To believe that formula companies have PR agents working the BF/FF threads on here?

[CocoDeMoll]

They are a multi million pound set of companies that are invested in keeping Britain’s low breastfeeding rates down and keeping their profit margins up.

Any positives about breastfeeding seem to be shot down in flames on here.

So much pro formula and anti breastfeeding rhetoric.

They can easily afford to and have the best at the jobs be it lawyers, pr teams or spin doctors on their sides and they’re not exactly renounced for their ethics are they (nestle?!?!).

Or am I just getting a bit tied up in conspiracy therorys?

Bump!

Conspiracy theory!

I see a full range of stories about breastfeeding on here. All sides of the debate are represented.

I think it's quite judgmental for you to think that positive FF stories must come from companies when for many women FF is the best or only possible choice for them.

I don’t think I’ve seen positives of bf being shot down. I’ve sent women saying that ff doesn’t make you a bad mother and doesn’t doom your child to I’ll health and under achievement.
I don’t work in PR. I’d eat earn lot more if I did.

Anti-breastfeeding rhetoric? Where?

Most likely. 18 years ago, my team was on message boards posing as ordinary posters refuting or correcting info regarding news stories about the company I worked for at the time. So the idea that businesses aren’t all over the main message boards is naive at best.

I've seen a good range of both sides on here, more than you see in real life tbh...

Any positives about breastfeeding seem to be shot down in flames on here.

Huh?

Are you reading the same Mumsnet as me?

I agree. Mumsnet is very anti breastfeeding

Lol as if it is.

I don’t think it’s that its anti-breastfeeding, more that it is pro-choice for want of a better phrase. By that I mean it doesn’t buy into the idea that you MUST breastfeed and it’s not a crime to say no, this isn’t for me.

I have wondered this myself, there are a few posters who seem to be peculiarly pro formula promotion and anti breastfeeding, despite claiming to have breastfed themselves and hated every second of it. I do wonder why anyone would do this and be so insistent on claiming what a miracle product formula is? I’ve also noticed a few pro formula comments in the past that seem very contrived. They didn’t seem the sort of thing a real person without an ulterior motive would write.

I’ve also seen bloggers and igers with relatively small followings promoting formulas, so I really would put it past them to infiltrate the largest parenting website.

Mumsnet seems very pro breastfeeding to me. It's just that some posters recognise that for some families formula feeding is the best choice.

I breastfed, I hated it, am pro formula as it helped me out.

I am not at all anti breastfeeding and fully support and respect other mums who do it.

The issue is, that support and respect doesn't go both ways, we must be plants by the formula companies. This is why FF mums are so defensive when it comes to this topic.

In my experience, Mumsnet is full of people who are very pro-BF and who go out of their way to belittle anyone who FFs - either by choice or through necessity. It makes me mad, as I'm very pro-choice. A happy mother = a happy baby. There are a lot of positives to FF which are never discussed.

Paranoia dear the formula companies don't need to do that. They have already laid the groundwork. The majority of British women use formula, so are emotionally invested in downplaying the importance of breastfeeding, and predisposed to be resentful of women who have successfully breastfed and advocate it as they take it as a judgment on themselves cough it bloody isn't cough

The problem is deeply culturally entrenched, there's no need for corporate sock puppets!

I’m pro formula ( although certainly not anti bf) and I think support should be given to women who choose to ff.
Nestle - where’s me money?

ennirem ah your probably right! I’ll take my tinfoil hot off!

YANBU, this site would definitely be their primary target. One just needs to read through the recent aptamil complain thread. Thread was full of 'mums' doing damage control.

Thread was full of 'mums' doing damage control.

Bet it was

filzma I put the tin foil hat back on now

Do you know, two phrases that wind me up right now, which obviously seem very "common sense" to a lot of people:

"Fed is best" - arrrrgh, fed is better than dead, no-one, not even the most ardent militant bf fanatic, thinks babies are better off DEAD than on formula. In terms of what is best, within the very broad category of "fed", there is a hierarchy and to pretend their isn't is just bloody anti-intellectual, anti-nuance bollocks, just as stupid and unsubtle as "breast is best". FFS.

"Happy mum = happy baby" - NO NOT NECESSARILY! For no other parenting decision do we accept this as the standard. There is more to a baby's well being than their mother's happiness. Certainly it's bloody unlikely that a baby will do well with a depressed, anxious, mentally unwell mother. But neither is it a given that a mum who makes every decision based on what is going to make her personally more happy is going to be A-OK. There is more to it than that.

Why are people so desperate to shut down authentic conversation and take refuge in slogans? Under this heading I also submit "take back control". When did we stop aspiring to understanding complex things more deeply?

Probably because someone came up with the god awful ‘breast is best’ slogan. Breast is normal FFS!!

You sound as paranoid as a rather militant breastfeeder I have the misfortune to know OP

@CocoDeMoll