to have tweeted this sweary tweet based on todays headlines?

[Heathcliffscathy]

"breast is fucking best you cunts #whyarepeoplesothick #whyareheadlinessoshit #whyissophisticatedscientificadviceimpossible #fuckingfuck"

because it frustrates me so much that the bmj article (which didn't for a second question that weaning alongside breastfeeding was the best option if it was possible) has been interpreted by the sun et al as breastfeeding is not best.

fuckers.

Pretty unreasonable to get so worked up about tabloid headlines, yes.

oh pointy! but they are not just tabloid headlines! the independent fgs.

i get very cross when people wantonly misinterpret especially when they are misinterpreting to the masses.

Its all so depressing.

I watched two hideous bints sniping at each other on BBC breakfast this morning. Same old awful 'Early weaning and formula will make them sleep through the night yeah fucking rightvs. Good Mums sit on the sofa breastfeeding on demand for months without complaining'
bullshit.

Zzzzzzzzz

Sophable I really love your post of 21 -31- 21. there was a thread on here (last night??) about an article by a woman ... whatever ... and I was trying to put my finger on what bothered me about the things this woman was saying.

I think you've put your finger on it.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but hasn't the rise in breastfeeding largely been a peer-to-peer thing, grass-roots, by women's groups? ie a grass-roots, success story for women, really.

(I'm getting really interested in this now.)

It is depressing how issues get misrepresented in the media, especially if they are in pursuit of a sensational attention-getter, and simplify things down to a really misrepresentative, even untruthful, level.

hello sophe. You're living in Babydom, aren't you?

They want a story. This makes a bit of a Mum story to loosely carry on the 'Stenders theme. Journalists, as a generla rule, don;t have ethics even when they say they do.

I just can't raise any emotion for this one.

animula hello!

yes there is a feminism topic thread here but i couldnt be arsed to find the feminism topic link!

i will tomorrow...

i know what you mean pointy.

but there is something a bit sinister underneath all this. we have such a strangely fucked up response to breastfeeding because the breast is involved in it. if it was elbow feeding i fear things might be simpler.

although some of what is sinister is simply about consumerism. kill anything that you can't market/make money out of.

We're British. We titter at bums and breasts and make saucy postcards (although the french ones are plain rude). But we can still decide to use them sensibly from time to time.

Why does anybody actually care how other people are feeding their babies?

As long as you are happy exclusively BFing to 6 months, is what other mums believe is right for their own babies anybody elses business?

YANBU - I don't normally swear

but the FUCKING PRICKS!

I do know what you are saying, OP, I do...

I am a fully paid up member of the breastfeeding mafia, to hear my mother talk....

I am still feeding DD2 (aged 2)....but she does indeed have an iron deficiency. Routine blood test revealed she is so low in iron, almost anaemic.

She eats everything (spinach, red meat etc) and yet, she is seriously low in iron.

So, zsomething is wrong.

And, I hate to fuel the fire of fury, but it does seem like jumping on the bandwagon of "the research is done by formula manufacturers / old / not thorough / merely a review of research, not new research / etc" is very like the arguments used to discredit the reseafrch which supports bfing.

Just saying.

Greythorne - this might help you feel better, it did me:
dianthus.co.uk/duration-of-exclusive-breastfeeding-and-risk-of-anaemia

dianthus.co.uk/duration-of-exclusive-breastfeeding-and-risk-of-anaemia

the unicef response was fantastic and included the very important and sorely lacking information that early cord cutting is responsible for a 33% decrease in iron stores in babies.

link half way down this page

has this fact been in any of the reporting?

of course not.

In the cold light of day, I still feel so irate, not about who feeds which baby what, but about how unbelievably twisted the reporting is of this. grrrrr.