To feel irritated by this Facebook post?

[MagicKingdomDizzy]

I know, people can post what they want and I can just scroll past. But this has really annoyed me today.

I think it's safe to say people are very aware of the benefits of breast feeding, but sometimes it just isn't possible to do.

In my case, my daughter was born with a cleft lip and palate and I physically couldn't feed her. Then I read crap like this and it just reminds me of my failure to do something I really wanted to.

So, I guess my AIBU is does this kind of virtue signalling rubbish posted on Facebook actually have any benefit, or is it just there to make the poster feel good and people like me feel bad?

@GunpowderGelatine stop trying to backtrack from what you suggested. What on earth did you mean to suggest if it wasn’t what I said? It’s a perfect reasonable extrapolation on my part.

PablosHoney

Thank you for asking. We are 3 surgeries in, not sure how many left to go yet.

She is a lovely, bright and confident 4 year old and I am very proud of her and how she has dealt with the last 4 years.

Also “BF needs someone to fight its corner”? I’ve heard it all now. The best way for the NHS to fight BF’s corner is by majoring on practical support and dial down the posters, because it seems that so many women struggle. Even for those who don’t know Bf is best, how on earth can a poster be as impactful as a real live person coaching and helping women?

I understand countries like Finland really really promote BF: but they have the practical support to back it up. That makes much more sense and it’s no wonder their rates of BF are higher.

I have to say gunpowder I read it the way piglet did:

All babies are breastfed or formula fed. Two options.

People challenge the “breast is best” saying by saying “fed is best”. The “fed is best” saying has clear associations with saying it is perfectly fine to formula feed rather than breast feed. It is a saying in support of formula feeding mothers, yet you describe it as the bare minimum.

Were you not assessing the phrase in comparison with “breast is best” and if not what did you mean?

If you say you didn’t mean it like that then I totally accept that but it is how it came across to me.

Thanks quaffy for explaining my challenge more articulately than I did myself.
To return to the OP’s question: @MagicKingdomDizzy I have just taken a closer look at the original image you posted and it’s absolutely littered with typos. With such amateur presentation, I honesty don’t think it can be given much credence as a serious source of information.

It’s an inconvenient truth and that gets people’s backs up

Au contraire, some breastfeeding mothers get very upset when people point out that the evidence is that the benefits of breastfeeding their child aren’t as great as has been claimed. Breastfeeding is hard and some breastfeeding mothers need to validate their efforts by believing they are doing something better for their child than formula feeding mothers.

low you are incredibly defensive about breastfeeding. Breastfeeding is great, with some proven benefits, but I’m sorry you don’t seem able to accept that formula isn’t the poison you think it is and that an individual child is unlikely to have a materially different outcome either way.

I had excellent support with breastfeeding - after 3 months I just couldn’t take it any more because it was still so painful despite twice weekly or more help with trying to improve her latch. It is ignorant to say that it is rare for someone not to be able to do it if they have support. Maybe no “medical” reason in my case but only if you really don’t care about the mother’s mental health.

but only if you really don’t care about the mother’s mental health.

Absolutely.

I so worry about my failure to BF and possible ear infections in particular. I was FF and had so many ear infections as a child and young adult. I really worry my son might suffer similar unnecessary pain because of a protection I couldn’t give him.

Omg 😂what a load of shite.

I'm all for choice and I breastfed both DDs but no way to toddlerhood, think I stopped around the 4-5month mark with both.

As it so happens neither DDs have never had an ear infection, they're both quite slim, and both fiercely independent.

Who writes this bollocks?!

@MagicKingdomDizzy sadly this subject does tend to lead to debates on here.

I completely agree with what you say, the constant pro BF posts I saw on Facebook would range from fair and lovely to completely judgmental and rather ‘holier than thou’ depending on the individual posting - so I came off Facebook and never looked back.

Glad to read your DD is doing well - sorry I got sucked into the debate and didn’t actually answer your OP clearly

Scroll on OP and maybe block that poster's thread ? 🤷‍♀️

I so worry about my failure to BF and possible ear infections in particular. I was FF and had so many ear infections as a child and young adult. I really worry my son might suffer similar unnecessary pain because of a protection I couldn’t give him.

This is why these statistics based on correlative evidence aren’t particularly helpful or useful imo. I was breastfed and had terrible ear infections which required surgery in the end! I wouldn’t think on it at all Piglet

Ahh lovely stuff @MagicKingdomDizzy

Thanks pinkblueberry. I had surgery as well in the end. Maybe it would have happened regardless of whether I was FF or BF!

@GunpowderGelatine I get what you're saying about the NHS supporting breastfeeding but that poster is clearly not from the NHS. The poor spelling, grammar and odd suggestions clearly prove that.

Children with clefts are far more likely to get ear infections anyway, regardless of breast/formula feeding.

I know @Ginger1982 that the post in the OP definitely isn't but another poster suggested the NHS shouldn't be promoting breastfeeding

If that’s directed at me, @GunpowderGelatine I did not say the NHS should not be promoting BF!! And you have the audacity to suggest I twisted your words?!?!

I said that the method the NHS used to promote BF should shift away from posters towards more practical support from real, live people.

What on earth did you mean to suggest if it wasn’t what I said?

Me saying "fed is not best, it's the bare minimum" is in response to people blindly saying "fed is best". Fed is not best, it's required.

Why on earth did you think that was a subtle way of saying "formula feeders only do the bare minimum and are lazy" @Piglet89 ?

Did you perhaps mistake me for another poster? Because I'm not sure how you'd otherwise reach such a strange and melodramatic conclusion

I'm amazed I have to spell this out, but there you go, for clarity - NO MATTER HOW YOU FED, "FED" IS THE BARE MINIMUM NOT "BEST".

Hope that clear

You didn't just twist my words you rewrote them entirely

Still backtracking I see, @GunpowderGelatine

Pathetic.

99% of Facebook posts are twattery. Pay them no mind and scroll on past...

Why are people so against breastfeeding into toddlerhood?
Ok so any amount of time you can breastfeed e.g 2 months etc is good but the minimum is 6 months and recommended 2 years. I accept 2 years might not be for everyone but there's nothing weird about it.
Who wouldn't want the best for their children?

Whilst a lot of that info is probably true, some isn't (never heard of glossier hair before!) I'm not bothered by it being in my newsfeed. BUT it would bother me because "mummie's milk" is grammatically all sorts of wrong as is the name of the website.
puke