Bargin Booze advertising a specific brand of infant Formula

[Beatrixemerald]

Totally expecting a flaming here buty local Bargain Booze is advertising Cow and Gate formula on a sandwich board outside, if nothing else it is illegal, but I also think I should probably mind my own business but it gets on my nerves. Think they should probably stick to booze. WIBU to say something to them?

BF can be horrendous and lonely and upsetting. but it is so very much easier if you can get past that. I had about 6 weeks of agony and misery until tongue tie was finally properly sorted for dd2. I think it would have been a lot sooner if they still trained midwives to check for it, but they don't (is this related to BF decline? as easier to bottle feed if tongue tied i think?)

does mean I just co-slept and got a lot more sleep than i would have done had i been getting up to do bottles in the night, and never have to sterilise a thing or bring anything except my boobs when going out.

i did have to work damn hard at it though, and guilt did stop me from giving up, mainly guilt over feeding dd1 fairly easily

Hamil, yo say "No amount of support is going to really help with supply issues, over supply issues, mastisis etc"

Simply not true. Sometimes, those problems are huge, sometimes they have gone beyond a quick fix, sometimes they are overwhelming for the mother....but in most cases, a knowledgable person, offering the right sort of support, ie proper help, can help a mother cope just fine with them. These are issues which should not be seen as inevitably too difficult. They can often be resolved really quite quickly.

The other things you describe - pressure and despair at the frequent feeding and the overnight leaking - are difficult, and for some women, they are deal breakers.

But not for everyone - as you acknowledge. For most women, they are short-lived issues.

It is up to the mother to decide where her particular line is.

Is it illegal for Midwives to warn mothers-to-be about the possible 6 weeks of complete misery and agony? It's a very common thing.

had great support from health visitors, bf clinic at sure start, private midwife, nct lactation consultants and friends who had 'been there', dunno what i would have done without all that.

i think if midwives told you about all the shit stuff no one would ever have babies!

I am admittedly out of date, I had DS1 in 1999. For all I know the midwives at ante natal do tell the truth about BF now.

6 weeks of agony is not a common thing - I mean, it's not unusual, but it's far from the majority experience.

How do we know this?

By reading the UK Infant feeding surveys.

I had DS last autumn Sparkling and mine painted a very rosy picture of bf. Didn't see a HV until DS was 5 months old either! I imagine a lot depends on the hospital / midwife / area though

From what I have read on MN there is a lot of 'getting over the six week mark' talked about.

Abbey, they tell you what the birth might be like but not the weeks following it I guess.

I thought they should have got the parents of a 6 week old into ante natal classes to tell us what it was really like..

Sparkling pregnant woman are usually always welcome to attend breastfeeding support groups.

Do they get asked to? Sounds like a good thing, but maybe not offered in 1999.

No. they don't get asked. Many of the groups are run by charities- it would be impossible to invite every pregnant woman, and I think a little intrusive.
It's up to the individual woman to do the research or ask her midwife if she is interested.

Sounds like a positive step anyway.

I attended a breastfeeding support group while I was pregnant with my first in 1996. My yoga for pregnancy teacher suggested it, and local breastfeeding groups did advertise as much as they could on limited budgets, informed midwives etc.

I never had any suggestions like that. 6 weeks of ante natal classes of which I could only make it to 4 and that was that. But i worked full time miles away so it wasn't conducive to attending classes.

That said it wouldn't have helped me with BF.

It all seems like a very long time ago, I hope things are better now in this area.

weeks of agony is not a common thing - I mean, it's not unusual, but it's far from the majority experience.

Then what do you suggest is the reason for the huge amounts of women who stop after the initial few weeks?

I just still don't see why we should be pushing one on women and hiding the benefits of the other.

I have read 'if you can get to 6 weeks' so many times on MN.

There is a problem in painting too black a picture of breastfeeding to pregnant woman though- and even though attending groups may be useful these groups tend to have an unusually high proportion of women with problems ( not surprisingly). Women who find breastfeeding easy tend not to come to support groups.

It;s about getting the balance right. Women need to be aware of potential problems so they are prepared and seek help, but if we tell woman breastfeeding that breastfeeding is a painful nightmare then they may persevere thinking that things are fine, when in fact they are in need of help.

The vast majority of breastfeeding problems can be resolved, and the earlier the support the easier and faster the resolution.

Yeah, the antenatal classes I went to (NHS) were focused on labour and birth itself. They did cover bf but mainly why it was a good thing, benefits, etc. I don't remember any mention of possible difficulties or techniques, although I guess it's hard to learn many of these things until you've got an actual baby.
I must say there were some NHS bf classes that I didn't make it to as I'd given birth before them. So they might've been useful, who knows? As 1 in 10 babies are premature if the NHS are going to insist on women going to these classes at 35 weeks plus (or maybe that was just my hospital's policy, but I couldn't book before then) they should perhaps have someone come round and talk to those of us that missed out. They'd know who was interested as my name and hospital number was booked for the session. Anyway that's my personal bug bear that has nothing to do with bargain booze etc really, sorry!

I think women should be told that BF can be a painful nightmare. Or it could be a walk in the park. But unfortunately until you give it a go you don't know which one it will be.

Yes I agree- but with the right support there is a higher chance of it being a walk in the park.
Most women can have a good breastfeeding experience.

My ship has sailed BF wise. I had all but forgotten about it until I joined MN 3 years ago.
The older the DC got the less it mattered, but at the time it seemed like a huge deal.

and coming across as yet another interfering breastfeeding sanctimonious Internet bore.

And a lot of people are coming across as ignorant and unable to read.