To be a bit shocked that people are still weaning their babies really early?

[bumbleymummy]

I'm not talking about within a few weeks of 6 months and I know that some babies with reflux are weaned a bit earlier under the guidance of a paediatrician - I'm talking 3 week olds being given bottles of baby rice/rusks because they're big/hungry/whatever. I just can't believe that some people still think this is ok and will argue about how milk just wasn't enough for their baby at that age

There's clearly a lot at play MrB. I live in France where schedule ff and purees are the norm yet obesity, though rising, is not as high as the UK.

LeBFG I totally agree with your post further down 100%.

Firmly believe how you are taught to eat and the example set by parents is the key.

My mother was v strict re 3 balanced healthy meals a day,little snacking but odd treats such as Friday sweets and chips now and again were no big deal.Normal portions.

When I went to uni I completely replicated what I'd been taught and I carry it on now with my dc.I was weaned very early as I said as was the 60s style.

When I was teaching sadly the over weight kids had over weight parents sending lunch boxes full to bursting with shite doing buggar all exercise.It isn't rocket science.

Is ff the norm in France? I would imagine they would bf effortlessly in cafes and it would be yet another thing they are better at than us

I don't think I've ever seen a woman breastfeed in public in France, bigkidsdidit

Maybe they're just so good at it I've just not noticed though

The pediculture (sp?) aisles in French supermarkets are quite different from the baby aisles in British supermarkets, I know that much.

Puericulture I meant. Feck knows was pediculture is.

I got a B in my French GCSE btw

Yeah, no they don't bf. As far as I can tell this dates back to feminist action to get more women back to work . Odd really, as they are also famously hypochondriacs. You would have thought all the allergy talk would have meant bf-en-mass. But there. They don't.

as an aside - I wondered about french attitudes to bfing earlier this year when we were on hols (not in france btw) and surrounded by french groups. They looked disgusted that i was bfing 7mo ds. One who spoke English asked me, with barely disguised disgust, when i was planning to stop and how old ds was (in a sneery 'isn't he too old for that' way) and was . In front of me she walked back to a group of other french people and translated what i'd said while they looked over shaking their heads and tutting. I was really surprised.

Isn't the attitude in France that women should get their bodies back in shape for their husbands as soon as possible after birth? Breastfeeding would presumably be frowned on as breasts are for the husband, and also breastfeeding encourages sitting around all day eating cake.

Won't be moving to France then!

Yes, there were a few 'poor husband' looks and i was asked if it was normal in the UK to do it for so long. And an implication that poor DH would be suffering. I actually found it quite funny.

Especially because the spanish were the other way and kept staring fondly at my tits while ds was feeding and standing really close and saying 'beautiful' to my norks a lot. Loads of waiters stopped to tell me their dw's bf'd till their babies were 2-3yo. So on one side i would have these really well meaning intrusive people and on the other side people looking like they'd just bitten an unripe lemon.

I dared not tell them we co-sleep. Think of all those French people having a whip round for a prossie fund for poor DH not having access to my boobs AND fanny at all times

My Spanish friends were very ambivalent about bf too but thu were Basque mostly so perhaps it is different there

Oh god, I really shouldn't have called them Spanish

Ah, see I've never thought it was about men. I thought it was about the woman getting her body back for her. I remember feeling how I imagined mother cats feel when they start batting their kittens away, when breastfeeding is a (nice) habit rather than anything approaching a necessity and I wanted my tits back.

bigkids

I weaned my dd just before 6m and people thought I was strange waiting until then and that I should have started at 4m because that's what the jars say

I felt the same, I bf till 6 months then stopped with relief. I think extended bf is a wonderful thing but not for me, I couldn't bear being touched all the time any longer. I'm hugely proud I got that far, tbh

ds self weaned at 8mo and i miss it so much. i always preferred it to him i think :( i think pregnancy and bfing have been the happiest times of my life.

I have a french friend who thinks that when she bf until 4m it was extended bf .

MrsK - you'll have to try it all again with a second

I can't wait