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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

Original poster

Is breastfeeding seen as a middle class thing?

380 replies

Thandeka · 12/07/2010 15:07

Am genuinely curious. Just heard a local children's centre in a deprived area refused to have a breastfeeding support group in it because only the middle class mums would go.

eh?
And I have heard elsewhere that breastfeeding levels are much higher in the middle classes,
Could it linked with education levels?

I have a feeling in other countries people of all classes breastfeed so why not in this country?

Am not posting this to be controversial or anything and apologies if it has been done to death already- I couldn't find anything before but I just wondered if mumsnetters thought it was a middle class thing? and know any reasons why this is?

OP posts:
gateacre1 · 13/07/2010 15:25

I know some middle class prof women who didnt breastfeed, they were following the 4 hr feed routine from a certain book and banker husband wanted to get some sleep and have their wife back. Breast feeding just didnt fit in with the parents routine.

I come from a medical/scientific background so for me the choice to breastfeed was because it is natural product designed by our bodies to nourish our children.
However I found it very hard but did persevere until 6 months.

Breastfeeding is hard and doesnt come naturally to everyone. I felt a huge pressure to be breastfeeding first time around, at play groups/ rhyme time etc if anyone whipped out formula there would be a collective gasp!! ( mostly mc mums)

I have decided that next time around if I cant cope with exclusively bf I will supplement with formula and not feel bad about it!

.

Morloth · 13/07/2010 15:26

Why would you go to the park if you were in a shopping centre? There are no shops at the park.

missedith01 · 13/07/2010 15:28

I never bothered my baby with milk, I let him eat cake.

SirBoobAlot · 13/07/2010 15:28

People have said things to me.

And its made me even more determined to feed wherever the hell I like.

I really couldn't give a damn if people don't like the way I feed my son. Why should I go elsewhere? My son needs feeding - if he was a toddler I would give him a cup to drink from. As he is a baby, he can have some milk from my breast.

You are proving that you do know bog all. And as "us breastfeeding lot" giving "you lot" a bad time... Well, I don't think one person on here has said you should go and feed your child in a toilet, have they?

carriedababi · 13/07/2010 15:28

i'd say it's an education/knowledge thing.

alot of people i know that are wc, as i am, think formula is just as good as bf, and that bf should be done in private etc.

SirBoobAlot · 13/07/2010 15:31

Also, I think you're a bit of an arse for thinking I am selfish for feeding my son as and where. Quite ironic, really. You're trying to banish breastfeeders into toilets, and yet they are the selfish ones...

slushy · 13/07/2010 15:32

Sirboobalot I kinda did but only to try and show her how silly she is being .

SirBoobAlot · 13/07/2010 15:34

We X-posted, so I'll ignore that

Ryoko · 13/07/2010 15:37

We are a nation of many peoples with many traditions and religious sensibilities that should be respected.

one of my friends thinks BF should prepare bottles of it in advance to take out and about, another wants it banned in public.

tiktok · 13/07/2010 15:39

Ryoko - which religion would put a breastfeeding mother in the toilet? Which tradition would equate breastfeeding with changing a nappy on the table in Starbucks?

Morloth · 13/07/2010 15:40

They can think that if they like. They can even say it out loud if they like. If they say it to the wrong person they should be prepared for a nice rounded Fuck Off in reply. As it is my tradition to not indulge stupid people.

Other people's traditions and religious sensibilities rate way below my baby's need to eat when he is hungry as far as I am concerned.

SirBoobAlot · 13/07/2010 15:40

Banishing women to stay inside is not a tradition I will ever respect.

And your friends are as arse-like as you, in that case.

tiktok · 13/07/2010 15:42

The good news is that Ryoko - not for the first time on mumsnet - has simply invented something. This time, she has invented a religion that puts bf women in the toilet.

FioFio · 13/07/2010 15:45

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

Amelia10 · 13/07/2010 15:45

I am considering BF and I am probably what you would consider MC although I don't like being bracketed

I've heard from a number of friends that whilst the NHS etc say is natural and breast is best it can be really difficult to get going and be successful for many mums. So, for what it's worth I think the MC or WC debate is irrelevant, it boils down to how much support you are getting, be that from your midwife, partner/husband and extended family, and I don't think you get more or less support based upon being MC or WC.

slushy · 13/07/2010 15:46

Actually Ryoko what about the Jewish a cow is sacred there so I should imagine you exploiting a sacred animal for it's milk, would be offensive so do you feed your baby in the toilet so as not to offend people of that religion and culture.

Morloth · 13/07/2010 15:46

Yes, I would think most religions pre-date the invention of formula and therefore view keeping a baby alive as a good thing.

tiktok · 13/07/2010 15:54

Some traditions believe no part of the woman's body should be seen at all in public (though these traditions are relaxed about breastfeeding in public, on the whole). Perhaps we should all wear burkas, lest we offend....

Go on, Ryoko. Please tell us which religion wants babies eating in toilets....

mrsgordonfreeman · 13/07/2010 15:54

slushy, it's the Hindus, not the Jews, who revere cows, mainly because they produce milk.

Morloth · 13/07/2010 16:01

In fact don't Islam and Judaism make special allowances for BF mothers in order to make it easier for them? One of my Jewish friends was telling me how she didn't need to fast for an upcoming event because she was BFing.

ArseHolio · 13/07/2010 16:02

This thread is getting worse!

Ryoko if yu don't like seeing women breastfeeding I suggest you stay in.

We are a country of traditions and religious sensibilities..

Surely one 'tradition' you can't argue with is breastfeeding and what do you think the baby Jesus Christ ate ? Do you think Mary stayed in the stable untill he was 2 (or 3 or 5 or 7!) do as not to offend some sensitive soul.

I couldn't be friends with anyone who genuinly thinks breastfeeding should be banned in public.

MoonFaceMama · 13/07/2010 16:05

pmsl at morloth

I too hold dear the tradition of not indulging stupid people.

babymooner · 13/07/2010 16:06

Gosh it's emotive isn't it? And the weird thing is that whichever side of the fence you're on you feel like you're being judged. I BF my DD and DS but had v. low milk supply (turned out was hypothyroid, but that's another story). Topped up from 2 weeks and felt the guilt/judgement so badly I didn't want to go out! Not BF is not always because you want to go out to dinner/go back to work/can't be arsed/don't care about what's best for your baby. Can't we just be happy there's an alternative for babies who might otherwise have failed to thrive?

mrsgordonfreeman · 13/07/2010 16:07

"That women at Ealing Broadway she could have gone to the park for example."

You could have gone to the park so as not to look at her.

I have seen frum Jewish women and Muslim women in hijab breastfeeding in public, so I'm not quite sure whom Ryoko thinks is getting offended here.

I think it's the case that in Saudi Arabia, women are permitted to breastfeed in public.

babymooner · 13/07/2010 16:07

Oh and idea of BF being banned in public is derisive. Although I do shoot looks of envy sometimes