A funny thing to say

[gluttom]

I was at my mum's today and breast feeing dd who is 13 weeks. Dd is a chubby girl and my mum suddenly says - it's so amazing that she has grown so big and healthy just from your breast milk. It was a compliment but I just think it is an odd thing to say when we are mammals and designed to feed our young. I wonder why people think breast milk isn't enough ( I know my mum was sceptical after ff her children and encouraging me to give formula on day 2 with my ds as he was starving! )

Instead of meaning to insinuate that breast milk isn't enough maybe she just meant that nature is amazing to have created such a perfect substance.
I agree with her!

I remember a woman in a shop once trying to give me a free packet of baby rice and her jaw absolutely dropping when I explained that 5m-old ds was still only exclusively bfed. (He looked like the michelin man.) Tbh looking at the photos I am still sometimes amazed he blimped up like that on just my milk.

otoh, baby fur seals gain - what is it? 20lbs a day? - so we're really just amateurs

I've just had to put dd2 on ff as she wasn't gaining any weight at all being bf...

not sure where i'm going with this but there you are :)

dd2 gained just over 2lbs in 3 months, not much at all, i put her on formula and she gained a pound in a week!

dd1 otoh was humungous on just bf

still not sure where i'm going sorry....

It's weird isn't it - their generation was so brainwashed by society/formula companies that formula was SO much better than breastmilk... it must be weird for them to see the visible proof otherwise.

Daenerys sorry it didn't work out for you BTW

I think a certain generation of mums swore by formula, my mum included. She was zapped hen I flew home with bubba when he was 5mo and EBF and was too heavy to lift with one arm (he had fallen off the NHS percentile charts for weight). My mum was sure I needed formula to keep up with his needs since he was so very big. Had to patiently explain that he got that big with being Ebf .
Smile and nod and some more.

My friend's baby was exclusively breastfed and at 6 months was on the 98th centile. He's huuuuuge! Made even more amusing by the fact that his mum is a very petite woman.

My DS was also exclusively breastfed but has always been a skinny lean baby. Fortunately I'm pigheaded enough to ignore anyone making noises about formula topups.

Though I'm hoping for a chubbier one this time around with DC2

I know what you mean OP - I had a health visitor say exactly the same to me when I took DS to get weighed. She also asked me if I was feeding him to sleep and letting him comfort suck and when I said 'Yes' she came out with: ' Oh dear, you don't want to end up being his dummy as well as his milk bottle.'

Pfft.

DS was teeny tiny at birth and on just breastmilk ( apart from when he was in NICU for low blood sugar and given formula - don't get me started on that one...) his weight gain was amazing and he's such a little chunker :) Love his fat little thighs :o

My mum said almost the exact same thing word for word but I think I've swayed her now tbh. The only glitch was NYE when she had him and he wouldn't take a bottle, I'd explained a few times it might happen and the call me back if it did but she said that 'it's natural, all babies take bottles'

My MIL said this to me a few times but it was very definitely meaning isn't nature amazing and look what you've done :) For all her faults she is brilliant bf support.

I said the same to DH at 6mths before DD was weaned! I definitely meant it as isn't the human body incredible kind of way, so don't be too offended. I still get amazed at the whole process of a baby growing though - even though it's been happening for millions of years, it doesn't mean that it isn't worth being impressed at.

Along the lines of 'aren't women amazing' I still express surprise at my body's ability to feed DD. Mind you, i still can't believe I conceived her, kept her inside me for 9 months and pushed her out!

I'm pretty sure the message for me is to have more faith in female evolution!

Ahem. Another pinniped-related fact: grey seals (the ones we find round our shores) treble their bodyweight in 18-20 days of suckling. Seal milk resembles custard it's so full of fat. Then they are on their own. Just imagine if they were exclusively breast fed for six months.

I think your mum was probably just marvelling OP.

I guess it depends how she said it what she meant by it, but I remember sitting there looking at my 5 or 6 month old's leg and it suddenly hitting me that somehow, I'd grown him completely from nothing to a crawling little independent being. I had to sit down for a moment at the wonder of it all.

chunky i did the same... I remember thinking how incredible it was that every single atom of his being had beeen consumed by me and turned into him. Made my (mild) OCD very happy :)

Dh and I often said the same about dd. That it was strange in an "isn't that amazing" type way.

I remember thinking the same thing when my HV made a similar comment about how well DS was doing (98th centile) considering he was BF. I thought surely if anything is specifically designed to put weight on him it would be breast milk?

So I agree, strange thing to say when you think about it.

Glad to have found this as today my mum asked me when I was going to add something with a bit more oomph to it that bm to DD diet like baby rice! DD is only 11 weeks and nicknamed Tublette she is so chinby [exceptionally pleased with myself smiley]