to really dislike the phrase "offer baby the breast"

[BroccoliSpears]

Ick!

It makes me shudder for some reason.

"Would you care for a canape, Baby? No? Perhaps some breast then?"

It is a weirdy disassociative way of saying 'feed the baby.' I find the use of 'offer' strange for similar canape reasons!

Nobody 'offers' a nappy change or a toy or even a bottle of Cow & Gate's best.

Today I am mostly exploring my foibles...

so what do you suggest instead?

me too! I actually always disliked DS being referred to as 'Baby' as if that was his name. eg 'Put Baby down, Mummy' at baby clinic. Urggggh!!!!. I wouldn't have minded 'Put THE baby down, please' (Don't call me Mummy, I'm not your Mummy.)

YANBU it makes me feel all creeped out too. As if I have to display breast from many angles and jiggle it at her so she can make informed decision as to whether she should accept breast offer or not.

MMJ - YES! Rik Mayall exactly. Arf.

TeaDr1nker -
Feed the baby?
Give the baby some milk?

DH used to snigger at "offer baby the breast".

He replaced it with "perhaps you'd like to proffer your dumplings?", and then howl with laughter.

At every sodding, on-demand feed.

I put it down to sleep deprivation.

Otherwise I'd have divorced his ass.

it's the omission of the definite article that really gets me

I think that the 'offering' part is quite important - you're not necessarily going to feed the baby, you're giving him/her the opportunity to feed if s/he wants to.

I really hate it when people say 'we're pregnant'. It really creeps me out. I want to say 'no, you're not! - you are both having a baby, but only the lady is pregnant!'. Irrational? Me? yes.

Yes agree with Bundle, it's the omission of definite article. I could manage 'offer' if we weren't talking about 'Baby'. But something about 'baby' for me (and this is totally irrational, waaay more irrational than babyignoramus ) conjures up a picture of a baby with a monocle and top hat. I know, I know...

me too, hate all this stuff.... 'we're pregnant', 'baby' instead of 'the baby' but I made mistake of saying this to someone at work and they looked at me like I was really odd.

Message withdrawn

Oh no not the dreaded "We're prenant" [vom] Like you can share the puking and urinary incontinence.

I hate "we're" prgnant too.

No, we are not pregnant

DP did not spend 6 months with his head down the bog
He did not get chronic SPD
He did not spend 9 months looking like a Zeppelin (well, I still do, so it's more like 4 years)
He did not have to look on longingly while all of his friend tucked into Brie and red wine.
Nor did he have to push something the size of a water melon out of an aperture the size of a pea, (well, I didn;t in the end,m but had to have majpor abdominal surgeryu instead) or get kicked to buggery every time he nodded off.

Nooo, he had a lovely time being driven everywhere and getting pissed at weddings and eating 6 meals a day (because I couldn't face food until 24+ weeks both times)

We're pregnant indeed.

Tossers

Funny how you don't get many men or women saying "When we gave birth"

back to the OP - it's the breast that sounds freaky, isn't it? As though it was any old breast.

Whereas 'offer your baby your breast' sounds dandy.

Maybe it was a phrase that originally developed from women who only had one breast to offer?

"The" breast sounds like a communal breast.

"Can I have some of that booze for t' baby?"
"You can't give a baby booze!"

(Vic and Bob)

I don't mind the expression but I do mind split infinitives.

Go and wash your mouth fingers off with salt, BroccoliSpears

i also hate people calling ds "Baby" as if it were his name. It's not his name. I remember after I gave birth and dh came to rescue pick us up from hospital and one of the chippy mw's said to dh "Oooh hello Dad!" he looked very alarmed and said, "I'm not your dad!!"

He was never daft enough to try "We're" pregnant!

pmsl lurkinaround i loved the big night out!