To think it will all kick off on here after this is aired?

[MsScarlett]

My mum just texted me to say that tomorrow there is a documentary on BBC3 at 9pm called, "Is Breast Best?".

I predict a bunfight!

MorrisZapp, please don't equate breastfeeding with "living hell"! I have a very nice life and I manage to breastfeed!

bristolcities - the research controls for these factors.

That's how it works.

MarianneM... I can't imagine that any mother who wants to BF would be in the slightest bit influenced by anything a formula manufacturer could put on the TV. With the best will in the world, there is NOTHING that could make a woman who wanted to BF choose FF. Do you think otherwise?

FWIW I do believe formula advertising should be banned! I serves no useful purpose.

OLG - Discussion of FF within a group could be seen as 'promotion' and is not allowed in an antenatal course (either NCT or NHS) - although could be discussed one-to-one.

I loved breastfeeding my second and sobbed when I had to stop. It can be a very enjoyable experience, not necessarily a 'living hell' though it is also painful at times. I think it's wrong to pitch breastfeeding as a 'sacrifice' and FF as easier, FF isn't that easy with all the bottles, sterilising, crying whilst they are heating up/cooling down (I've done both).

LyingWitch - the infant feeding surveys held every 5 years in the UK describe how 90 per cent of the women who started off breastfeeding and who stop before their baby is aged 6 weeks wished they could have continued to breastfeed. They did not want to stop. There are, in fact, many ways a mother who wanted to breastfeed ends up making the switch - against their wishes to bf.

The decision to stop is often a result of not getting the right help or information at a time soon enough to stop a small problem becoming a bigger one.

So it's not always the same as being 'persuaded' to switch - though I have seen actual persuasion happen many times.

But wanting to breastfeed, even desperately wanting to breastfeed, is not a guarentee you will manage it. To say no one who wants to bf will ff is a cruel unkindness to women who tried their utmost to bf and found it was a painful and unrewarding experience - are you going to tell them they did not really want to bf? What do you think they might say?

TikTok... Now you missed a key word from my post... I said choose. Nobody who wants to breastfeed would choose to formula feed. Does that put a different slant on what I said? I would never criticise or judge a woman for whatever method she used to feed her child. I'm of the view that it's simply nobody elses' business.

Are you saying that there is no support for women who want to BF? That if they struggle with it, there is nobody available to help them? If that's the case then I will happily and vigorously campaign for HV/midwife/GP/whatever help to enable mothers to continue feeding in the way that they want.

It's the judgement I can't stomach, not the method of feeding.

I can't imagine that any mother who wants to BF would be in the slightest bit influenced by anything a formula manufacturer could put on the TV. With the best will in the world, there is NOTHING that could make a woman who wanted to BF choose FF. Do you think otherwise?

LyingWitch - yes I do, and I think you are very naive to think otherwise. Do you think £££ was spent on formula advertising if "any mother who wants to BF would be in the slightest bit influenced by anything a formula manufacturer could put on the TV"? Also what tiktok said.

MarianneM... I understand the power of advertising. Is there anything an advertiser could have done to prevent you from breastfeeding? Any inducement they could have offered you to get you to switch, hmm? If not, then why do you think another woman would be less committed to BF'ing than you are?

TV advertising is a massive industry, no doubt but, when people have their minds fixed to or against something, I do not believe the advertisers have a captive audience and something else needs to switch or change the mind of the recipient on to being receptive to the product.

somethings gotta offset their human sacrifice lying - the bf crew just dont get that u can get yr figure back, look great +smell normal + keep dp/dh smiling + relieved hes got his girl back . So just play along n tell em u know theyre Mother Superior + let them get back to smearing thrush cream where the sun dont shine (sexy !)

LyingWitch - I understood what you said. I think mothers are choosing to formula feed when they started off breastfeeding, and I don't think any more than a few of them are actively persuaded to do so ....I was making the more subtle point that women are switching to formula but the study shows that 90 per cent of them who do so in the first 6 weeks wish they could have continued - so of course they are choosing, but with regret. I ask again, would you say to these women 'you can't have really wanted to breastfeed, otherwise you would not have chosen to ff'? And what do you think they would say?

And formula advertising does play a part in this - not in terms of bludgeoning people round the head and 'making' them change their minds, but in shaping attitudes to formula as something always benign, always problem free, always normal.

LaVrai, I don't understand - are you saying that BF mothers don't look great or smell normal? Or don't have sex?

??

Further point: why should women have to be 100 per cent committed to bf in order to do it? Why should they have to be hugely motivated and determined? Breastfeeding should be for everyone - even the ones who are not that bothered either way! Enabling breastfeeding and protecting the choice to breastfeed means just this - so it becomes something that for most women is just a nice, easy thing to do.

(LaVrai is a troll and pops up on bf threads with stupid comments. Please don't feed the troll by responding)

Boys the clues in the name - je parle la verite que l'on n'ose pas

bisous x

LyingWitch - but how many women have their minds "fixed" on breastfeeding? I for one didn't, I didn't know anything about babies or breastfeeding before I had DD1, and have always had issues with body confidence, and could have been captive audience to the formula advertising, but...I haven't had a telly for years so didn't see any

When I had DD1 I just felt it was natural to BF her and I didn't give a damn who saw me feeding her (very inhibited otherwise). It really happened very naturally and I was guided by my instincts. No bombarding from anywhere.

as a teen mum (had ds1 @ 17) there was an awful lot of pressure for me to bf, eventually i told the dozy cow midwife that as i was planning to ff it was none of her business how my boobs felt, and from there on in was treated awfully by all hospital staff, as if ff was going to kill my baby, i now have healthy ds1, ds2 and dd, all ff and healthy, it was my personal choice to do this and mil did stick her nose out of joint for several days, dp had a chance to bond with all 3 dc by sharing the night feeds like he had a choice
will be interesting to see just how bbc portray young mums in this!

i must add... i have no problem with bf... just my personal choice not to!!

'i join most threads to have a snigger not just bf/ff..and believe me there is plenty here to raise a chuckle. can just smell the indignation and hear the rise of hackles'

What about the urge to get a very sharp knife and cut your self so you die a very slow painful death as punishment for being a complete failure at breast feeding. Do you enjoy that too? This is how I feel every time I read these threads. My fucking useless pathetic body never produced more than a few drops. Just trying to get dd to latch on took over an hour. Tried expressing to get started (after 5 days of a starving and now becoming dehydrated baby but nothing came out. There is a not a day goes by that the guilt doesn't eat me up. There are people who still cast up my pathetic failure with me being a shitty, fuckwitted excuse for a human being. I will never get over it.

:( :( xstitch.

That's extreme. Hope you are able to get help with these feelings....horrible to feel that way.

Tiktok... I actually wouldn't say anything to them at all, it is their decision to choose the method of feeding. It is a choice, difficult though it may be in a lot of cases.

I don't necessarily believe the statistics of 90% without the backing information. What does that 90% consist of? What were the reasons for them to stop BF'ing? Did they seek help/advice/guidance in the event of the reason to stop being difficulty in actual feeding? I don't expect an answer to the questions, they're just ones that popped into my head. I suspect that if there are judgement/work-related issues, this is something that could do with some rational and non-screechy discussion with employers.

I agree with you that every woman should be able to breastfeed if she wants to and there should be as much help and support as necessary to enable those that want to do it/continue with it.

No amount of miracles are going to suddenly make my boobs work. My dd isn't fat btw and despite claims to the contrary by many I love her very much and want the best for her. I am just a pathetic failure at achieving that.

What x-stitch said... all of it, that's the damage that's caused by the feeding judgers... and they have absolutely no right to do that.

I'm absolutely pro-choice for women to feed as they will, as long as the baby is fed that is sufficient, it really is.