Did anyone else feel rage at Karen Millen's comments on breastfeeding?

[Hoooray]

According to Karen Millen (who is, notably, a clothing designer and not a child development expert), breastfeeding beyond six months has no benefit for the child, is selfish, and is a sign of addiction.

You're not allowed to get it right as a mother, are you? Bad if you don't breastfeed but also bad if you breastfeed for too long, apparently.

God knows why Karen Millen was being asked for her opinion on the subject in the first place 🙄

Yes I do agree with you there. There’s so much misinformation and disinformation online that thankfully I’ve never been one to blindly trust opinions on social media, especially when they come from people who aren’t experts/qualified - I’ll always do my own further research. That said, there will always be those who take the word of people in the public eye or “influencers” etc as if it were fact.

Me too!

The benefits are its free!! But a lot of women continue to do it for selfish self indulgent reasons. I think after a year is silly. Women continue for weight loss reasons. They like the feeling. They want to have an excuse not to get up (and have someone else serve them tea)

Because on Mumsnet, if some people dont agree with their exact thoughts they get very very angry!!

Its awful that she’s shamed mum’s who breastfeed past 6 months and says there’s no benefits to that, especially since actual medical guidance says its recommended for 2 years so she’s spreading misinformation on National Television. To call it selfish is bizarre, in my opinion its selfless as we go through cluster feeding, pain and discomfort and give so much time to our babies whilst breastfeeding!

I know who Donna Karan is, but thought Karen Millen was a just a shop, in the way that Dorothy Perkins wasn't a real person. Lots of companies have a fabricated figurehead.

I've never lost any weight breastfeeding. I do like the feeling as it's a natural biological function which my body was designed for so it should feel nice and release oxytocin (and I know I'm lucky it isn't painful).
Also what on earth is wrong with someone making a cup of tea for a breastfeeding mother?! Or any mother for that matter.

Lots of the benefits continue after a year, it's a very arbitrary cut off point. Women should stop when they want to.

Well it reduces risk of childhood cancer, reduces risk of mother getting cancer, reduces risk of other illnesses and is linked to increased good health and higher IQ. What’s silly, selfish or indulgent about that? Many people, including me, found it easier to lose weight after finishing feeding. And I was an expert at doing tasks while feeding so that rules that out - if I wanted people to do things for me I would have let them wake up and feed my children 8 times a night! I choose to feed for longer as I’m aware the evidence as per WHO and NHS is that my child is likely to be healthier. Breastfeeding wasn’t always easy for me, I didn’t get a full nights sleep for years between my kids but why would I not give my child the best possible start in life if I was able to?

Insane take. Breastfeeding benefits babies / children well past the age of one. There's nothing silly about continuing with something which actively benefits your child. And believe me, the work involved is significantly greater than that involved in making yourself a cup of tea.

Because they like the feeling 🤣 I am still feeding my 3 year old. It’s about nurture and comfort for him. And it bloody hurts me as I’m also pregnant - it’s categorically not a feeling I am loving! And is the exact opposite of selfish, unless I am a masochist on some level.

This sums it up.

When was the last time you heard about this woman before she spouted this nonsense?

Agree!!! Seems she had a bad face lift to promote!

Baffling comments from Karen, whose opinion on this matter holds absolutely no value. Two observations:

1. She is being somewhat misquoted in order for the comments to sound as bad as possible.
2. It’s amusing how many people online are shouting about “BOYCOTTING” Karen Millen (the brand) not having bothered to research that Karen Millen (the person) sold it years ago. It’s just a tiny bit ironic that the same people bashing misinformed comments are encouraging people to boycott what is effectively now a random unrelated third party thereby being misinformed themselves.

Obviously there is so much evidence showing the value of bf so can’t understand why this was even a discussion, never mind the lack of actual expert.

I have no issue whatsoever with anyone breastfeeding for as long as they desire. Maybe she is giving sone comfort to us mums who couldn’t, and it destroyed us. I am so sick of the smug breastfeeding activists making us feel even more guilty than we did before. I would have loved nothing more than to have breastfed forever

Just as an aside, my abused only breastfed through my torture for 6 weeks boys…. Both got first class degrees

Well why come on mumsnet and ask for views if you are going to hate any views that aren't in line with your exact thinking? That's insane in my opinion.

You do understand some women really struggle with breastfeeding?m, to the point they are suicidal
do you think they don’t want the best start in life for their children? I hate this self important insistence everyone can breastfeed. And us selfish lazy shit mothers will shape feckless people

It is scientifically, factually, incorrect to say that there are no benefits to breastfeeding a child over 6 months. That's not an opinion, it's a fact.

Please note I said if I was able to - literally I put in that caveat, you must have missed it. I had massive struggles with breastfeeding (one of my kids got formula in the end as it didn’t work out for us!) and I really empathise that not everyone can or indeed wants to and that’s fine. No one suggested you were any of those names you called yourself and I really hope you don't actually feel like that. However, while I was upset with one child not to breastfeed as long as it did with other two, that doesn’t negate the benefits of breastfeeding for the rest of the population.

Do you understand the hell of failing at breastfeeding

enjoy your ivory tower, I hope you make your iwn children more compassionate

People can be so weird about breastfeeding - I don’t get it, the whole point of breasts is to feed babies. It’s fine up to the point where mother and child think it’s fine - we've been socialised to think it odd beyond a certain age, but this is misogyny/internalised misogyny.

"The generation that popularised breastfeeding" 😂So every single generation who had babies prior to the 1960s were feeding their babies on what exactly?

It's so painfully obvious you've never breastfed a toddler. Like the feeling! 😂

I completely support breastfeeding, I have never felt such shame, guilt and embarrassment that I failed at it
people really need to think about their comments
its damaged me for years, that feeling of failure

What are you basing this on?

Why would you gain comfort in someone spreading misinformation? I am truly sorry that you couldn't breastfeed and that it has stuck with you, but what she said is factually incorrect.

Congratulations to your children on their academic success. However, I assume you provided your babies with milk past 6 months, whether you breastfed or not, because it is a fact that they need milk.