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Infant feeding

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

Original poster

Tuesday 1 Aug, Radio 4, programme re breastfeeding and dehydration

68 replies

PrettyCandles · 31/07/2006 12:16

Heard a trailer for this on Women's Hour today, but can't find the programme in the week's listings - perhaps it will be part of Women's Hour, so isn't listed separately. Hope I've got the right date and station!

Might be worth keeping an ear out for this.

OP posts:
Caligula · 31/07/2006 12:20

I bet it's woman's hour. Will listen out

Original poster
PrettyCandles · 31/07/2006 17:26

bumping

OP posts:
WriggleJiggle · 31/07/2006 18:46

Any ideas what time? What time is womans hour?

hotmama · 31/07/2006 18:48

Starts at 10am. Though you can listen to the programmes again over the internet - probably takees a few days for the programme to be put on though.

hotmama · 31/07/2006 18:49

I feel myself already screaming at the radio - well you should demand feed it's hot ffs. Why did you think 4 hourly schedules would work for a bf baby anyway - never mind that it is hot. [calm down emoticon]

Original poster
PrettyCandles · 31/07/2006 19:56

Yeah, but this is Woman's Hour, and they're usually pretty good.

OP posts:
Kiskidee · 01/08/2006 11:46

it is now possible to listen to the Women's Hour (Radio 4) item on Breastfeeding and Dehydration - online. Its at the start of the programme.

JennT · 01/08/2006 12:43

Here is the link

Caligula · 01/08/2006 13:02

They didn't talk about whether she demand fed or scheduled did they? I was driving so only half concentrating.

Overrun · 01/08/2006 14:14

they didn't mention what kind of bf she did, but I thought overall it was a positive piece. It was basically saying women should get more support/advice postnatally, either by keeping them in longer or more midwife visits.
Can't be a bad thing, surely?

Kiskidee · 01/08/2006 14:41

it was v uncritical just explained one woman's experience.

she came out of the hosp on Tues following a section on the Sat. 2 midwives visited at home and siad she was bf successfully. the following monday baby was weighed and had lost 25% of bw. she said the baby's muscle tone and colour was fine even the paed. was not worried until the blood results came back and baby tube fed a combo of formula and ebm.

again it backs up our discussions on MN that health prof know too little about bf and that bf is way down the list of priorities of the nhs.

Xtina · 01/08/2006 19:56

Hello, actually it was me and my story on Women's Hour today. I'd just like to say I wasn't schedule bf, but demand feeding (I agree that schedule bf is a bad idea, esp at the beginning) - it's just that my son wasn't particularly demanding and I was rubbish at reading his signals.
Doesn't any story around bf/bottle become v emotive? It makes it all so difficult to discuss it as everyone feels so defensive of their choices. Motherhood in general I suppose...
Xtina

Kiskidee · 01/08/2006 20:21

thanks for posting Xtina. There is a long thread here (somewhere) that was sparked on by the article in the Daily Telegraph about readmittance of bf babies due to dehydration. will look for the link for you.

my experience is also in the thread. i think the thread covers a lot of ground which would be silly for me to summarise so will try to make a link for you.

Kiskidee · 01/08/2006 20:27

here it is

Xtina · 02/08/2006 14:27

Hello K - I had actually read some of that thread and as a consequence was really on guard in not wanting to sound anti-bf or that somehow bf was to blame for my experience when of course it was faulty bf that caused it.
Hope that came across - it's nerve-wracking being interviewed and I immediately felt afterwards that there was much I could have said but didn't.
Phew, apparently there's some article in the Daily Mail slagging off bf today so the argument continues.
Xtina

MissyCocker · 02/08/2006 14:38

daily mail

MissyCocker · 02/08/2006 14:44

I agree that bullying isn't going to help anyone to breastfeed, but really, if she was so desparate to get on with things, maybe it wasn't a good time to have a baby...and as for weaning at 6 weeks, by accident or not, I think she's wrong.

Caligula · 02/08/2006 14:44

Oh God I can't even begin to respond to that stupid article.

How dare she call people in favour of breastfeeding fascists. Ghastly woman.

tiktok · 02/08/2006 14:45

Xtina, I thought you came over very well on WH....your story was so clearly an example of how uselessly mothers are supported with their breastfeeding. You were not 'rubbish' at reading his signals - you even asked 'is this normal?' and you were told 'yes'.

Midwives are not always knowledgeable about the early signs of breastfeeding not going well - lack of poos is not normal, for example, and a very sleepy baby is not a good sign. Sore nipples may also be a sign. There may be a marked weight loss too. If those signs are spotted early on then breastfeeding can be fixed before a crisis happens.

It was great to hear you are pg again and are planning good support from the start

The piece in the Daily Mail is scary - the mother is still angry after a long time (11 years), and while she has a right to be angry with the horrible manhandling she got and and nasty comments and the lack of support, my hackles rise at some of the other stuff. I really don't think it's breastfeeding's fault that her partner did not find her sexy and her description of herself feeding (she actually uses the word 'udders' at one point) reveals a lot of self-hatred that is quite disturbing.

Unless of course she was exagerrating the teeniest bit.
What do you think?

Caligula · 02/08/2006 14:45

And er, I don't think I was thinking about my xp finding me sexy when the baby was about 3 weeks old. I don't think he was either, tbh - we were both totally bound up with the new baby.

FairyMum · 02/08/2006 14:46

I read that article and thought it was so sad. Did she really wean him at 6 weeks or did I misunderstand? If it says to wean at six weeks I think it's a irresponsible article to say the least.

tiktok · 02/08/2006 14:54

Someone else gave her baby pasta at 6 weeks, MissC, and she weaned the baby herself onto solids at 8 weeks.

She herself was given a boiled egg every morning from a month old. Apparently, she is still alive, so it must be good for everyone to consider doing the same.

(A whole boiled egg? At a month? Her poos must have been like concrete.....)

She resents the nanny state for interfering with her child rearing, yet why is she not angry at the Italian woman - a stranger - who took her baby away and fed him pasta at six weeks, without asking permission? This is perplexing.

Instead, she reserves her anger for people who are 'pro-breastfeeding fascists'.

Krazy kapers, eh?

KathyMCMLXXII · 02/08/2006 14:54

Gosh Caligula, my reaction was 'Poor woman, she's clearly had a shit time, how dare health professionals treat people like that.' She's totally wrong about rather a lot of things, of course (eg it's fine to wean at 6 weeks cos the Italian mother said so and she had 6 sons so she knows.... etc) but no wonder she's pissed off. I could really relate to the utter boredom with sitting on that damn sofa for hours too - it was only expressing (disapproved of by many bf experts, of course) that kept me sane.
Yet another article showing how appalling the support is offered to bf mothers, IMO.

Caligula · 02/08/2006 14:57

Y es she's had a shit time Kathy and of course I'm outraged by how she was treated, but she's reacted to it by blaming breastfeeding, instead of the shit support. TAnd she's been given media space to promote her overwrought ideas. Surprise surprise, by the Daily bloody Mail.

tiktok · 02/08/2006 14:57

Caligula, did you not know it is every woman's duty to look sexy at all times?

Poor iddle-widdle men.....they have it hard enough being daddies without being forced to look at their women with horrid engorged breasts.

FFS. Most men are not like that, surely???!

Oooh, I'm on a roll now....must stop