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Infant feeding

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channel 4 breastfeeding programme

816 replies

lazycow · 23/01/2006 14:20

Just thought people might be interested if you don't already know.

Channel 4 on Weds 1 Feb. A programme called Extraordinary Breastfeeding is on. The write up in the magazine I'm looking at says:

"You'll be texting your friends about this as soon as it starts. It's about the phenomenon of mothers who breastfeed their kiddies well beyond the age considered 'normal' in this country. Seeing a feisty mum breastfeed her two-year-old twin isn't that disturbing, but the sequence of another lady suckling her 7 year old dughter isn't one we will forget in a hurry. "

I'm looking forward to seeing the tone it takes.

OP posts:
nanneh · 26/01/2006 09:58

Fairymum - I applaud you for BF-ing a toddler on the tube. You are far braver than me. I am all talk and no trousers at the ned of the day because I am sacred to death of BF-ing in public in London now that DS is 19 months old. Thankfully he is so distracted when we are out he never asks for a feed. But he feeds 5 - 6 a day when we are at home.
You should tell you colleagues that in a "civilised society" women who BF would not be stigmatised and called animals. What bollocks !

I reckon MoM is right. They are just jealous

harpsichordcarrier · 26/01/2006 10:15

I have an expression for it
WTE
Weaned Too Early
sometimes WTFE
I reckon they all were
lactation envy [green]

kittyfish · 26/01/2006 10:18

Heard on R4 recently a programme about a bfing campaigner up north somewhere. The mums (alot of them young mums on benefits) said how breast feeding their babies would make them feel like cows being milked. This attitude came from their mums and grandmothers who all formula fed. Unfortunately there are big bucks in formula and none in bfing. The other point made on this programme is that if you are on benefit you get extra coupons to buy formula or other food which was seen as an incentive to formula feed.

kittyfish · 26/01/2006 10:19

My sil bfed in church once - I am far too cowardly for that but big up to Fairy Mum.

nanneh · 26/01/2006 10:23

kitty - if you look on the thread re. "myths heard in hospital" you will see that some FF mothers are under the impression (totally wrong of course) that it is the BF mothers who have all the support and money off coupons.

It's a very sad tale of deliberate misinformation, lies, crap TV programmes and video tapes perpetrated by the media who are probably in bed with bloody NESTLE (I hope they all rot in hell, etc)

kittyfish · 26/01/2006 10:38

It is all madness. How anyone can think that formula is better than mums milk is beyond me. Formula manufacturers should be forced to give 75% of their profits to promoting bfing.

harpsichordcarrier · 26/01/2006 10:43

I have bf in many many places of worship
no synagogue yet, but there is time
I seem to remember soemthing about "suffer the little children..."

RedZuleika · 26/01/2006 10:46

I saw the preview last night and it made me cringe too. If I had a seven or ten year still wanting comfort at the breast, I'd wonder what I was doing wrong to provide emotional support in other ways...

Something else I was musing on last night:

I believe that lactational amenorrhea is the most common form of birth control, globally. In a culture where there is no other birth control and women could be open to child bearing for, say, twenty years, or possibly more, surely there's an interest in breast-feeding for longer? In this country, where increasingly women are shoe-horning families into their (later) 30s, one can't afford to breast-feed for a long time, if it's going to affect your chances of a subsequent conception.

Just a thought...

nanneh · 26/01/2006 10:47

harpsi - many of the Orthodox Jewish mothers in my part of London seem to BF their toddlers (in the Synagogue as well ?). I think it is supported by their religion because there are refs. in the Old Testament (and Torah ?) to the prophets wives nursing or being nursed up the age of 3 years old. Any one Jewish here who could put my facts right please ? I am fasinated by this actually.

ssd · 26/01/2006 10:57

emkana - why are you sighing at me?

harpsichordcarrier · 26/01/2006 11:01

yes, that is interesting nanneh, I had heard something similar - that it is the "right" of the child up till three (I am probably expressing that badly)

nanneh · 26/01/2006 15:02

kitty - excellent point about making companies pay up.

I wish it was just money though. One of the worst stats. that brings tears to my eyes is that nearly 2 mil. babies die globally because they were not breastfed to fight off disease. Worse still, people like Nestle go around the world flogging their branded mineral water which you are advised to buy on top of their formula powder. Research has shown that most of these bottled waters have dangerous levels of chemicals not suitable for a newborn. The BMA advises mothers against using these bottled waters to make up formula.

I wonder if there have been any class actions against these companies for "corporate manslaughter" the way some people have litigated against the tabacco companies ? I will have to search the net to see if there have been any such court cases.

The sad thing is the vast majority of those baby deaths take place in the poorest countries and they won't have the money to pursue legal cases, but I wonder if there have been any legal cases in Europe or USA ? I will have to look into it when I have time.

FairyMum · 26/01/2006 18:08

The woman who feeds her 7 year old is in Now magazine this week. Apparenlty the daughters eyes lights up when they see her breasts as her breasts are part of the family and they don't like her wearing a bra as it "traps" her breasts.
Oh....and apparently they prefer breastmilk to chocolate.
And oh....She thinks the "bitty" sketch from Little Britain can help raise bf awareness.
Think I might give programme a miss as feeling slightly dizzy after reading that article.

pupuce · 26/01/2006 18:12

Fairymum - is she called Veronika Robinson?
She is the editor of a very good alternative parenting mag... not for everyone... granted... but popular around the world.

CarolinaMoon · 26/01/2006 18:12

"her breasts are part of the family" ROFLMAO!!

My breasts aren't so much trapped as reined in to keep them free of my shoes atm.

FairyMum · 26/01/2006 18:13

Yes it is Veronika Robinson.

Rodeo · 26/01/2006 21:29

Saw the preview too and really liked the image of twins sat up on one each boob on the sofa, looking all relaxed and comfy. Think I may convert to an extended feeder after all

Pruni · 26/01/2006 21:29

Message withdrawn

Squarer · 26/01/2006 21:46

Oooh, Pruni.. did you say classy??? I'll pencil it in my diary then

Just read the whole thread and am still amused by Harpsi's early quote "you don't want to peak too early with your revulsion". lol

Of course, I will also be pencilling in is Mumsnet for before and after.... Channel 4 used to be an intelligent thought provoking safe harbour, but has for a while been vying with the tabloids for sensationalism. Live and let live, but that never sells anything.

kiskidee · 26/01/2006 22:30

nanneh and harpsi, not quite the daughter of a prophet but here is another 'person' who was breastfed till she was 3.

On Lammas-eve at night shall she be fourteen;
That shall she, marry: I remember it well.
'T is since the earthquake now eleven years;
And she was wean'd, I never shall forget it,
Of all the days of the year, upon that day;
?Shakespeare. Romeo and Juliet. Act I, Scene 3

(Juliet was 3 years old when she was weaned)

Spidermama · 26/01/2006 22:33

Oh well found kiskidee. I've read that so many times and never made the connection or done the arithmetic. Excellent.

Spidermama · 26/01/2006 22:46

Also the suggestion there is that she weaned abruptly, perhaps because of the shock of the earthquake, which implies they routinely went on for longer in those days.

Of course the weaning method was somewhat cruel as the nurse in R&J also mentions. I don't have the quote to hand but it's something about putting wormwood on your dugs.

I once made tea from wormwood I'd bought in the health food shop and gave it to my dh by accident. I was trying out new hippy experiences and had mistaken it for something edible. (St. John's Wort I think). He sprayed it out of mouth and nostrils in a shower and retched for about 20 minutes thereafter. It was quite extreme. He still brings it up fairly regularly.

Have any of your dh's tasted wormwood?

Pixel · 26/01/2006 23:43

I've skimmed through this thread and am surprised that so many people think it is unusual to breastfeed for a long time. I fed my son until he was 3.5, I have a friend who did the same and another friend who fed hers until he was 5. It wasn't something we really discussed as we were doing it because it felt natural, not because of anyone else's opinion. I reckon it's more common than you think, it's just that people are reluctant to admit to it after a certain age and tend to avoid feeding in public. And no, I'm not part of some weird hippy commune, we are all quite respectable

nanneh · 27/01/2006 10:18

KK - thanks so much for that beautiful verse. Its funny most of us have probably read it at school, but never really thought about it. I must have been about 14 or 15 when I read it at school and probably BF was the last thing on mind, so didn't make the connection !

I think a sociologist (I am not one!) would make it very clear that what is an odd or not odd age to wean is a matter of "socilaisation" in human society. Clearly throughout history toddlers have had BM to a much later age without anyone thinking the mother is odd.

I think if we could properly communicate with chimps who apparently breastfeed to the equivalent "human" age of 7, they would be quite annoyed if we suggested they force their baby chimps off the breast sooner because some prudish, more "classy" chimps didn't like to watch or that they should give their babies say coconut milk as an alternative to chimp-milk because it was unseemly to BF a chimp beyond the age of one

FairyMum · 27/01/2006 10:24

I personally don't mind if somebody want to bf older children. I think it's odd, but there are worse things to worry about in this world imo. However, I think it's bad judgement by this mother who goes on this progarmme. In the UK we are not even at the stage where bf an older baby/toddloer is accepted, so what is her motivation for bf her 10 year-olds on TV? She is very naive if she thinks this promotes bf.