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Original poster

To feel annoyed trees were cut down to print this anti-breastfeeding article

607 replies

cherrymama · 21/06/2010 14:16

In the latest edition of Mother and Baby magazine (I bought it for the free gift) the deputy editor has an article about breastfeeding. In it she says that she "couldn't be fagged" to breastfeed and that breastfeeding her newborn using breasts that had previously been used for sex would feel "creepy". And that even the health benefits of breastfeeding "wouldn't induce her to stick her nipple in her bawling baby's mouth."

I think her attitude is horrible! I understand many people try to breastfeed and don't manage, but to say that it is creepy is another thing.

OP posts:
posieparker · 22/06/2010 19:46

I think you'll find most women who try to bf feel shite for giving up, whether people are supportive or not.

posieparker · 22/06/2010 19:48

des, you have no idea how I fed my babies or for how long they were bf.

And it is true that a middle class educated woman is more likely to bf, they're not the only ones.

hellymelly · 22/06/2010 19:49

Giveittomebabylikeboomboo your posts are excellent and I agree with everything you've said and wish that I'd put it so clearly.(have PMT so may be erring towards ranty..)
I

ticktockclock · 22/06/2010 19:50

"yes, DDDixon if you can you should."

you think not! Once again it is attitudes and comments like THIS that do not help mothers.

Oh yes I should have ff my DD whilst laying on the floor in my own vomit with a fever because of the infection raging in my liver from the gallstone that was stuck there. Not to speak of the copious amounts narcotics that were laced through my body. Oh yes well I should have slapped on my DD to my breast because that is what it is there for and breast is best.

Give me strength!!

ticktockclock · 22/06/2010 19:50

"yes, DDDixon if you can you should."

you think not! Once again it is attitudes and comments like THIS that do not help mothers.

Oh yes I should have bf my DD whilst laying on the floor in my own vomit with a fever because of the infection raging in my liver from the gallstone that was stuck there. Not to speak of the copious amounts narcotics that were laced through my body. Oh yes well I should have slapped on my DD to my breast because that is what it is there for and breast is best.

Give me strength!!

posieparker · 22/06/2010 19:52

If you can bf you should. Apparently TCC you couldn't.

Is it just me who thinks it rather ironic that your posting name is similar to one of most informed bf posters?

ticktockclock · 22/06/2010 19:52

oops darn double posting first one was written incorrectly.

Olifin · 22/06/2010 19:53

BF a current 'trend' Ha! If only!

And as for Boden and BF going hand in hand....words fail me. I wouldn't be seen dead in Boden; I buy most of my clothes in Primark/new Look/Charity shops as that is what my budget allows.

I am certainly not what I would consider to be middle class!
And I'm happy to say I've met lots of women from different social classes BFing their babies.

Mumcentreplus · 22/06/2010 19:54

blardy hell!...

4madboys · 22/06/2010 19:54

i already commented on that posieparker! it does seem odd!

and i will agree that i feel crap about the fact that i couldnt bfeeding ds4 BUT pro bfeeding articles and information are NOT what makes me feel that way.

unfortunately guilt is part of motherhood

ticktockclock · 22/06/2010 19:56

My posting name has nothing to do with the other tiktok it is merely a strange co-incidence and a further one that we happen to be posting on the same thread. Never knew about her before and her I (as far as I have made out). Been a member of MN for 4 years and the first time I have come across. It has obviously caused some confusion on this thread.

Animation · 22/06/2010 20:03

There's a lot of rigid black and white talk. Right versus wrong, good versus bad, like it's some kind of competition.

Having read this whole thread - I'm beginning to see this article as a breath of fresh air. Yes, it might of been a bit OTT and tongue in cheek - but the author finds the prospect of BF creepy. It's a feeling - it's normal, it's not wrong or bad. She's not saying that BF is creepy as in a fact. And who knows by now she may have moved on from that feeling, and feel quite differently now. Feelings forever change, and that's normal.

giveittomebabylikeboomboomboom · 22/06/2010 20:04

"Quick! Hide the pro-FF literature in case the proles are influenced by it!"

Life isn't fair is it? Children from the most disadvantaged backgrounds get the worst of everything in the UK - housing, education, diet in childhood........ and it starts at birth with them being denied the optimal and safest nutrition - their own mothers' milk. It's a bloody shame.

Is not women's fault - it's our fucked up culture that perpetuates the view that breastfeeding - a normal biological process - is actually a competitive parenting practice or a transient 'trend' (and of course we all know the poorest people in this society don't feel they deserve 'the best' - 'good enough' will do for them and their babies)

BrigitteBardot · 22/06/2010 20:27

I find it shocking that people stating facts about the normal way to feed infant mammals should have to constantly justify themselves and stave off criticism.
FF has won, is preponderant and omnipotent and still, people who regret this, are not allowed to say so. It's just insane.

Olifin · 22/06/2010 20:31

You speaketh sense Brigitte.

BrigitteBardot · 22/06/2010 20:34

Sorry for the bad punctuation.

Animation · 22/06/2010 20:41

@BrigitteBardot.

I don't think anyone has disputed that breast milk is great for babies. Those who don't bf or who switch to ff along the line seem to be the ones who get the patronising treatment and who have justify themselves, from what I can see.

giveittomebabylikeboomboomboom · 22/06/2010 20:42

"Having read this whole thread - I'm beginning to see this article as a breath of fresh air. Yes, it might of been a bit OTT and tongue in cheek - but the author finds the prospect of BF creepy. It's a feeling - it's normal, it's not wrong or bad"

Finding breastfeeding creepy is about as 'normal' as finding defacating 'creepy' because you prefer to see your anus primarily as a sexual part of your body. Imagine if colostomy bags were cheap and unproblematic..... people could use their bums for sex only. Do you think we'd be saying 'oh how refreshing to hear someone lauding their right to have a colostomy bag instead of being slave to the privy like the rest of us'? No - we'd be saying 'how bloody dysfunctional is that?'

But it would matter less because the only person who'd be affected by their choice to circumnavigate a normal physiological process would be themselves, and not a vulnerable, voiceless baby.

Animation · 22/06/2010 20:47

@giveittomebabylikeboomboo

Don't be so silly.

4madboys · 22/06/2010 20:50

WHERE do those who formula feed or switch from bfeeding to formula get patronised and have to justify themselves?

sorry i am just wondering as i formula fed and tho i sometimes feel the need to justify it and feel guilty i am very aware that that is MY OWN ISSUE and not because bfeeding is promoted!

hellymelly · 22/06/2010 20:53

Yes,anything that presents bf as unnatural and freaky is shocking to me ,how would we feel,on taking our cat to the vet when she was pregnant to be asked "is your cat going to use brand x formula? Or will she TRY to breastfeed?Of course she might fail,but that's what Brand X has been designed for,it has extra bacteria that are just like the natural bacteria in your cat's body,so you can rest assured that if your cat,like many others,can't actually breastfeed,then brand x is there for you.At only £6.99 a tin."

amothersplaceisinthewrong · 22/06/2010 20:57

Breastfeeding is not creepy, but its bloody hard work and overrated.

Once oculd also argue it completely excludes fathers. there was an artile/discussion on here a week or so ago about Fathers being unable to bond because of witnessing the birth of their children. Tosh. However, I do think that demand breasfeeding whilst cosleeping and ousting DH/DP to a a child's bed might exclude fathers...

chipmonkey · 22/06/2010 20:58

Sorry but at bf being the "current trend"
Bit of a long trend that's lasted 250 million years!

mistletoekisses · 22/06/2010 21:02

Morloth posted a way back and I agree with her.

I come from an Indian background and everyone, from my aunts to my cousins have been able to breastfeed. Out of the whole extended family, no one has struggled with bfeeding. And I think a huge part of this comes down to the programming and environment we are surrounded by. When I was tired, my aunts and mother rallied round me. I am not going to say that bfeeding was easy, but oh my word, it was simply heavenly.

So in the spirit of free speech that everyone keeps referring too, I will add my tuppence worth

  1. I feel incredibly sorry that this deputy editor feels the way she does. Because having bfed both my DS's for 6 months and then moved onto FF, for me nothing can ever match the closensess/ connection and sheer heaven that is bfeeding! IMO she has missed out.
  2. I think that this article will only increase the culture of can't/ won't
  3. I think the language used is totally inappropriate and I would be hard pushed to bring to mind an article where formula feeding is presented in such derogatory terms. Her article actually reminds me of that evening standard article by an equally strident female journalist.

How anyone can think bfeeding is creepy is beyond me. She definitely needs some help.

BrigitteBardot · 22/06/2010 21:05

FF has to be the biggest marketeers success in history.
BF rates are pathetically low and the health authorities strategy is to try to at least improve public's knowledge about the facts. Yet, it seems acceptable for the deputy editor of a leading Mothering magazine to publish an article which actually insults BF.