To be annoyed by breastfeeding camapigner's tactics?

[ibangthedrums]

Yesterday I went to a community family fun day. It was a huge, busy event with funfair etc. One of the stalls was a breastfeeding campaign group. All good so far!

I was stood by the stall for a few mins waiting for DS1 to have his face painted so was able to watch them. They were really quiet but only method I saw them use was to ask older (school age) children if they were breastfed.

The only ones I saw, had to ask their Mum and it so happened they were. The lady then said "well done" and gave them a pack of pencils as a reward.

The more I think about this, the more it bugs me. The children have no control over how they were fed. If they had said no, I wonder what the woman may have done. Give them pencils to make up for it?! Perhaps the mother ought to have got the pack of pencils!

I know it must be hard to reach people, but surely mums with little babies, pregnant women or just adults are more of a target audience than young children?! BF does need to be promoted and people need all the help they can get. These sort of tactics however, will surely not reach those that need it and actually turn alot people off who are struggling.

Did the bottle fed children get pencils with a cow on the top, or a soya bean maybe?

"Before you slate me for having classist, judgy views, I had terrible trouble with DS and only breast fed him for 6 weeks, but I never uttered the phrase 'it freaks me out' or 'i'm not having a baby sucking my boobs and spoiling them' "

you said that load of tosh. as if uttering those phrases defines your 'class'.

FFS.

I am the epitome of working class. I even have brown kids. I bf all but one of them. I had two homebirths and I own a sling.

I am still working class.

Didnt that woman from M&B talk about not wanting to ruin her 'funbags'. Is she a chav then? I may be judgy but I would assume a sub editor to be pretty middle class.

We are NOT a different species.

I didn't say it did. I'm telling you what it's like where I live. I can't comment on where you live cos I don't know anything about it. Have you been to my town? There is more than an anecdotal link WHERE I LIVE to say that breast feeding prevails in the middle class areas and that feeling that it is 'weird' to breast feed prevails in poorer areas. I was expressing surprise that op heard children say they were breast fed and not that they weren't. It wouldn't happen WHERE I LIVE because of prevailing, historical, cultural issues.

Not everyone is a 'noisy' breastfeeder.

The people on that stall sound seriously weird, if they were indeed rewarding children just for being BF. I'm going to be very judgemental here but I bet she was one of those who BF's their kids until their at least 5 years old. Bitty anyone.

you are missing my point completely. i am wondering whether it is worth reiterating at all.

I am making NO comment on you, on your choices or how you do things. I'm not sure what the relevance of the colour of your children has!!
Sorry op and all others, I obviously made my point badly.

Oh my life! Have I come across as an Insensitive loon? Oh dear. Sorry, didn't mean to.

no, you haven't. you have come across someone who thinks your defintion of what is and isn't middle class is quite deluded.

But I haven't. I'm talking about my experience of where I live. This is how life is where I live. Honestly, there'd be letters in the local paper about this kind of stall at a fair. And it's really true that in areas of high education. Achievement, high income, two parents working, the Breast feeding rate is higher round here. By Many percents. I'm really sad that anyone should think I give a monkeys about the colour of their children. :-(

The OP saw one set of children being asked one question. She has no idea whether the pencils were a 'reward' for being bf or simply handed out to anyone visitng the stall. The latter seems far more likely, doesn't it?

It was a breastfeeding stall - surely a reasonable opening question to children would be "do you know if you were bf?" No judgment, no guilt, no pressure. Just a question!

LBM I am sure you are lovely.

But please understand that when people see me with my hoards of brown kids (yep that does make a difference), hear my accent and check out my velour tracksuit, they assume I dont bf and dont bf because I dont care enough to.

They dont bother to find out, they assume because they perceive me to be a chav.

Even the HV said 'what brand of milk are you feeding him?' at booking in. Not are you bf/ff?

Because she assumed.

My health visitor didn't ask, just circled the 'formula' box. Noboby breast feeds at 7 months.

Actually, I am quite pleasant on and off and if you'd turned up anywhere where I live with brown children, the assumption would be that you were the wife of a hospital consultant because pretty much everyone else Round here is white and has lived here for generation on generation.

Butterfly
If "The people I know (many many people, btw) who fed that long have usually had enough of doing it themselves and don't need to push it on others".
have as you say had enough of BF then why do they do it for so long? After a certain age there is no nutritional benefit to BF a child, Those that continue are doing it for their own reasons and I think it's all a bit needy.

IME Pushy breastfeeders were often longtime BF's.

BTW - Yes I did BF.

Actually this reminds me of my thoughts today when ds3 came home with a gold star on his top because he had fruit in his lunchbox.

I deserved that star!!! Does the teacher think he would have chosen fruit over chocolate?

Sorry Butterfly I phased that wrong - I should have put "no nutritional need" to BF after a certain age.

I had a banana instead of a choc biscuit this morning - will give myself a gold star accordingly