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?

I hate this shit. FED IS BEST!

Love the facts about glossier hair and fussy eating... my bottle fed DD I breastfed for a week before admitting defeat due to PCOS and other issues has the thickest abs glossiest hair of her peers and eats literally everything.

I was a member of a babies group on Facebook and someone posted this kind of thing but the facts were ridiculous - things like "breastfed babies have better vision and sense of smell"

I saw this post on Facebook too. It does sound like it's all exaggerated. Not sure how they could possibly put together all the stats to back a lot of this up.

I struggled to direct nurse DD and ended up expressing for a long time so posts like this often get to me too BUT I can understand people trying to normalise breastfeeding.

'As the eye is similar to the brain in regards YO nervous tissue'

Blimey I hope the creator of this masterpiece wasn't BF as they are kind of discounting the 'cognitive superiority' section.

There is so much stigma against breastfeeding toddlers that I think this is just to increase awareness as to some of the reasons people continue to breastfeed beyond what is considered 'normal'. I can understand why it upset you...but it wasn't aimed at you.

I know about the expressing I cofed both mine in the early wksd and so am well aware of the probs due to pumping. If one is comfortable with ones decision then why feal guilty?. If it is more a case of circumstance again no need to feal guilty. But you can get angry as a lot of probs with lack of info and support no matter how one feeds.

Don't take it personally. I'm all for breastfeeding and I think the idea is to help people who aren't sure and give them a push to breastfeed as it is better for baby, bit this looks like a load of shite. I really don't believe those facts are facts at all.

I haven’t read through the whole thing - but what I have sounds like complete bollocks and whoever shared it on FB is a complete imbecile - there are correlations between various things when it comes to breast feeding, less infections, reduced risk of asthma etc - but correlation isn’t the same as cause and effect (breastfed babies can still get asthma too obviously ) but ‘glossier hair’, ‘smoother and more supple skin’? And saying that breastfed children are certain to have better eyesight among other things? Breastmilk is amazing stuff but it’s not a fucking magic 100% good health potion. IMO sharing crap like this does more harm than good for beastfeeding rates. It’s exactly as you say OP. I’m all for feeling proud about breastfeeding - but smug, virtue signalling breastfeeders can bore off...

I don't know why people get so defensive about these things? Breast milk is obviously going to be the best choice for a human child, however, we have evolved to a stage where we have produced a valid alternative which your child can thrive on.

Want to feed your baby breast milk until they are 5 crack on. Don't want to? Also crack on. People spend so much wasted energy worrying about how others are parenting their children.

And you'd have thought they might have at least spell checked their dossier of knowledge....

Thick as shite

You normalize bf by simply bf. There is no need for any ridiculous posts about the superiority of it. There is absolutely no need to advertise, you just feed. Just like our grandmas did in the days before formula became so popular.

heydugee

I don’t care at all how people feed their kids and would support anyone in their choice.

However the issue is that posters like that take a formula feeding mother’s child and point out all the ways their breastfed child is superior. no one cares that she’s breastfeeding, people care she’s saying her kid is cognitively superior because of it.

I feel physically embarrassed for whoever posted this on Facebook OP, how sad. Try to take no notice

What a crock of shit!
Both my dc breastfed for years and are the fussiest eaters EVER, so that bit is a lie.
Fed is indeed best.

It is smug mothers who do this. The sort that think they are the only ones to give birth and breast feed.
Mothers should not judge how another feeds her child, nor how she gives birth, but support each other.
Sadly there will be the mememe ones who need to boast on sm .

I bf my toddler and find this post very smug and highly irritating. YANBU. Also reminds me why my life has felt so much more pleasant since coming off Facebook 3 years ago!

Well she's obviously not as ok with feeding a toddler as she pretends to be. Otherwise she wouldn't need to post this self-justifying crap. HTH

june2007

I wasn't comfortable with the decision to not breast feed. However, given that my daughter had a massive hole in the roof of her mouth, there wasn't much else I could do

Bf babies have healthier, glossier hair? Dd, was bf until she was 3, had the thinnest, slowest growing hair ever. What a load of poo.

My middle son was breastfed until he was two, and he won’t eat fucking anything other than broccoli, sweet corn and walnuts. I mean, he’ll happily wolf down ice cream and biscuits obviously but if I serve him up a potato you’d think Id offered him shit on a plate

Whereas I agree fed is best and these types of post do not help Mothers who dont post I think frankly some of these posts really do demonise the idea of breastfeeding and the one which commented on how a child looked was awful

“Breastfed toddlers are easier to travel with”

They clearly didn't meet my Bfed toddler who had a shit fit on every car journey.

There are clear benefits to BFing and it's important to get this message out, especially to parents who will be under peer pressure to FF from day one. However, it needs to be evidence based which this clearly isn't.

I don't think the fact that someone couldn't do something for their means they have the right never to see information about it being good for children in general.

We all have things we would have liked to do as parents but can't or couldn't for one reason or another. This is just one of them.

Quaffy, maybe that's why the poster on fb did it but maybe they are just proud of feeding their child for so long and/or trying to normalise extended breatsfeeding. It's difficult because everything you do with your baby is judged, breastfeeding, bottle feeding, BF too long, dummies, sleep that we can forget that some people aren't having a go or personalising or thinking they are morally superior to anyone else but just trying their best in a world where mothers are judged heavily in whatever choices they make.

I don't think the fact that someone couldn't do something for their means they have the right never to see information about it being good for children in general

Who has said that?

I agree "fed is best"

I would challenge anyone to figure out which of my 3 sons were formula fed or breast fed. All that really matters is that they were all fed.

Well I bf mine till 2.6 years each and I can tell you they are both very fussy eaters and my son has has a immunity deficiency so 🤷🏻‍♀️