To think the bf flash mob thing that is happening on Friday is a bit smug?

[Piggyleroux]

I bf my 15 mo ds and found bf quite straightforward from the off. I am aware that I was extremely lucky and I know a lot of women really struggle with it. I am also aware that bfing rates in this country are among the lowest in europe.

However, I think bfing needs to be normalised and I feel that this demonstration only serves to sensationalise bfing and imo, make the women taking part seem a bit smug and 'look at me' iyswim and just make people who ff feel even more shit.

Wouldnt it be better for bfing women to openly bf in public rather than do a mass gathering on one day? It really doesn't sit ring with me and I don't think that it will change attitudes or help women who really struggle with bfing.

Aibu?

Well then they should be able to choose to breastfeed en masse for whatever reasons they choose.

Lying, you've been spitting venom all over this thread, so the accusation doesn't sound like hyperbole to me.

And asking for "discretion" and complaining that people are "rubbing it in your face" while claiming not to have a problem with something is what bigots do when they don't want people to call them bigots.

Alpine....wow what insight.

To "remind people of the breasts primary purpose" .What an awful thing to say.

Sorry my breasts primary purpose are not to breast feed. They are my breasts and are part of my body to do as I wish with.I won't be told what any part of my body is for.It's mine and nobody else's.

I loathed bf so didn't do it for long,so basically my breasts are pointless according to the flash mob .How insulting.

Sorry but I don't define neither being a woman or a mother by wether or not I breast fed.How totally insulting.

And sorry but Melinder Messenger purleeeeease.

I FF all of mine and didn't and don't feel the slightest bit shit about it.

Bf'ing flashmob? meh.

crapola ok, here's an insight. Rather than a bunch of middle-class sahm's attention_seeking at a commuter station with the agenda which will be of interest to exactly nobody present, why don't these 'well-meaning' individuals take the sermon to the needy? Apparently women ff due to lack of awareness, raising awareness to the 'mn demographic' (we already know toots) is a waste of time, feel good exercise. Should they really want to raise awareness they'd be taking the message to the demographic which needs it, who are perhaps unlikely to read the 'terribly amusing' flashmob story in metro. Know your audience, go on Jeremy Kyle and bring the message to the masses.

Here Here Alpine

Here here again Alpine

Oh the activists are organising it, say no more. The t shirts are smug and cringeworthy

Gawd, more about BF................ Either you do it or you dont. I BF both of mine for nearly 6 months. Had a terrible time with DS2 but fed with nipple shields because I wanted to, not because I felt I had to. TBH if I have any more DC I may start with FF earlier cos as soon as I switched with DS2 he started to sleep through and is far more contented.

I'm not sure if you're aware of how 'awareness' works, but it seems to me everyone is discussing the 'flashmob'.

Who said they were middle class?

MilaMae hear hear, well said

could someone who supports this thing please address the point Alpine and I both made, that if this is really about helping women and not just showing off, then why Paddington and not someplace more relevant?

Errr define "everybody".

Well Mila....you are.

showing off....what by the perfectly natural activity of bfing.... ffs.

Crapola, do you honestly think anyone reading this thread needs to be made aware of breastfeeding?

FFS people are aware, what's needed is more support

I'm not "everybody" Crapola.

:o :o :o

@ "I won't be told what any part of my body is for, it's mine and nobody else's"

Whatever you do, stay away from GCSE biology classes - you'll be furious!

Is this the latest "feminism is about choice" piece of codology? Women get to "choose" what their body parts are for?

"How dare you suggest my legs are for walking. They are my legs. I use them for playing chess."

:o

Classic

I assume that people will talk about the flashmob in the same manner as here, especially because it's at Paddington./

Exactly Dreaming. The vast majority of women start off BF,they give up due to lack of support.

Oh yes, it's perfectly natural to go to Paddington for the express purpose of breastfeeding. It's so clean and comfortable!

"Everyone" is discussing the flashmob?

Really? Or is it just the initiated, the largely middle class mums on MN and their ilk? Because they're not discussing it in the workshop of my best friend's motor car dealership. None of my businness associates have raised it neither have my friends. It's unlikely to be a topic of conversation at the school gate on the edge of a housing estate either if we're honest.

Alien, you made me giggle re the organisation of a politically chrarged event, Alpine, good point about knowing your audience.

What's more, can someone tell me please what another woman's choice has to do with them?

I can see the desire to make BF more socially acceptable so that BF women aren't insulted/frowned upon. I could even see the desire from a health POV if we were in a third world country and not the UK. In this country it's been proven that millions of children have been safely and successfully raised on formula.

If the flash mob is purely for the first reason, than all power to them. I think that it would have the completely opposite outcome to the desired one but hey, if that's what you want to do and what you think will change a hostile attitude to BF-ers, fine by me.

If however the plan is to convince other women to BF - WTF has it to do with anyone else? What next - a flashmob of people pouring Fruit Shoots down the drain because a certain sector of society doesn't approve of them?

You can breastfeed in places that are dirty and uncomfortable.

And it's natural to breastfeed wherever you happen to be.

I can't believe it got to three pages before someone pointed out it's part of breastfeeding awareness week. There were picnics all over the country this weekend with women sitting around feeding their babies but no one has mentioned that or called them smug. Just like to point out the purpose of the picnics is to call for English law to protect caregivers feeding a baby - not mothers breastfeeding, Nanny with a bottle too - are we being smug trying to call for protection for all babies? The awareness raising isn't about making people breastfeed but about making people aware of how exposed you are when feeding your baby and that we're feeding our babies not trying to upset the nearest bystander.

If I wasn't in hospital I'd have been at a picnic on Saturday and probably be going on Friday too.

Support isn't good for breastfeeding if it was the drop off rate would be better. I'm fortunate (although not feeling it at the moment nearly a month in hospital!) I'm in a ward who's main purpose is to support breastfeeding and I'll be here until we're established (11 days so far) when I'm finding it hard in the night a midwife or nurse will sit with me for as long as I need. Many of them are or training to be BFC. With my eldest after I went home and the community team from this ward discharged us my HV was a nightmare! She ended up pushing me onto formula top ups even though on the paediatricians personalised chart she was perfect weight. With the middle child I moved in with my parents to escape her but she was still a problem and has had a lasting effect - she's put a child protection warning on the GP's computer for failure to thrive when I refused to top up, as I said the paediatrician said she was exactly the right size.

I'm not unusual, if you happen to be under a good hospital the community support isn't always good. It takes too much time that they don't usually have to give let alone the skills to support it.

As someone who does take an interest in breastfeeding it's not current parents that interests me nor swaying people from their personal choice. What interests me is that women have informed and supported choice, whatever that choice is.

She yes but my point is, it's hardly natural to purposefully go somewhere dirty and uncomfortable just to breastfeed.