To loathe the breastfeeding posters in my Maternity Ward?

[ThinkIveBeenHacked]

Breast milk is best for baby. Most if not all women know this, and I really dont take umbridge with the posters that point this out - just to clarify.

I bfd dd for three days before beginning to dread every feed and switched to ff. I know people who have bfd all the way through, ffd all the way through and who have successfully mix fed. Baby gets milk - that is the aim. Regardless.

However there are some posters in amongst the more sensible ones which really are imo awful and will just make anyone who cant or doesnt want to bf probably feel a bit like shit at a time when they need it least:

"This mum knows best"
"This mum has made the right choice"

So anyone who doesnt bf doesnt know best or has made the wrong choice?

Even if they said "this mum has made the right choice for her and her baby" or "this mum knows breast is best" would be more palatable.

AIBU to find these posters simply too judgemental?

Bloody hell, did NHS money pay for that poster? That is appalling.

I think the inferred message is:

'Are you young, vain and a bit stupid? Are you worried your bloke won't fancy you if you are squirting milk in his eye every time he gets jiggy with you? Or it is because you don't want your tits to go all saggy and wrinkly and lop-sided like those tribal women in National Geographic magazine? Don't worry! We don't have any useful kind of solution to either of those deeply shallow concerns, but we are going to try and patronise you into BFing anyway!'

Also, whose stomach looks like that after giving birth? Way to make a new mum feel bad about herself!

Heels, the hip young sexy breastfeeeding mums whose men can't get enough of them have stomachs like that, duh!

I've never seen any posters like this. If you don't want to BF, don't. No-one is forcing you.

Oh my word that boob one takes the preverbial. Mine seem tame in comparison!

The boobs poster is almost making it look like they're saying "you can do both your feeding and shagging at the same time."

Gah if only I had breast fed my twins instead of them being tube fed expressed milk in the nicu, I could have had that stomach. Minus c section scar.

It also says to me, never mind that you are sore, tired, bleeding, ruptured/sliced open/ stitched up...what about your man and his boob needs?

Someone post it on the feminist thread....

revealall are you saying you can't see the problem with guilting women into breastfeeding?

How about the guilt becoming PND when you try and fail but still have to deal with these posters?

YANBU. There are similar ones in our GP's waiting room too.

Most posters are fine, giving information, help etc. Some really do overstep the mark though. No-one should be making a new mum feel like shit for using formula - whatever the reason.

And that boob one? WTH? Because every new mum's priority is having her man grabbing her swollen, painful, lactating breasts isn't it? Fabulous .

Good God, to me that poster reads 'your man will love your new massive norks, don't be selfish and let them deflate'.

tether. That poster is beyond idiotic!

Op. I agree with you regarding the guilt tripping women. I thnk women should be supported i making the right choice for them and their families. But, these threads unfortunately always end the same.. Prepare yourself for the Breastgapo!

So what about all those women who desperately want to bf but can't for whatever reason? I am in the process of making a formal complaint to my NHS trust about the bfing propaganda they provided with my maternity notes. Before anyone jumps in i mixfed my son after trying various galactologues, pumping and taking domperidone for over 6 months to no avail.

YANBU. It's a crude, ill conceived, counter-productive piece of marketing.

The nhs is doing a great job in hyping up the emotions around bf, leading to intense feelings of guilt if it doesn't work out. At the same time, the support isn't there if things get difficult and then they're very quick to suggest a switch to formula.

The emotions around bf are very complex. They don't seem to understand that and these posters are making many women feel like failures while doing v little to encourage bf take up

Tethersend, that is ewwww, what a nasty poster

That poster

Fun for all the family!

talking about fun for all the family, there was a bit in a Womans weekly of a family who breastfed from the woman. The father liked a bit, so did the 9 year old and the 4 year old, and of course the baby

The bond with your man poster isn't an official BF poster from the NHS or otherwise. It was done for a student competition.

OMG - my DH would run for the hills if I asked him if he wanted a little bit of milk

Interesting aero imagine how much money you'd save as a household

Errrrmmm that's not an NHS poster

Tondelayo, it was up in the hospital where I had all my midwife appointments and is still there now afaik

I should bloody well hope not TheXxed

Who would have funded it then, and why do they get to put up their propaganda in a maternity ward?

I just put 'breast feeding posters' into Google and looked at the first 20 or so that it came up with and some of them were