Is breastfeeding “weird”

[Sunnyx]

I totally don’t think it is and I ebf my 5 month old but apparently only 1% of women breastfeed by 6 months.

I guess I just worry what people think too much. Apart from breastfeeding groups, I kind of feel like the odd one one and a bit awkward when breastfeeding around other bottle feeding mums.

I never really know what to do...when I’m in the company of my family/extended family I feel awkward feeding in their presence but then I think why should I go to another room. I worry that people think it’s ‘odd’ to breastfeed as it feels quite rare to find other mums who do.

What are people’s opinions?

The trick is to remember that you're not doing anything indecent or inappropriate that needs to be hidden away. If anyone else does think like that then it is down to their own hang ups and prejudices.

I don't think it's at all weird. The exact opposite in fact.
What I do find bizarre is grown adults in cafes/restaurants drinking cow's breast milk whilst judging a mum for breast feeding.
Social conditioning at it's finest! 😉

Literally the only people I know who bottle feed are the ones who can't breast feed whether it is because of a lack of milk supply, nipple rejection or, going back to work. It's very much a case of breastfeeding is the default position and you only bottle feed if you have a reason to.

Also I've breastfed two babies up to just under two years old in public and never had negative comments/attention. Most people don't even notice, of the Ines who notice most don't care.

I think the 1% thing is misleading as well because afaik it only includes babies who have been literally exclusively bf right up to 26 weeks. So mine don't count because I started weaning them onto solids around 24 weeks even though nothing but breastmilk had passed their lips till then. And lots of women mostly bf but also give the odd bottle of formula.

I EBF all of mine for 6 months as have several of my friends. I don't believe that this 1% figure is correct.

I do think a lot of people give there babies food much earlier than 6 months which would mean they were no longer ebf. My friends thought it was madness I hadn't given my 3 month old food! (she's now 5 months and hasn't had any)

Some people may think it's weird because they don't think of bf as the 'norm'. And it isn't in the UK, we have the lowest rates in the world. But that is entirely their problem. I do understand feeling nervous when out and about and in front of male family members, I feel more and more nervous the older my breastfed daughter gets (she's over two now), as some people think it's 'ok' up to a certain age then 'weird' after that. But as others have said, their opinion should not affect my choice to do what I like with my baby and my body.

The 1% figure is ridiculous and surely is detrimental to breastfeeding, as it gives the impression that breastfeeding is rarer than it is. OP is an example of this - hears that only 1% EBF at six months and starts to worry she's in an extreme minority to still be feeding her 5 month old (not a criticism OP - the figures are nowhere near clear enough). I often think that the authorities in this country really are going about promoting BF in the wrong way.

I've bf all 4 of my DC for a minimum of 11 months each but 3 of them wouldn't have counted in the 1% statistic as I had started to introduce solids by then, as did list of my friends. So the true number of mothers still bf at 6 months is quite a bit higher than that. Not seen as unusual where I am at all - and this isn't a posh wealthy area either.

Maybe I'm lucky, but I've never been made to feel weird about it. I've even had two (older) ladies come up to me in public on separate occasions and tell me how lovely it is to see a mother breastfeeding. I've never bothered trying to find a 'discreet' corner of a cafe, either - I just pick whichever seat looks the most comfy! I use nursing tops and nursing bras, and really, the amount of flesh that ends up on show is minimal. At home and with family, my MIL breastfed and has been supportive, and as a result I feel totally comfortable feeding in front of relatives.

Please don't worry about what people think! Just do what you think is right for you and your baby. And also - by feeding in front of people, you're helping to make it more 'normal' for the next people in your social circle who have a baby :)

I breastfed my oldest until he was 18 months old; my second decided he did not want to feed after a year. I fed them everywhere, I covered up around some people but not others,my DH's best friend caught an eyeful one day but really I was so not upset!

I don’t think it’s weird that other people do it but it isn’t my cup of tea, the thought freaks me out a bit if I’m honest. Fortunately I have one child who is 5 and couldn’t bf anyway because he was early. We won’t be having anymore so the fact that the thought makes me feel a bit sick is irrelevant.
These days I think it’s so long ago I wonder why I gave it any thought at all!

I agree with the pp who said it's biologically weird - there were definitely times when I was feeding ds and suddenly felt extremely confused, for want of a better word, by how on Earth this was all working, and how I was making milk for my child and, well, I was sleep deprived, what can I say?!

However - socially, around here breastfeeding seems to be the norm. Maybe it's the groups I went to or something, but lots and lots of women breastfed and no one batted an eyelid. Equally, plenty of women formula fed too and nobody turned a hair at that, either.

It's certainly not in any way weird to EBF for as long as it's working for baby & you but, although it's working well for you, it's not very easy for lots of other mums.

I was all set to EBF DD1 b/c my mother had done that with me and my sister. But, in the event, it didn't work well for either of us. So it was about 60% BF and 40% formula for her with added solids at 5-6mos. I carried on with at least one BF per day until DD1 was over 12mos. It was always a labour of love.

Now that you've had one yourself, you'll know that 'every baby is different' and mums got to take it as it comes. In my post-natal group of 10 or so, v. few were EBF and in my original NCT group of 6, only two babies were.

In contrast, EBF worked perfectly for DD2 - it was that amazing experience all the BF cheerleaders tout - and she never used a bottle at all. Even though I expressed and tried giving her bottles for my convenience, she refused. I started adding in solids at about 5 - 6mos. which she loved.

Plus, HVs encourage weaning as soon as babies might be ready. With DD2, who was EBF at first (see above), the HV suggested starting solids but b/c we were going on holiday abroad and then I had an unexpected visit to my home country, I opted not to mess with rice cereal, etc. until we had returned. But as soon as we were settled again, I started introducing food. As with DD1, I BF at least once a day until she was over a year. At the end it was just a comfort thing and b/c she had teeth (!) it wasn't that comfortable for me.

I breastfeed out and about a lot. In the first few weeks I was always nervous that someone would say something nasty because I'd read (mostly on MN!) that this happens. In fact I've never had anyone say anything negative and I've often had older ladies coming up to me saying how marvellous it is that I'm breastfeeding, telling me about their own (now grown up) children, and what a great start I'm giving DS. I enjoy feeding him anyway, but it makes me feel even more warm and fluffy when that happens! Good on you for continuing.

Of course it's not weird.

Actually, before I was pregnant I naively assumed that most women BF... And even thought 'bottle feeding' meant that the mothers expressed their milk and fed using a bottle. Yes, I was completely and utterly clueless
Am just over 37 weeks pregnant now and obviously know much more since having many midwife appointments and reading many many bf related threads on mn!

I am planning to BF myself but will never ever judge another woman's choice to do whatever feels is best for her and her baby.

I hated it, I put my son on the bottle after two weeks and my daughter after a day. They thrived on the bottle and I was so glad.

Also, there was a news article recently that only 1 in 200 British babies are receiving ANY breastfeeding at 12 months. That's just 0.5%! So even if the stats are a bit misleading for 6 months, there's definitely a massive drop-off by 12 months.

Here's a link to the most recent stats:

www.unicef.org.uk/babyfriendly/what-is-baby-friendly/breastfeeding-in-the-uk/breastfeeding-rates-in-the-uk/

It's based on the Infant Feeding Survey, a regular 5 yearly survey into feeding the last of which was in 2010. There was supposed to be one in 2015 but the govt cancelled it :-(

You can see that the rate of "any breastfeeding at all" at 6 months is actually 34% which is a big difference to the 1% figure of exclusively breastfeeding.

Most of my friends quit breastfeeding before six months because they were unhappy about it or the baby lost too much weight or mastitis was too bad or siblings cost too much attention or mum needed medication that crosses over into milk yaddaa yaddaa yadda. There are a million reasons to stop breastfeeding and that's fine. If it works for you to carry on then that's fine too!

I haven't bf any of my four dc. Do I think it's weird? No not all!. I think it's one of the most beautiful things ever and nobody should make you feel any different.

I decided not to breastfeed purely because I'm a complete wuss and I heard people talking about mastitis andnit just put me off. I wish I'd have been brace enough to do it and if I had I'd have done it with pride.

How can it be weird?

I’d say if people think it’s ‘weird’, it’s their response that needs problematising, not the act of breastfeeding itself

I need to ask what ‘ebf’ is. In my day it was expressed the e stood for. Is it still that?

With DS1 I forced him to stop BF at 15m. I was young and told I had to. With DS2 I was over a decade older and wiser. He stopped at 4 years when I was expecting DS3 who is 2 now and showing no signs of stopping.