give up and bottle feed. Or just express!"

I actually have a friend who was dreading breastfeeding as she'd been told such awful things about it. It's a real shame because I actually know many women (including the one who dreaded it) for whom breastfeeding came easily and was a joy and there was no need for any fear.

And don't get me started on "just" expressing! Such a pita!

So I agree with you OP.

On the contrary I support the right of all.women to choose to feed their babies in whatever manner suits them best
but I have lost count of the threads I have seen where people get heavily invested in Breast is best and sneer another mothers choices ,
I'm the great scheme of things when a child is a teenagers there is no discernible difference between those who were breastfed and those who.were bottle Fed .

I know of several women (myself included) who had good experiences of breast feeding. I think hearing from both is valuable.

It actually feels relatively rare to hear good experiences of breastfeeding. In the run up to giving birth, I went searching on MN to find a cheerful breastfeeding thread and...they're really not that common. From everything I read, I was sure it was going to be difficult, painful and hard to make work.

It seems that it's such an emotive topic when it doesn't work out that it's almost impossible to have a positive conversation around it.

I came to Mumsnet when my baby's sleep when wonky at 4mo, and was definitely made to feel like my decision to breastfeed was a contributing factor, and there was a certain smugness about it too.

I went into a bit of a downward spiral, convincing myself that my baby was hungry and that's why he was waking up so frequently. The turning point was when I went to a La Leche League meeting and was able to talk through my concerns with a lactation expert.

(FWIW we also tried a bottle of formula before bed and it did naff all).

I had this from my family. Neither of my kids slept well and I breastfed and my mom and brother kept telling me how formula was this magic sleep inducer. In my experience a total myth!!

I agree with this. Probably because people who find it easy are unlikely to post online because they a) don't need help, and b) don't want to come across as showing off.

I know seven people who loved breastfeeding and found it easy. They didn't say anything about it until I also found it easy. I also knew six people who really struggled it and quickly gave up. I heard all about their struggles in great detail before I gave birth! It skewed my perception.

(I'm not judging those six people. Just saying that people who struggle with breastfeeding are more likely to be the ones who talk about it).

b) don't want to come across as showing off.

I think this is such a huge part of it. I didn't have a single problem breastfeeding - and I've never told another person that because I don't want to be a smug twat.

I do not know why just express is rolled out a lot! Solely expressing for a baby is 100x harder then all of it I am amazed any woman can do it for longer then a few weeks! I did it mostly pumpinf with DS1 for a few weeks as well as feeding him where possible myself due to neonatal and christ it was hard!

I think feeding journeys are different as well DS1 was a proper battle, neonatal, pumping, delayed milk due to stress then oversupply for 7 months.
I ended up being a milk donor with my first as the neonatal unit had a baby who had a NEC which is incredibly serious. There were junior Dr there with the consultant explaining that NEC risk is reduced by giving breastmilk but milkbank supply was struggling. It's why most mothers in neonatal units will be found pumping or delivering milk as there is a big difference in liklihood (reduction by 90% of surgical NEC when compared to formula).

DS2 on the otherhand was a straight on you go and feed away no issues at all. I honestly thought with DS1 this didn't exist!

I remember smiling when my son would "breastfeed" his action man, 50 years ago but it still makes me smile now.

I think maybe the "virtuous" image of breastfeeding doesn't help. I always say to any expectant mother who asks that I loved breastfeeding as I'm too lazy to be doing all that faff with bottles, its a great excuse to sit down and relax at regular intervals, it's cheaper.

Breastfed for a total of over 4 years but I do feel some babies take to it better than others, my baby 3 was a nightmare which was a shock as I thought I knew what I was doing.

What would that actually be?

I had my first 50 years ago. Back then I think it was a low point for breastfeeding, well it was in the hospital I was in where the sister was positively hostile to breastfeeding mums. I got home and unsurprisingly was struggling after such a negative experience over the previous week.

My HV visited, she was very Joyce Grenfell if people remember her, she was probably in her 50s, very posh jolly hockey sticks, unmarried and no children, and I felt unsure of her as a teenage mum who was definitely not posh. She showed me how to express milk, how to latch baby on, and for a few days (3 or 4 probably) she would call in on her way to her first appointment, mid day and on her way home to make sure all was going well. God bless her as I'd never have managed without her.

Data from UNICEF says that the UK does not have the lowest breast feeding rates. That distinction belongs to the United States, France and Ireland.
Women have a free choice as to infant feeding method, unless they have a condition such as breast hypoplasia or are on essential medication that is excreted in breast milk and could adversely affect the baby.
As the UK has a safe water supply and facilities to sterilise bottles, there are minimal arguments either way. Formula fed children grow up perfectly healthy, and you would struggle to find any long term advantages for the breast fed ones that wasn’t due to confounding variables such as being raised in a middle class home.
There is too much guilt tripping of women who don’t breast feed.
Simply provide information on it and leave women to make their own decision based on their circumstances and preferences.

You don’t, obviously. But you instantly leap into any post that mentions breastfeeding with the same old tired post again and again. It’s none of your business whether women breast or formula feed, any more than it is another woman’s business that you chose to breastfeed.

I could understand if it made a real noticeable difference to a child’s health but it doesn’t. And if you care about children’s health so much, maybe try posting about something that actually harms them like the number of kids that can be seen swigging fizzy drinks or breathing in their parent’s vape smoke every day.

Just leave other women to do what they want and quit with the guilt tripping posts.

This! I will never understand why some women make it their personal business to interfere in another woman’s perfectly safe, healthy and valid feeding choice. It’s bonkers. There are so many other factors that affect children’s health but a core of posters just want to go on about breastfeeding, breastfeeding, breastfeeding. All about their own ego IMO.

So true - we can make our own decisions. There is tonnes of material available
I used formula for DC’s from day one - my choice. Formula is amazing. No guilt, just happy and healthy babies and parents.

Well, breast is best nutritionally there is no arguing about this, however many factors are to be considered especially maternal mental health.

I breastfed my first for 15 months, I had my second son when it was full lockdown in COVID & 0 support. His latch was shallow, his sugar levels depleted so I pumped, I exclusively pumped for 3 months & then he had formula. I couldn't pump, look after a 2 year old and have a newborn at home. I just cried and cried and felt like I failed so my mother said: enough of this. He will be just fine on formula, that day I stopped pumping (gradually) and a cloud lifted above my head.

He'll be 2 in January, healthy, happy little boy. I don't know what I would have done if this magic stuff called formula wasn't there.

I agree!! I have noticed the same thing and thought it was just me. I got so infuriated last night that I turned my phone off and went and did something different 😂
I'm also noticing it A LOT on Instagram with "mom" influencers writing posts against breastfeeding. They're writing completely inaccurate posts and sharing things and then the comments are even worse!

"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."*
*
I've combi-fed my baby for 5 months and still going strong. No reduced milk supply, I make as much milk as my baby wants and needs and this fluctuates all the time.

Women are treated like idiots at such a vulnerable time. During pregnancy we can't be trusted so things are just 'banned' instead of presenting the nuanced position or the actual data. Same with breastfeeding - why couldn't someone tell me (pre birth), the actual benefits and the actual data (e.g. how much impact) with clear reference to reliable studies and no agenda.

The message 'breastfeeding is best but formula is fine' is horrible. Inherently it infers that FF I'd inferior and who wants just "fine" for their new baby. I am intelligent enough for someone to explain neutrally what the data shows and let me make my decision. I'd like to think I'm not so stupid that advertising for bottles would sway my decision ffs.