BREAST FEEDING AS A SUBJECT IN SCHOOLS?

[GEM33]

Hi, I'm not a political person, I'm not intellectual, I'm not a hippy type or radical about anything. I consider myself to be an average jo. I dont have a problem with people who have to formula feed, however recently, I am getting on my high horse about breast feeding.

When I was pregnant I decided I would ebf mainly because my mum ebfd me and we are told breast is best. Other than this I knew nothing about bf. I think in my life (other than my mum) I only recall ever seeing maybe 2 women bf in public.

Baby arrived, the midwife shoved her on my boob, without waiting to give me chance to go step by step how to do it. I ended up with a bad latch, massive cracked nipple and thrush. After seeing several mid wives, I went to a lactation consultant who showed me how to latch on properly (11 weeks old).

Ive now been bf'ing for nearly 10 months and have found that in my area there are only a handful of other bf'ing mums.

My issues are to do with attitudes and knowledge/ I now get comments from people,
ooh is she getting enough now shouldn't she be on a bottle?.
Or,
urgh, youre STILL bf'ing?
I have met soooo many mothers who say, "oh my god bf'ing no way thats disgusting" or
'my baby was premature my milk didnt come in \or
I tried but I stopped bf'ing because I had a hungry baby it fed all the time.

I had a meeting with work recently about my return and the overall impression given was, well, youre baby is on solids now, as if why bother with the bf'ing and a complete lack of knowledge, I was told to ask my health visitor what times I should express my milk so I could tell work what times I need to express when I go back?!!!

This thread isn't about me personally, please dont comment about my rough start, Im over it. This thread isn't to make ffers feel bad and I'm not judging.

What its about is, how can a human basic function suckling young like all mammals do be so alien to some people, and so little knowledge about it?
we dont bat an eyelid seeing a sheep feeding its lamb, dog with puppies etc.
Aren't we going wrong somewhere if mothers are saying "urgh bf'ing yuk". Should we be teaching kids at school about b.fing or making it a part of the antenatal presentations and then when it comes to having a baby people can make an informed choice.?

Maybe this is just a problem within my area, I dont know?! I wish bf was seen as normal and not cause this odd feeling I get from most people as if its strange or family members thinking Im a possessive mother for wanting to bf.

I agree with bertie, I never said we should teach how to latch at school. i mean just get kids thinking about it as a natural process and explain as listed by bertie the health benefits of bf.
someone questioned my comment about the healthy pregnancy comment i made, i think i said that referring to a study that showed if a woman was breast fed she is less likeyl to have a premature preg. im only quoting what i read.
of course there are people who maybe wanted to bf but couldnt or for their own mental and emotional health its better for them to ff. i said in the start this wasnt a thread against ff. just a "what can we do to change attitudes" kind of post about bfing and arm people from a young age with knoweldge (or in antenatal class) so that an informed decision can be made.

I think it would be way more beneficial at school than in antenatal classes. Much better for it to seep into everyone's general consciousness in the same way as any other general knowledge, over generations that would mean that husbands, sisters, brothers, aunties, uncles, parents and even grandparents would be more likely to offer advice that came from a place of well informed knowledge rather than kindly intentioned inaccuracies.

If you save it just for antenatal classes that's a very select group of people you're speaking to, and by that point anyway it's too late. Antenatal classes should refresh the basics of how it works, offer tips on latch/positioning but overall show you where to go for help and support. And there's no reason why antenatal classes can't show how to make a bottle correctly and outline the safety guidelines about making formula and storing formula/expressed milk too. (I know some organisations disagree but I think this is madness)

I'd read every book on BF and pored over forums and paid loads of attention to the classes but when DS arrived I was still like "WTF do I do now??" - I forgot it all!

Im totally on your wave length bertie. I like the way you describe seeps into general consciousness. got to go baby crying!!

I think it is a great idea. I remember "the talk" in school about periods very vividly. There is no reason why you can't give some basic information like knows said about lactation. It might help to reduce misconceptions about bf babies being too hungry and no milk so having to switch to bottles.

I am sure that the formula companies will do their best to undermine this idea with opinion pieces in the daily fail about overly sexualising education.

Breast feeding is not about sex (although sex ed may be tge mist appropriate place for it, but it shouldnt be restricted ro jtst a female audience to get future dads involved) and we need to turn the tide.

Agree with laf and Bertie v much.
Actually I think balanced discussions about bf could actually be achievable if the audience were not yet mothers. Less axes to grind. I'm a huge lactivist but now I've calmed down from the new smug mother phase I find the behaviour of women arguing about feeding abhorrent. Not do much here but on fb threads.