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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

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

999 replies

CocoDeMoll · 02/08/2018 20:53

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? Grin

OP posts:
Grandmaswagsbag · 03/08/2018 14:33

Also I have to say the attacks on “formula” companies and making formula such a taboo product are probably what keeps the price (and their profits) up. If we were more open about it and stopped all the pressure on mums, supermarkets would likely enter the market and the price (and profits) would come right down. The price is huge for a tub of powdered milk and it’s nuts that supermarkets can’t even give special offers on it (in case it would cause mums to abandon breastfeeding cos of a 2 for 1 on formula).

This has to be the funniest (and most stupid) comment I’ve ever read on a F/BF thread.

Arewehomeyet · 03/08/2018 14:33

Wouldn’t it be interesting if it was formula companies that came up with the argument that breastfeeding is anti feminist (getting back to the op)!

QueenofmyPrinces · 03/08/2018 14:34

I honestly don't think I've ever seen a less effective argument than the one you just made about sheep.

It’s effective on my nan and she’s the one who gives me the most grief Grin

I’ve been BF for 4.5 years now (bar an 8 month break whilst pregnant with #2) and she still goes on at me about the benefits of formula feeding and that I should just switch. She drives me batty Grin

Teateaandmoretea · 03/08/2018 14:34

ask if formula milk would be better for lambs and calves etc than their own mothers milk?

Erm well it isn't really a sensible comparison is it? Feeding calves and lambs with formula is a very labour intensive process. Plus they grow up thinking that they are actually humans rather than being socialised with other animals. Physically they are generally healthy and well, however. Also don't forget if a ewe or cow can't/ won't feed her offspring she goes to the abattoir.

Teateaandmoretea · 03/08/2018 14:35

It’s effective on my nan and she’s the one who gives me the most grief
Grin Grin

spreadingchestnuttree · 03/08/2018 14:36

Wouldn’t it be interesting if it was formula companies that came up with the argument that breastfeeding is anti feminist (getting back to the op)!

Shock Maybe it was! Have we been infiltrated? Grin

Pengggwn · 03/08/2018 14:36

QueenofmyPrinces

Fair enough. Grin

But seriously, if it was cheaper to formula feed baby animals, farmers would do it. All they care about is having a healthy product, isn't it?

Fenwickdream · 03/08/2018 14:36

Nope I wasn’t preaching. You’ve just got a guilt complex.

I eat shit food. I used some formula. I spend too much time on my phone. BUT I know it is wrong.

I don’t have enough willpower to live live a caveman and I’m not sure I’d fit in too well with my friends and family if I did.

If you re read you will see it was a statement about how I wish things could be and what I think is fundamentally right. I wish the government could help us along with that but that is not there agenda.

Don’t get so stressed, I don’t know you. I couldn’t care less what YOU fed your baby or if YOU are a feminist and I’d never waste my time trying to change your mind.

We just wouldn’t be friends in real life. No problems.

Fenwickdream · 03/08/2018 14:38

And as I don’t ha e a magic stick to wave my policies into the World, there’s no need for you to worry. It’s just my opinion.

MrSpock · 03/08/2018 14:39

I don’t hace a guilt complex. DS had prescription neocate due to allergies and couldn’t latch, so I’m “allowed” to formula feed in your book. More than you even. Wink

Why do you wish to return to caveman times? I suppose if you want to die of the flu at 35 with no teeth that’s your business!

Fenwickdream · 03/08/2018 14:42

You’re fine then, no worries, sure the Doctor would have signed you off in my fictional World 👍🏻

MrSpock · 03/08/2018 14:44

The point is though, why is your ideal world an authoritarian one where people aren’t allowed to choose how to live their own lives?

Fickleflock · 03/08/2018 14:48

I have never noticed any arguements on here regarding bf/ff but might not have noticed them. What I have come across are women berating themselves for not being able to bf and other women who are very proud of themselves if they can bf. Bf does not make a woman a better mother and does mean they will be a better mother for the rest of their childs/adult childs life. It does mean that they are lucky to be able to breast feed in contrast to those that can’t - this concept can be applied to most things in life where physiological involvement dictates what we can and can’t do. I am speaking from my own experience here and yes it is subjective but have come across women who talk about their ability to produce vast amounts of milk as a phenomenal achievement. I had to give up bf very early on as I couldn’t produce milk, I was so desperate to that I expressed using a pump and had to stop when all I expressed was blood. My son is healthy, tall and has always been between the 75th and 91st centile.

McTufty · 03/08/2018 14:50

I did not say breastfeeding was anti-feminist. I said trying to get women who do not feel able to do it or simply do not wish to do it to breastfeed against their wishes is anti-feminist.

Fenwickdream · 03/08/2018 14:51

Because we chose wrong. We’re going the wrong bloody way.

In my opinion ( had to add that in all you don’t seem to understand)

But back to original point. Yes I agree this Country and especially MN is anti BF.

No I don’t think the companies would waste their time on these threads. The Country’s mind is made up and they know it.

MrSpock · 03/08/2018 14:52

What is “wrong” though? And why?

Pengggwn · 03/08/2018 14:55

Fenwickdream

Well, I'm gutted for you. It must be so hard watching all these silly women making the wrong decisions and not having laws you can use to coerce them. Sly on you, it is.

SarahJayne12 · 03/08/2018 14:55

@CocoDeMoll "It’s where the money is both with big pharma and formula."
Whenever anyone uses the term 'Big Pharma' it usually means they've been brainwashed with conspiracy theories. First of all, Big 'Pharma' is a yank term and their system is completely separate from ours. You can even buy formula at supermarkets. Yet no one is going on about 'Big Super' or 'Big Marka'.

Secondly, I have seen no evidence, not even remotely, that MN is anti-BF. Not every one can BF and it is important to make sure those mums are valued, respected, and supported.

Shampooeeee · 03/08/2018 14:57

Yanbu op I have suspected this for a long time.
I also suspect that formula companies have contributed significantly to the cultural push to get new mums out of hospital within a matter of hours. It snowballs, people talk about how awful the postnatal ward is and then women who read it set their minds to getting discharged as quickly as possible. Why doesn’t anyone ask why it is awful? Why can’t post natal care be improved?

It seems a lot of women leave without bf established, before their milk comes in and have to deal with day 3 hormones alone.

Fenwickdream · 03/08/2018 14:58

Pengggwn

Well I wouldn’t mind if it was just a load of “silly women” I didn’t know but as explained 🙄 it is me and my family aswell. It will be my children and grandchildren too and for that, yes I am gutted. So thanks for the condolences.

Pengggwn · 03/08/2018 15:00

Fenwickdream

I don't understand. Why is your family exempt from what makes the rest of us "silly women"?

Fenwickdream · 03/08/2018 15:07

I’m sorry but I don’t have the resources or time to change the World right now.

I’m just busy procreating and trying to make my genes stronger and better than they were before whilst earning a living and all the other shizzle we do while we’re here.

If you have a better theory of what the hell we’re all doing here PM me because people are probably sick of us now debating on here now but I hope this explains why I’m focusing on my family not strangers on MN.

Pengggwn · 03/08/2018 15:11

I don’t have the resources

You can say that again. 😂

Ennirem · 03/08/2018 15:14

Fenwickdreams you sound like you're having a bit of an existential crisis, and I really think you should probably stop throwing in about breastfeeding and feminism when clearly your issue with the modern world and your general misanthropy go far deeper. You are not equipped with enough detailed thinking on the subject to make a useful contribution.

Redteapot67 · 03/08/2018 16:20

People who are proud to breastfeed are so because it’s bloody difficult - it takes blood sweat tears and zero sleep. Some people are lucky and find it easy but most have worked bloody hard to do it - for their child’s benefit and not their own - and have every right to be proud of it. That does not mean ff mums should feel bad. I’m so sick of the anti breastfeeding rhetoric on here