breast is best

[Haitch27]

Is anyone else who is pregnant sick to the back bloody teeth of the 'breast is best' campaign being shoved down your throat everywhere you turn and being badgered by health carers to attend breastfeeding 'workshops'?? Maybe its just where I live but it seems to be everywhere yet the one thing no one says is "are you planning to breastfeed"? Assumption that all Mums will!!
Curious to know as I said if it is just my area or is it everywhere?

sorry, anything and everything an exaggeration of course, but formula is the only acceptable bm substitute is what I meant!

I said that ff does not make you an inferior person, but the milk is inferior not as a comment directed at you but to explain that if you feel inferior, then that's unjust, but infant feeding information in terms of accuracy has to state the truth, that formula is an inferior substitute. It's merely a fact, not one aimed at you or designed to make you feel guilty, but a fact that should and does help people make decisions about how they would like to feed their child.

Verity, I think you should move. I've just phoned 3 friends who ff, one through inability to feed (epileptic, on very strong meds that made bfing incompatible) and has 4 children, two who chose to ff (one with 3 children, one with 2). That's a lot of feeding, in public for several years total. One of them had an offhand comment that may or may not have been offensive, one felt unsupported by a health visitor and requested another one. Otherwise people said not a word. They felt very much in the majority, most of their antenatal/postnatal groups ff and in feeding rooms in shops like mothercare, they were definitely the majority and felt like the bfer in the corner was the minority. Now I'm not belittling your personal experience but constant badgering and belittling from hcps sounds extreme (smokers don't get this even) and you live in an area with hospitals/staff that work very differently to any other area I've been in. Because presumably the 'constant' contact you were having with hcps was due to whatever illness or meds or surgery you were having and these people knew why you wouldn't be bfing or would be there to treat your problem, not talk about formula. If they were that untrained that they didn't understand that your medication wasn't compatible with bfing and constantly badgered you then they need to go back to medical school. And I've never had a complete stranger walk up to me and say something about anything personal so if you live in an area where strangers are telling you you're poisoning your child and other comments on a regular basis, I'd move and quickly.

OP - YABU

The government is simply working to promote a something that is true. Whether the wording of the campaign leaves something to be desired is not something I have thought about. If the posters/ leaflets offend you - then look away/ don't read them. It really is as simple as that.
But is the government wrong to promote the truth? No. If the posters / leaflets make even a few women consider breastfeeding as an option, then they are doing their job.

And TBH - in this country, I feel that the majority of the population do not view bfeeding as natural and the the norm, but ff is generally the more 'accepted' form of feeding your baby. So the more the government do to 'normalise' bfeeding in the minds of the public - the better.

I live in a tiny village too. Population 275, average age, 275 . We moved here when dd was 7 months old and the old ladies were amazed that I was bfing. Why would you, they chorused, when you've got that powder now that has improved on breastmilk? You cannot win. You found that people made terrible comments, I had a few myself about bfing and being in the minority (less than 1% feeding at 6 months, that's a huge minority), was treated very much as a bizarre novelty at the baby clinic. I think people are just weird.

I hope you're well now?

Where do you live?..strangers just walk up to you and tell you that you are poisoning your child?...the professionals you have had contact with have told you to ignore the advice of your consultant? ...that sounds terrible..something is very wrong

poo it's the overload of info on bf-ing from the very start of the pregnancy journey right through til you have your baby that just makes people feel pressurised. Not everyone, but some people do feel like that.

I'm for BF AND FF - because I've had experience of doing both and neither is better than the other. Both have their pros and cons.

Oh I understand now..sorry to hear you had such a hard time.

I hate those posters (another slightly guilty FF here, I want a badge that says "I really tried"). Until recently I thought they were pointless, surely everyone knows that BF is better. But then a younger friend of mine who is PG was telling me how her mum and sister had been arguing about which brand of bottles she should buy. No-one had thought to mention to her that she should at least try BF. So if a poster makes someone like her think about BF, then it is worth it.

I love a good BF thread!

Personally, I think the publicity campaigns are a bit annoying and simplistic. The money spent on them could be better spent on more support counselors.

I BF, but the several days were the toughest of my lift. I think if I hadn't moved from the hospital to a midwife centre (and subsequently had much more attention from midwives who were not allowed to offer me formula unless I asked specifically for it) it's entirely possible I would have thought I was starving my baby. Those first few days, the baby is screaming and you think you're not producing enough milk. All it takes is some HV telling you to top up to undo it all. Everyone has boxes to tick, and they aren't all worried about BFing as much as they was to see the 'right' numbers. shrug.

On another note, I think if they insist on continuing to waste money on publicity campaigns, perhaps they should put some in whatever magazines old people read. yes, I said it. "Dear OAP- stop staring, tutting, or chiding your daughter/DIL when she is trying to feed her child naturally." Stop laying the guilt trip on the new mum and move it over to the outside influences working against her.

I know this is a rambling post. sorry. Best of luck with your new baby, Haitch!

A few posters and people asking you if you will be breast-feeding isnt exactly overload!?!..

for the record I dont care how anyone else chooses to feed their child..but I think its great that women are being encouraged to breast-feed and this 'ramming down throat' business is a bit melodramatic

lovechoc, how are they overloaded with information though? I was give a few leaflets and the dates and times of an antenatal bfing session. I was also asked if I planned to bfeed at the same time as I was asked about birth preferences. No more. I truly don't understand this ramming things down your throat. In a 10 minute antenatal appointment every few weeks, there was enough time to measure, do heartbeat, urine, are you ok chat, bp and on your way. I'd love to know which areas have time to be ramming info on bfing down your throat because they sound brilliantly unhurried compared to the experience of the majority.

And it isn't a case of neither is better. Bfing is the norm, ffing the inferior substitute. This is a fact.

I find it implausible that people are made to feel that inferior because they FF when breastfeeding women are a minority by 1 week and a tiny, tiny minority by 6 months. But perhaps all of the 1% of mothers still breastfeeding at 6 months all live in one town and are picking on some isolated formula feeding parent.

I think the Star campaign is great. It is not patronising - it is aimed at young people. I do not feel patronised by the STD campaign where people have chlamydia written across their pants; I simply accept that I am not the target audience.

What I think is really great about the campaign is not that the young mothers look like great women while breastfeeding, but that the young mothers simply look like great women.

I am sick of people talking about or depicting young mothers as something they have scraped off the bottom of their shoe. This campaign is a nice change to that.

Well, I am pregnant and am neither being badgered to attend workshops nor do I have any HCPs shoving "breast is best" mantras down my throat.

But I will bf DC3 unless there are any major complications that prevent me from doing so in which case I will ff without any particular guilt.

OP, are you actually intending to bf your baby or not - it wasn't clear from your post. It sounded from your post that you were not intending to breastfeed only because you resented being "told what to do". A shame to deny your baby really just so you could prove a point, no?

An in reality, why shouldn't all mums breastfeed? It's what breasts are for and the reality is that very few women "cannot" breastfeed given the correct help and support. I cannot see why bf is seen as some sort of middle class thing that only some women do. You wouldn't assume that a cow or indeed a dog wouldn't suckle it's young after all???

star campaign had some visually stunning images and great narratives.change to see young mums represented positively

however,i can understand ff mums who say they feel belittled.frequent inference being they dont care or didnt they hard enough. look at any mn thread about ff and it brings out the worst in people.turns into a mêlée,almost immediately someone links a website that ff causes a myriad of illnesses and makes alarmist points.

as mothers can we really not support each other,regardless of mode of feeding. a new baby is a wonderful event,lets consider the other wonderful aspects of motherhood

"A mother should do what makes her happy"
Professor Sven Carlsen
Norwegian University of Science and Technology

Overloaded with information, yet completely un helpful? Like I said, they can't win.

I find it really hard to beleive anyone is overloaded with info about BF, otherwise there wouldn't still be so many inaccuracies bandied about as facts. What I can see is people woefully uninformed about BF, with massively distorted perceptions about being forced/judged/guilt tripped.
If you want to FF, do it, your choice. If you want to BF, do it. If you need help and support, find it, theres plenty there. If you are sad and upset about your experiences, work through it, but stop using them as an excuse to sabotage others.

when I was pregnant with DS, the method of feeding him was not mentioned even once by my midwife. I think I told her the first time I met her that I was going to breastfeed (not that I merely planned to, oh no, I was far too full of myself to even contemplate failure!). That was it.

The message was at no point 'rammed down my throat', and I was, if anything, underwhelmed with information. After a straw poll of friends, it seems that those of us who planned to bf did not recall any ramming of information. Those who were in 2 minds about it, and those who wanted to ff, all said they felt the message was being pushed too hard. So, possibly, it's in our perception rather than reality, this massive pressure to bf?

(Also, as an aside, 2 women I know who could not bf turn out to have the least supportive partners/families etc out of us all (I meet a large group of NCT mums every now and then, and I asked about this topic last time!). Both say their men felt uncomfortable with bfing, and both were ff as babies. Another woman couldn't due to recurrent mastitis, and i'm totally in awe of her for managing to bf for as long as she did!)

breast is best. For cavewomen, and those resident in third world countries.Otherwise we have what is known as choice. Not mine personally thank you.

So don't do it dark, thats your choice. You're still wrong though.

That's funny darkandstormy because your attitude is neanderthal.

Personally, I don't think breasts are overrated.

scottishmummy, yes support each other regardless of mode of feeding, of course. That's a lovely sentiment but the reason this is somthing that many people are passionate about in terms of good information and support is largely what I quoted above: "only 35 per cent of UK babies are being exclusively breastfed at one week, 21 per cent at six weeks, 7 per cent at four months and 3 per cent at five months". That's woefully inadequate. And I don't see ffers being belittled, I see bfers being a stark minority and several people battling tirelessly to inform. Nobody links to sites to say ff causes anything. I think perhaps the tidal wave of ffers feeling belittled is quite a feat for a very small percentage of bfers who- as I see it- only seek to inform, promote and support. It's a peculiarly emotive subject and causes feelings in the people that discuss it that are nothing to do with the facts presented.

So yes, let's consider the other aspects of motherhood but let's not forget that bfing rates are ridiculous in this country and shrugging and accepting that or dismissing it isn't going to help.

"A mother should do what makes her happy". That's a reductive and dangerous sentiment isn't it? What makes me happy is gin and speed. Yes do everything you can to ensure your happiness but there are aspects of parenting that are tough, humdrum, monotonous, suffocating and bloody difficult, but necessary. I don't act purely according to happiness. It's like that rubbish 'happy mummy, happy baby' sentiment. Nothing about parenting can be simplified to that extent.

eggontoast - horse for courses and all that but i appreciated the praise i got for bf and still do (going strong with dd at 4.5 months). sometimes i feel really clueless and clumsy as a new mum - praise and encouragement from hv/mw/gp/etc etc has mae me feel really proud that i decided to bf

i dont know how effective the media campaigns are but please appreciate that bf does need to be promoted as a NORMAL thing to do - which will therefore encourage the unsure. a colleague of mine works at the mother and baby unit where we live. the young women there have less than a clue about bf vs ff and come out with the most bizzare assumed reasons why ff is better. there are groups in society who do not make informed decisions about bf and they need to be reached somehow.

given the quote was made by feeding specialist and not a criminologist i think it is appropriate and in context.the context of her research being mode of feeding and probable reasons for duration of breastfeeding