Miriam Stoppard is an idiot who should not be allowed to spout this rubbish about bf

[50shadesofslapntickle]

Some of my La Leche League friends have just shown me this and I am totally surprised that this supposed 'doctor' can spout this crap in a national newspaper?!

www.mirror.co.uk/lifestyle/health/when-should-you-stop-breast-feeding-1259599

And then we discover she has links to Nestle... what a surprise...

boycottnestle.blogspot.co.uk/2008/02/nestle-panic-miriam-stoppard.html

Miriam Stoppard you should be ashamed of yourself for writing this totally innacurate rubbish.

6 months is great, especially if your expressing. I managed to express for less than 12 weeks and I thought that was great.

Ds1 was ff from the beginning and ds2 was bf for around 5 months. This time if I manage to bf I will try for a year, if I'm expressing I will try for 6 months. However long I manage it I will be pleased. Even if it's just for a week.

I expressed with ds3

Breastfeeding for 6 months is neither piddling (lovebunny) nor too long (Miriam Stoppard). But you would think someone who describes themselves as a counsellor would show a little more sensitivity than a a tabloid journalist in which capacity MS was acting when she wrote the article.

I feel so guilty, I breastfed my youngest till she was a year old, she was also carried in a sling often. I even picked her up and cuddled her when she cried. Now I'm left with a confident, happy 3 year old! I don't know how I'll fix the distress I've caused her! What a Pratt!

iggi777 - thank you for that comment. RachelWalsh also. i'm quite used to the 'kill lovebunny' approach of mumnetters -. some people just can't cope with anyone having an opinion other than their own (though to be fair, i think we're all on the same side in this one) and some people can't bear that i have an opinion at all. if you think you see any bullying, report it. there are some really unpleasant posters on mumsnet!

Oh dear - rw piddling amount. In the scheme of bf worldwide it is a short period BUT if you can bf until you put the baby in solids then at least you have protected their gut. Unless you wean on to wotsits and burgers!

I speculated one agenda of that bs article was to spark off another row about bf/ff - they are always successful

My friend has just told me she rang the mirror and complained (she is a bf councillor) and they basically sniggered at her and said it was miriam's opinion and they expressed surprise that it had caused a bit of outrage. She asked them if they had read the comments that come after the article they said no. She asked if they were going to apologise for their irresponsible article but they said it was miriam's column and again completely ignited the fact it was innacurate

What a charming paper

ignored not ignited!

When I had my first DC, I was given a MS pregnancy and baby book. I had my DD very young, in fact by 21 I had 3 DC's. I bf them all, but even with my first, having successfully bf DD to 6 months, I stopped the day after, because the book told me there were no benefits to continuing.

As the book made it clear 4 months was the usual time to stop bf, when I had DS1, I stopped at 4mo. Then with DS2 I stopped at 3mo, because I had to go on medication that is incompatible with bf.

Fast forward to DS3, I had found MN when DS2 was about 1yo, so a further 6-ish years down the line, I knew that it was beneficial to continue bf for much longer, and MS was talking shite. I fed him till just after a year, when I had to go back onto the meds.

Even now, I wish I had bf HIM for longer, never mind the older DC's.

For reference, I had my first DC in 1998, so following MS wasn't that outdated.

Well it's the Mirror what do you expect. The only breast they know about is page 3. Of course we all have an opinion, that kind of comment coming from a bf counsellor who sees women struggle to bf was a bit off the mark.

An interesting article! God forbid anyone should even suggest that many of the regularly spouted benefits of breast feeding are based on flimsy evidence at best. A link between two factors does not make it causal! m.guardian.co.uk/ms/p/gnm/op/sC9nZFoH7woJOI7nF8dg6uA/view.m?id=15&gid=lifeandstyle/2012/may/25/breastfeeding-backlash-zoe-williams&cat=lifeandstyle

Laikaloo - I see you are bak with that chip on your shoulder... However much you wish it were otherwise, breastmilk is far more beneficial to a growing baby/toddler than any other milk as guess what? It's desired for a baby's growth needs. Maybe you need to question why you are so defensive about this.

Really most of the things you attribute to breast feeding are nothing more than anecdotal.

Laikaloo she did not argue against the commonly accepted benefits of bf, she just ignored them - I think iron was the only one mentioned. I'm afraid I can't see her as a 'lone voice standing up against the bf mafia' if she is in receipt of payment from Nestle.

I think the point is that she reckons breast feeding is extreme. it is the norm and formula is an alternative for those to chose not to breast feed.

I mix fed. I chose to becasue I researched the benefits pf breast feeding then balance it against our families needs.

If I had read this first I may have decided not to breast feed and I think that is dodgy as.

The point is that when parents make decisions it needs to be based on well researched evidence, not bollocks like this article. What parents then chose to do is no body elses business. (unless you go doen the 'rights of the child' route....)

Also, my Dad used to develope chemicals that go into formula.

Not that he is anti formular, he reckoned it was a good thing to help parents who can;t feed get more benefits.

But he also said how amazing breast milk was and that if he could bottle is as a 'health product' he would be earning millions....

Mumble - it certainly would be a massive health product! I remember reading that Elton John would give his son expressed breast milk and there was another high profile gay couple (they have about six children) who did the same.

It's too early for me to make full sense of that article, but just skimming it, there is one good quote/point:

There are women for whom breastfeeding is a true pleasure. It's very good for them and it's very good for the baby. But to breastfeed a baby if the mother herself doesn't like it? It's a catastrophe. The decision to breastfeed is an intimate and private decision. No one should be able to interfere

It's not a catastrophe for the baby.

This talk about bf being "an intimate and private decision" makes it sound like it's something a bit unusual, rather than the default position it surely should be for most mothers.
(Note she's talking about the decision to bf, not whether or not you're able to do it once you've decided to try).

So Rachel do you think women should carry on bf then even if it's affecting their health? As it's not a catastrophe for the baby.

It's a personal thing, I have no idea why anyone gives a crap how other people choose to feed their babies.

I doubt very much anyone who is bf and enjoying it will stop at 4-6 months because of anything ms says.

It would have been a catastrophe for my^ baby if I had tried to continue breastfeeding any longer than I did, because I was starting to resent him for wanting to eat, and that is not a healthy way to feel about your baby. As much as we love and prioritise our babies (as we should), there needs to be a balance.

I adore my baby, He is without doubt, the best thing that has ever happened to me (even though he isn't keen on sleeping). I enjoy spending time with him and just watching him play and grow, and I honestly couldn't stand to be parted from him. When I was breastfeeding, this was not how I felt. Judge away, but I hated it. I hated the pressure of knowing it was all down to me, I felt (physically) gross - swollen boobs, leaking, fugly nursing bras etc. And every time he did his favourite trick of feeding for a good couple of hours on and off, then vomming the whole lot back up and demanding to be fed for hours again, I felt like launching him out a window. I hated feeling like that about him. I would not re-do those months for all the money in the world. I agonised over whether to keep going, or stop. Breastfeeding was detrimental to our relationship (DS and I). Yes, babies deserve the best start in life, but having a mum who dreads every single feed and resents you, is just not worth it.

I believe in women making an educated decision on what is right for them and their baby and their right not to be judged on this. It is important though that they have easy access to the correct information. This article contains incorrect information.
As for "no one should be able to interfere", well the article makes me feel that MS is interfering and judging me for feeding DS until 21mo.

The whole 6 months is a piddling amount thing is all relative. I remember when dd was a few days old and dh telling me that MIL had breastfed him to eight months. And snapping at him to stop setting up ridiculous standards and that I was just trying to carry on until the end of the day.

And when I had been breastfeeding for what seemed like forever (two whole weeks!) realising that I had only done 2 and had to do another 24 to get to six months.

But when I got to six months it seemed like it wasn't that long and I was happy to carry on so I did - hoping to get to a year.

In the end I fed for 2.3 years.

So now and in the context of dd 6 months doesn't seem that long. I wouldn't say piddling but is definitely on the shorter side in the context of my life experience. But then it seemed like forever. And if I have another child I will undoubtedly wonder if I can make it to 6 days, then 6 weeks, then 6 months.