Anyone seen babble.com and webMD being sponsored by Similac and Gerber (Nestle)?

[hunkermunker]

Very good post here about why it is not a good idea - and, more interestingly, perhaps, why the companies want to align their products with breastfeeding.

Their breastfeeding information is being sponsored, that is.

Which I should've put in the title, it now occurs to me.

Schoolboy error...

Sickening isn't it? I can't believe some of the crap on babble.com about breastfeeding :-

Here's a list of foods that most often produce colicky behavior in breastfeeding babies:

Dairy products: milk, cheese, ice cream
Caffeine: coffee, tea, soda
Certain vegetables: broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, onions, green peppers
Tomatoes
Soy products: soybeans, soy milk, tofu
Nuts (including peanuts)
Shellfish
Chocolate
Citrus fruits: oranges, grapefruits, lemons
Wheat
Chicken
Beef
Eggs
Corn
Prenatal vitamins

I'll be eating what then? And as prenatal vits can cause colic I can't even have the back up vits to suppliment my very restricted diet

this is unbelievable. glad i (usually unless desperate!) boycott nestle!

Good lord, I am astonished any breastfed baby gets through a day if it is that complicated! Make breastfeeding sound complicated, then women will feel it is ok to stop? Hmm...

TruthSweet, I was just going to post that list!! Basically, anything can cause colic in your baby :) Maybe breastfeeding mothers should just drink breastmilk :o

it's a very good point hunker, I read all the books etc and fully expected to have a whole range of problems, and probably stop within a couple of weeks. I didn't, and can only assume that an NCT group, MN and luck

And the WebMD strapline is better information better health.

AngelDog - it is 'better' information just not the best information (think CBC vs white-van-man who would you pick for breastfeeding advice?).

I'm obviously going to say MumsNet and TikTok are the best!

All in all though shame on WebMD and Babble.com for showing money matters but the health of their consumers doesn't

I also love the intro to the Babble.com article :-

True, there are probably some new mothers who do waltz right into that idyllic scene. But many new moms limp there, feeling engorged, massaging their way through blocked milk ducts, gritting their teeth through cracked, sore nipples, wondering if that broccoli they ate the dinner before is what's making their infant howl through the night. But either way, if you muddle through ? past whatever common breastfeeding problems may await you ? you may get to the promised land.

The 'promised land' being Nestle World I mean reading that you feel any woman who even contemplates breastfeeding is nuts.

Trouble is the more mis-information being spread by sites like this the more women who will end up with those sorts of problems. If the article didn't put the idea into a mother's head that the food she eats will likely make her baby cry why would she be worrying about the brocolli instead of trying to find out what was really wrong (probably nothing that a good cuddle, clean nappy and a warm boob wouldn't sort).

The thing with food causing colickiness is that sometimes a baby will just fuss, for no discernible reason, other than "feeling a bit grouchy". It could be a scratchy sleepsuit label, fgs! But no, blaming the mother for eating the "wrong" thing, that is easier(!).

There's a whole lot of misogyny and mistrust around breastfeeding - what, WOMEN, doing something competent with their bodies, something that isn't for the gratification of men? Are you QUITE sure?! There's no option with pregnancy, so it's tolerated, but once the baby's out, really, you must cease all this revolting biological norm stuff and use something man-made instead, immediately. Or it'll just be difficult and your nipples will bleed and you will Only Have Yourself To Blame.

or an itch. I've often thought it must be horrendous to lie there with a huge itch on your leg and not being able to scracth it.
It's hard being a baby

YES! I am always very careful never to touch a baby in that, "You will need to rub that bit to take away the tickle" way? Because imagine not being coordinated enough to be able to scratch an itch?! Or did I overthink? It has been known...