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Infant feeding

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

Original poster

You know the way advertising formula is banned...

119 replies

Tatties · 19/02/2006 11:28

...well is there anything to stop the subtle promotion of formula feeding in other ways - like this for example? The story has nothing to do with feeding babies so why show a picture of a baby with a bottle? On the news this morning there was a story about women who have babies earlier missing out on their careers (different issue...), and on the clip it showed newborn babies in hospital being fed with little cow & gate bottles!

OP posts:
Racers · 19/02/2006 22:05

Ok - will wait to hear back from NQC first though (no pressure NQC, it's just that I'm really not sure what approach to take - how much detail to go into or whether to approach a bf organisation first etc)

ladymuck · 19/02/2006 22:07

I think that the bfeeding on tv soaps etc is just a tricky one because it is hard to find lactating actresses, and in fact if you want to do shots with babies in then they tend to be most settled if they are feeding (and unless you happened to get hold of a baby of a lactating actress that pretty much means via bottle even wheere it is ebm).

Racers · 19/02/2006 22:17

Thanks ladymuck though I wasn't imagining there would be a need for big close-ups or anything. Surely a sleeping baby or even doll (as I'm sure they must use sometimes) could be used. Not ideal, I know, but other things are not done 'for real' eg childbirth (!) and so while they might not be 100% realistic, they are representing the event.

Racers · 19/02/2006 22:35

Think you are right about Judy Mallett. Also, time for the NCT to have another moan?!

lockets · 19/02/2006 22:42

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

TicTac · 20/02/2006 02:35

Hi, I don't normally post outside my now post natal thread so sorry if I am jumping in. I had my first baby 4 weeks ago and wanted to BF because it was "the right thing to do" plus my idea was it would be easier then dealing with bottles etc. As it happens we have done well with the BF up until last week. My DD lost 12 ounces of her birth weight and still not gained it back, plus despite endless feeds she didn't settle of a night.
I decided to combine feed however, the guilt and the "I'm not good enough" emotions where out in force and I cried for hours at being a failure. However, having seen how settled and happy both me and my baby our with combined feeding I think you just have to do whatever is right for both mother and baby.
I know what you mean about Bf mums sometimes being a bit holier then though. I am part of an NCT group and the ladies we went through the classes with are fab but some of the other members have asked on meeting me.."are you feeding her yourself" and when I have said yes, I have been met with grins and approval..so yes, they are holier then though...I avoid these woman!

I think mother and baby decisions and relationships are like the Vatican..the rules are made between the 2 of you and nobody else should feel the right to judge....

An opinion is always healthy!

hunkermunker · 20/02/2006 08:44

Interesting to see a quote about bfeeding from Patsy "I'll sell my soul to Cow & Gate for a few quid" Palmer on that link.

Caligula · 20/02/2006 08:56

"the only mother with a young baby on the soap at the moment was Sarah-Louise Platt and that because she is supposed to be a 13-year-old in the show it would have been inappropriate to show her breastfeeding."

And it would have been inappropriate why???

harpsichordcarrier · 20/02/2006 09:00

that's a very interesting article, I thought. I agree that the cultural change is the important one, and normalising bf is the key.
to be normal, it must be visible

Greensleeves · 20/02/2006 09:08

If it wasn't "inappropriate" for her to have a baby at 13, how can it possibly have been "inappropriate" or her to be shown feeding it? The implication is that sexual intercourse is somehow less risque than breastfeeding!! We really do have a very significant hang-up about tits in this country.

Caligula · 20/02/2006 09:10

I can't ever remember Susannah in Brookie actually being shown breastfeeding, but her breast pump was on camera, it was in the script "have you seen my breast pump?" "I'll express some milk and leave it in the fridge so I can go out", the cabbage leaves thing etc.

You don't actually have to show an actress breastfeeding, in order to show that it's happening.

Elf1981 · 20/02/2006 09:10

Misdee, your comment on Sunday at 5:34:35 about why bottle feeding mothers are defensive...

because (I feel) they are sometimes made to feel like lepers / evil people by "smug" breastfeeders.

Before I get shouted at, I breastfeed. My DD is 20 weeks old this Thursday and I am still breastfeeding. I plan to breastfeed until she's at least a year old. I am expressing like mad so that she had breastmilk while I am at work. I believe that people should try breastfeeding (cant say it wont work if not tried). However, banning pictures of babies with bottles, how silly! Yes, breast is nutritionally best, but seriously, a ban on pictures of babies with bottles will not increase breastfeeding rates. As somebody pointed out, how do you know its not expressed milk in the bottle?

I once had a woman give me a filthy look and tut because I was bottle feeding my DD. She was making comments to her friends about how nobody breastfeeds. I resisted the urge to tell her to eff off as it was EBM.

Caligula · 20/02/2006 09:10

Absolutely Greensleeves. Barking.

CarolinaMoon · 20/02/2006 09:10

4 weeks old is pretty early to be expecting a baby to settle at night tbh.

I'm not convinced ds had regained his birth weight at 3 weeks. He lost over a pound in hospital and the community MW's student misread the scale when he was discharged from her care at 10 days - she thought he'd regained it, but he hadn't. I didn't get him weighed again until nearly 4wo . He is 15mo and doing fine weight-wise.

There's an awful lot of pressure put on mums about babies' weight by HVs and hosp staff, and imho quite a lot of it stems from the fact that ffed babies don't lose birth weight, you can see what's going in and all the rest of it. If bf was accepted as the normal thing to do, it would be more apparent that it can be ok for babies to lose some weight immediately after birth, and if the loss is as much as 12oz, it's not likely to be regained by 2wo.

I'm not saying this to have a go at your choices, I just think we're often not given the support we need to make a free choice about feeding.

CarolinaMoon · 20/02/2006 09:12

god I type slowly. That was a reply to TicTac's post.

Greensleeves · 20/02/2006 09:20

Aaaah...maybe the reason breastfeeding is seen as more offensive/risque than sex (even underage sex ) is because it represents a woman using her breasts for something other than titillating a man. Perhaps it is subversive/threatening to the male agenda in a way that sexual intercourse/teenage pregnancy/toplessness on beaches are not? It's not the flashing-your-boobs-in-public that's offensive, it's the fact that it is a non-sexual act which represents a woman taking control of a part of her body which is supposed to be there solely for the pleasure of men. Is that too militant?

Greensleeves · 20/02/2006 09:21

sorry, didn't mean to hijack, just brain-rot.

CarolinaMoon · 20/02/2006 09:27

go Greensleeves! go Greensleeves!...

I think you're on to something there. It is deffo an unmentionable topic for lots of people (hence the "feeding him/her yourself" euphemism I guess) in a way that's reminiscent of the 1950s. How come bf hasn't kept up with the rest of our tits-out, sub-porn culture? It's got to be because it's not done for the benefit of men's sexual appetites, hasn't it?

Greensleeves · 20/02/2006 09:31

That's it!! I'm sure it has to be more than just the possibility of someone catching a glimpse of boob. It MUST be because it excludes them... they've engineered society into the position where men have basically owned women's bodies for centuries - we've won much of our autonomy back (not legal to beat or rape us in a marital context any more, etc) but they still consider women's breasts to be their property. Breastfeeding is subversive, because it threatens that.

harpsichordcarrier · 20/02/2006 09:34

carolinamoon your post is very sensible
this obsession with the weight charts is barking and very undermining and contibutres hugely to bf failure ime

harpsichordcarrier · 20/02/2006 09:35

you're absolutely right greensleeves btw

Enid · 20/02/2006 09:36

is that true about corrie? thats awful.

god we really are screwed up in this country.

unfortunately breast feeding seems to be less and less popular IME

shame.

hunkermunker · 20/02/2006 09:57

Doesn't help that it's undermined at every turn, be it by health professionals, friends and relatives or in less obvious ways such as cards to celebrate the baby's arrival, babygros, etc.

And the argument that it could be EBM in the bottle is arse, IMO.

tiktok · 20/02/2006 10:45

There is a great deal more to worry about vis a vis breastfeeding support than concerns about a website showing a (long past newborn) baby using a bottle - I don't equate that with formula promotion, for start, and picture editors who choose these pics are reflecting the cultural normality of bottle feeding, and possibly reinforcing it, yes, but (IMHO) life is too short to email websites to complain.

The risk is you will be seen as wanting to 'ban' bottle feeding, and you will come across as a nutter.

Ditto breastfeeding in soaps. Soaps have no real public education remit, and play fast and loose with all sorts of 'truth' for the sake of the drama. When someone develops an illness, for example, the writers will try to make some of it believable but the drama will always come first. Write if you want - but I think it's a waste of time, and does not affect people's feeding choices a scrap.

I am far more concerned with the rubbish support mothers get from maternity units and health visitors - people whose job it is, ffs, to get it right.

TicTac - close namesake - a baby still struggling to regain 12 lost ounces at four weeks is clearly not feeding effectively, but this should have been spotted long before a month was up, by the people whose job it is to spot it!

What sort of response do you want when people ask if you are bf, and you answer 'yes'? Criticism? Do you not think they were trying to encourage you, not make themselves feel holy?

Personally, I never ask if someone is bf, because it's a sensitive area! Smile and encourage, and you are accused of being smug and holier than thou!! make no reaction at all and it could be construed as disapproval....can't win : )

TicTac · 20/02/2006 10:54

Tiktok - The weight thing has been picked up but I have managed to avoid referral because DD feeds well, settles in the day and is generally a very happy baby so given she did not loose any more weight the MW have just not discharged us yet!

General
she was just feeding round the clock at night so I was not getting any rest myself...and I mean no rest which I did not feel was healthy for either of us. We are both doing very now we have taken the combined route. I think it is a mothers personal choice what route she takes to feed her baby and it is nobody elses business, that goes for breast or bottle feeders. I don't think anybody but the mother has a right to comment on any 1 child!
As per my previous post I am pro breast and enjoy feeding that way but I would never dream of even saying "oh shame" to a bottle feeder...I think both methods can be bloody hard work and both will get critised by on lookers....I know I got a disgraced tut when I was feeding in Costa coffee on Saturday. I was facing a wall and you could not see even a tiny bit of breast but some daft bird thought it fine to tut and shake her head at me. Belive me, a polo neck shirt flashes more flesh then I was!