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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To want to sue the NHS/WHO or whoever for false advertising

75 replies

tadpolesmum · 03/10/2008 22:46

Breastfeeding makes you lose weight... my fat ar**

OP posts:
hunkermunker · 03/10/2008 23:44

MM, three weeks probably a bit early - some people do it this early and no probs, but I'd say if you don't have to, don't bother just yet.

MrsB, I do think that bf is the best thing you can do for your child - but I firmly believe that for those women who wouldn't now have happy bfing experiences, society needs to change. Currently, we tell women during pregnancy that breastfeeding is It. Then they're let down massively by overstretched, under-trained staff postnatally. No bloody wonder they're resentful of the whole thing and turn to formula with lioness roars of "don't make me feel guilty"

If I could explain a bit more about why it's the best thing you can do for your child, because I know it's the sort of thing I'll be leapt upon for - "above loving them?".

If a woman is well-supported, well-informed and has people who offer her the right kind of help (practical help round the home, with older children, with bfing support), should she so need, then breastfeeding will be easier. If she's allowed by society to spend as long as she needs getting used to being a mother/mother of two or more - and by that I mean she's allowed to mooch about in her PJs, dozing, feeding and eating food other people have cooked, whilst she's revered for bringing new life into the world by those who ask after her - she'll find breastfeeding easier.

As it is, we expect too much of ourselves - because we're too worried about being judged by each other - and because we set ourselves unrealistic targets (often fuelled by celebrity unreal experiences). Look at this thread - it was started because the OP hasn't lost the weight she feels she ought to have done (however lightheartedly).

It's wrong that we view motherhood and breastfeeding as things women must do alongside everything else - and that bfing is the thing that "gives", not the other, often far less important, things - if more status was given to mothers in society, we'd live in a kinder world.

FreakyLadyFrightALot · 03/10/2008 23:54

so agree with hunker

hunkermunker · 03/10/2008 23:55

I'm just going to have to be Prime Minister one day, aren't I?

Bloody hell. As if I didn't have enough to do.

FreakyLadyFrightALot · 03/10/2008 23:58

lol...well..you would, most likely, make a better one...although not sure that really is a compliment, really...considereing one could not do much worse
but lets just imagine that wasn't the case...so, you would make a great one

libralady · 03/10/2008 23:59

Going slightly off topic, but BF is supposed to prevent breast cancer. My MIL fed all three of her children and now she has breast cancer fro the second time . I'm sure these are all old wives tales.

hunkermunker · 04/10/2008 00:01

Libralady, I'm sorry to hear about your MIL. But I'm afraid you've got the wrong end of the stick.

If you breastfeed, you're less likely to get breast cancer - not prevented from getting it.

How can you dismiss a wealth of peer-reviewed studies as "old wives' tales"?

Cryptoprocta · 04/10/2008 12:18

I've been told by the HV to eat a couple of mars bars a day to make my milk more calorific but hey-ho, if that's the advice

ilovemydog · 04/10/2008 12:21

My HV gave similar advice re: Mars bars.

I laughed and asked if I jump up and down, would this make it a milkshake

TinkerBellesMum · 04/10/2008 12:40

I was told by the NN-MW to eat Mars Bars and biscuits and drink coke because I wasn't getting time (major cluster feeds!) to get food, she said it would keep my calorie and fluid intake up during the day then I could eat properly at night when I had someone to help me. It's good advice when you are going through nurse-ins but it's not going to affect your milk.

MoonlightMcKenzie · 04/10/2008 12:56

Thanks hunker. It's amazing how babies are soooo different. I was expressing on day 6 with DS coz there was NO chance it would affect my supply. It was fully established in hour 3 iirc and I proably could have fed the army if my DS wasn't so determined to have it all for himself.

This time DD only feeds for around 20 mins every 2-3 hours when not doing the cluster feeds, so I'm not so confident where we're at.

StealthPolarBear · 04/10/2008 13:07

"Breastfeeding's not a licence to eat cake. "
WHAT?? Why have I only found out now after 17 months??

"Don't worry - formula feeding doesn't make you lose weight either. Unless you do it whilst jogging. "
PMSL at that image!

PinkTulips · 04/10/2008 13:28

i found that i retained preg weight for a long time due to the how utterly ravenous it made me but once i got sick of the weight and stopped sitting on my bum all evening and munching biscuits and sweets it really did drop off, despite the fact that i was still eating more than pre dc's, getting less excercise and still eating sweet things during the day.

honestly, try it. i lost 10kgs in a month just by cuttting out evening snacks, ds was 20 months at this stage and only feeding 2/3 times a day so it probably would have dropped off even faster in the earlier stages of bf-ing.

TinkerBellesMum · 04/10/2008 13:34

There's a poster at the hospital that I've not been able to find online that explains how long you need to feed for each benefit. Whilst any BM is great it isn't the same benefits to feed for a week as a year or a year as two years. However as has already been said it only changes risk factors, some people are naturally prone to something and breastfeeding won't change that, it might make things not so bad though. My daughter, if anyone has been following, spent last weekend in hospital, it took them three days to bring her out of an asthma attack. I'm still breastfeeding her now and while she was in three feeds a day from me was about all the nutrition she got. I do wonder how much worse she would be if she wasn't breastfed and how ill she would have been if she hadn't even had BM in that time, she has lost a lot of weight.

waitingtobloom · 04/10/2008 19:41

Can I join in with the sueing please? Im a bit back to front - I tend to lose a stone or two whilst pregnant and put on a stone or two whilst breastfeeding. At least this pregnancy made me lose my DS breastfeeding weight. Will jsut have to get pregnant again at the end of breastfeeding, lol.

waitingtobloom · 04/10/2008 19:45

And hunker - yes you'd make a fab prime minister

MrsMattie · 04/10/2008 19:47

I think it's a load of twaddle, too. I'm pretty sure it does help your womb to shrink back down to size more quickly - sure this is a physiological fact? But the weight thing? Pah. The fattest women I know have breastfed for more than a year.

NotAnOtter · 04/10/2008 21:26

if you read that study someone linked to it says its true...breastfeeding infact keeps weight on you...

my theory is it stays on until you stop and then drops off

soon2be3 · 05/10/2008 09:57

I'm with you on this one, although I believe it is the Advertising Standards Authority that need to be contacted.

InTheDollshouse · 05/10/2008 10:01

Surely it must work for some people though. I know it did for me, and I can't be the only one.

ElfOnTheTopShelf · 05/10/2008 10:19

I dont think breastfeeding makes you lose weight, if you do lose weight when breastfeeding, its likely to be due to other factors - less food intake than usual and / or more active than calorie consumption

I lost weight when pregnant and ended up a fair amount of weight less after DD was born to what I was before I got pg (morning sickness!) but put weight on during the first 18mths of her life (when I was b/feeding). I have put weight on since then too (being a lazy woman!)

I'm looking forward to next year when DH and I are planning for another child, so I can lose the weight

TinkerBellesMum · 05/10/2008 10:22

You put down stores of fat and water when you're pregnant and those are use up first - as long as you are eating properly because otherwise you go into camel mode - so you will lose those stores quicker than if you didn't breastfeed.

StealthPolarBear · 05/10/2008 14:17

It did for me - didn';t cut down on what I was eating at all but lost quite a bit of weight. not sure why

InTheDollshouse · 05/10/2008 16:55

What convinced me was when DD got an ear infection at 17 months and poor thing was nursing much more frequently than usual for a few days - partly for comfort and partly because she didn't want to eat. I was eating the same as usual and if anything being less active, since we weren't going to our usual activities. By the time she was better my waistbands were all much looser.

lovelysongbirdanotheryearolder · 05/10/2008 16:56

i put on weight bf, because i had to eat loads

MrsBates · 05/10/2008 17:33

Hunker - agree that if that were possible - snoozing, PJs etc while getting BF established - most people would manage it. But not sure how society could really change to make that more than a dream. I think the problem with the way feminist model of women being treated as equals in the workplace etc was put into practice is that for it to work the role of men should have changed in tandem but it really hasn't to any meaningful extent. Have friends in Denmark and Norway and the sharing of childcare is so much more normal and encouraged by employers, the state etc. I am fortunate to have a husband who recognises this and has just changed his work pattern so we are much more able genuinely to share work and childcare but he is self-employed.

When I had DD1 my mum was diagnosed with the return of cancer and Alzheimers the week of her birth. I spent a lot of time in oncology meetings and with dementia specialists. My family is very small - no-one to support me once DH was back at work. Trying to BF as well was a nightmare because DD1 never latched on - I spent all my time trying to help my mum and the rest going to support groups re BF. After three months of expressing I gave her formula and in my circumstances I was so grateful it was an option. When DS1 was born things had got much worse - the point is though that with having children later in life, families living far from each other and friends - who would have cooked etc - not being local enough and most of them working full time...where will the support come from if people are struggling - as many do? I would try BF again if we have a fourth but will have no more support than before so not chucking out the steriliser yet.

Sorry - think I have gone way off topic. Get back to the cake ladies!

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