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.

Also for those who make it their life's work to tell others to breastfeed, please let me know your thoughts on sibling studies which confirm marginal benefits? I struggle to see how these cannot be the panacea in terms of removing the signciant variable of class.

(I did BF for what it's worth but I stopped when it was no longer working for me.)

I agree that new mothers have their confidence eroded by constantly hearing how difficult breastfeeding is. They are given the message that it is hardly worth bothering with because they are bound to find it impossible.

Formula should be seen like a baby spending time in NICU or needing light therapy for jaundice. There should be no shame or judgement if a baby needs it, but the majority do not if mum and baby are both healthy and are given the chance to learn together how to do it.

I know there are many mothers on MN who had terrible breastfeeding experiences. I would never want to make another mum feel guilty or wrong for doing the best they can for their baby. My own first experience was a bit different because my eldest spent the first couple of months on a ventilator in ICU. He went straight from an NG tube to breastfeeding. It took a little while for us to get the hang of it. He was exclusively breastfed until 6 months, and then finally weaned at 2 and a half years. His younger brother breast fed from birth and weaned at a bit closer to 3 years old. I have shared my experience because I want other mums to feel confident that they can breast feed. There are lots of positive stories as well as the more difficult ones.

Formula is inferior to breastmilk. There isn’t any debate on that.
Formula feeding your baby is not an inferior decision to choosing to breastfeed your baby. Because loads more factors come into play than just the differences between the two kinds of milk.

@Cuppasoupmonster why do you want to police what I say and put words in my mouth?

You seem to be following me around this board ready to give your own opinion, but I can't give mine. I'm not allowed to share information about why certain restrictions are in place either?

@LittleLegoWoman ok answer my question on siblings studies then? Genuinely, I'm not being goady. Tell me precisely WHY it's inferior and explain HOW inferior it is.

The real unicorn is the neutral baby feeding thread where everyone just agrees that everyone is doing their best and it will all be fine. I've definitely never seen one of those.

I didn’t choose to combi feed either, it was advised by my midwife because my baby tires on the breast and refuses it at night, even when starving hungry.

I’m trying very hard to get to EBF but at the end of the day my baby is fed and thriving, I want to EBF rather than combo, but getting to that point is more to a ave money and the hassle of sterilising than anything else.

The message ‘breast is best’ is loud and clear, no need for goady posts to make women who for various reasons cannot or do not want to BF feel less than the amazing mothers they actually are.

It surprises me just because it doesn’t seem to fit with the typical MN user profile, to the extent that sometimes I wonder whether it’s stealth marketing for formula.

@Mitfordian Go and write your own summary of the research on breastmilk.
The part I found the most amazing was how the antibodies get shared between mothers and breastfeeding babies.
and asI said already. Choosing to formula feed is not an inferior decision to choosing to breastfeed. Because it’s not just about the milk itself. For many women it’s preferable to formula feed. But pretending that breastmilk itself is not superior to formula is dumb.

no need for goady posts to make women who for various reasons cannot or do not want to BF feel less than the amazing mothers they actually are.

But is this post goady? Not every discussion around breastfeeding is designed to make people who didn't/don't breastfeeding feel bad. Breastfeeding was a really nice time in my life, I'm not evangelical about it, I think fed is best, but I do think there's a lack of positive breastfeeding chat simply because it gets this reaction. And so unless you're a strident breastfeeding enthusiast, you just walk away.

Advertising is insidious and effective, and uses psychological tactics that very few can resist.

This coupled with very poor breastfeeding support in hospitals or by community midwives, and support helplines having long waiting times (or were when I last breastfed) mean rates are low.

Bottle feeding is a valid choice, but it’s expensive. Better support and less covert advertising might well lead to more women being able to breastfeed.

For anyone interested The Politics of Breastfeeding is an excellent and interesting read, whatever stage of parenthood you’re at.
Formula companies are really quite evil.

@LittleLegoWoman I have done, thanks. It informed my decisions when I had my DC. I asked to you comment on sibling studies and your silence is pretty conclusive.

I understand the benefits of breastmilk but to be honest they don't matter if you can't explain HOW MUCH benefit they actually confer to the child in the short and long term.

Having BF my DC until I decided to stop, I can't get my head around those who are so desperate to tell people how superior it is without actually backing that up. I can't believe some people come on here to bleat about the stigma of BF. Maybe in 1970 but now you can't move for being told 'breastfeeding is best' with no elaboration.

You do you. Other women are free to do what suits them.

I do agree the combi feeding article is misleading.

very often introducing bottles and formula is the first step on the road to bottle feeding. I feel this wasn’t even addressed.

yes it works for some people, and works well. But for a tired mum that wants to breastfeed it gives the impression that you can just give formula without considering the effect on supply etc.

same with expressing. It’s always presented as some lovely option so you can “get a break” and others can get the opportunity to feed baby.

in reality it’s twice the work and means you get less of a break as someone else is sat on their arse feeding while you express, wash bottles, or catch up on chores.

nothing wrong with bottle feeding, but it’s often presented as the easy option or a chance to have a break from bf, when if you do want to bf it can make your life more difficult.

This. In spades!

Better support and less advertising might mean more breastfeed but some of us positively decided to use formula. It wasn’t from a breastfeeding failure because we never tried

It's very very poor of MN to be doing this.

The reality in the UK is that from the minute a pregnancy is conceived the mum is pressed and pressed about the benefits of bf then the baby arrives and all societal messaging switches to push combi and formula feeding and moaning about bf being too hard or impossible.

There's all this pressure to bf and no actual support to do it, meaning many mums struggle and then wrestle with awful guilt.

It's dreadful for maternal mental health.

(Fwiw I've had 4 lovely and relatively easy bf journeys, I've never bought a bottle but I've also been very selective about the sort of advice and support I seek out)

This all the way.

This. Your breastmilk will also automatically adjust if you're feeding two babies of different ages. It has so many amazing properties, and just can't compare to formula so people should stop trying to do that.

Ultimately a fed baby, in whatever form, is a happy baby and that is what is most important.

Yes except that the UK has notoriously low rates of breastfeeding and less than half are breastfeeding at 4 weeks. Why is that? Something to think about, clearly the message isn’t getting through loud and clear.

It’s muddied by the insidious campaigning by formula and bottle manufacturers eg the aptamil ads portraying it as close to mothers milk whereas in reality it’s the same as every other formula

Fed is best.

I disagree that there is any positive messaging around formula feeding. There is an absolute OBSESSION with breast feeding to the extent that you are practically led to believe that a sip of formula is the worst thing you could do to your child.

Thankfully a lovely NICU nurse managed to talk me into giving my baby formula before she had a seizure or brain damage from low blood sugar.

same with expressing. It’s always presented as some lovely option so you can “get a break” and others can get the opportunity to feed baby.

in reality it’s twice the work and means you get less of a break as someone else is sat on their arse feeding while you express, wash bottles, or catch up on chores.

Yes! 😂 this is definitely true

The decision should wholly be up to the mother and what works for her and baby.

But the support for breastfeeding just isn't there unfortunately and friends of mine who have wanted to BF have stopped because of various reasons like tongue tie, cranial issues from birth, allergies etc which made it difficult to feed and an unhappy baby but a relatively easy fix. However you can't get this support easily from the NHS, or you have to wait a while and so therefore have to seek private help which can be costly and eliminating many peoples ability to seek help and support and so move to formula.

When I was breastfeeding and got mastitis or was tired (naturally - from a newborn) or because I couldn't go out for longer than 3 hours without my boobs bulging from my bra, lots of people around me kept saying 'oh just put her on formula so you can get some rest' or 'maybe you need to give her a bottle so dad can help out' and it frustrated me so much. I wanted to breastfeed. Again the support isn't there as it should be for breastfeeding mums and there is a real lack of education about it too.

I bf my first two. Back in the dark ages when no one I knew had ever bf. I fed no1 to 18 months when no2 came along and no2 until 3?4? I can't remember.

It was easy and I just expected I'd do the same with no3.

Turned out they had multiple food intolerances and had to have neocate in a bottle.

The guilt I felt was overwhelming and wasn't helped by a HV who didnt know me telling me there was no reason why I couldn't successfully bf no3 too.

Thankfully they're fine (and just turned 20) but I wish the breast is always best etc wasn't pushed so much because it definitely contributed to PND in my case.

For my no3, breast milk very definitely was not best. And I wish the not bf wasn't always presented as an issue with the mother.

There's 2 people involved and sometimes it's the baby for whatever reason that can't or shouldn't be bf. Not the mother not wanting to or having no milk or finding it difficult.