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Infant feeding

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Honey I Suckle The Kids (Ch 5 next Monday 9pm)

33 replies

hockeymum · 22/08/2006 10:50

A programme about "attached parenting" people who breastfeed their children beyond babyhood and who carry older children about apparently.

Channel 5 next Monday at 9pm

OP posts:
Tatties · 22/08/2006 11:08

I saw the ad for this last night. I mean, people who breastfeed toddlers, and carry around children who are quite capable of walking - what really? No way?!!

I really don't think we need a documentary about this, setting "attachment parenting" people aside like another species, but I will be watching...

HunieBunie · 22/08/2006 11:23

I think the programme may be something to do with adopted children and trying to, in a sense, reprogramme them/reparent them, for the time in their life where they had missed the appropriate stage of care/development/love.

If that makes sense.

Don't know if I can bear to watch, I have some adopted children along with children I gave birth to.

Tatties · 22/08/2006 11:38

Here's what it's all about

VeniVidiVickiQV · 22/08/2006 11:44

Oh I do so hate it when they use puns to headline a serious and sensitive subject.

CarlyP · 22/08/2006 11:45

wierd! will definitely watch this. the poo on the kitchen floor instead of nappies sounds a bit more than wierd!

LaDiDaDi · 22/08/2006 12:40

I will watch it with interest but fear that as ever they have taken some fairly extreme examples, especially the elimination communication business.

alexsmilitantmum · 22/08/2006 12:45

there was an article about the ec thing in junior magazine the other month, and people do it from birth apparently.bizzarre.
but the co-sleeping? no problem with that.

Joolstoo · 22/08/2006 12:54

sounds like they have some valid points and some rather extreme ones.

I draw the line at poo on the floor - wtf?

LaDiDaDi · 22/08/2006 13:00

I just don't see how pooing on the floor would strengthen the bond between parent and child. In my house it would weaken it !

vnmum · 22/08/2006 13:02

there was an article about EC in practical parenting as well. the thing with these documentaries is that they always take the most extreme examples that then make people think that any one who does some of the things to do with AP as weird. i practice AP myself but to an extent that suits my DS and family. i co sleep, breastfeed and plan to do till he self weans but may not want to do it till he is 4, and i carry him when he wants to be carried and have lots of physical contact. after this documentary, are people going to look at my parenting ways and think im a weird freak?

these type of programmes would be much more informative and educational if they focused on the less extreme people who practice the techniques, but i guess that wouldnt make such good tv.

i'll be watching it though

Tatties · 22/08/2006 13:09

The thing that gets me is that we are always being invited to judge. I will have to reserve judgement on this programme until I've seen it, but I'd be very surprised if there isn't some element of 'lets look down our noses at the weirdos' about it. Take that C4 breastfeeding programme for example. The mainstream response to that is 'bf is ok, but that woman bf the 7 yr old was a bit much...' I don't intend to bf my ds for 7 yrs, but I could see that the family in question was happy with it, so what's the problem? Fine if the programme has an enlightening slant, but I feel they often encourage people to take the moral highground. Do you think we'd ever get a docu about people who put their babies on strict routines?!

Tatties · 22/08/2006 13:12

x-posts vnmum!

vnmum · 22/08/2006 13:14

good point about the routines tatties. maybe a documentary on routines, CIO and limited physical contact to fit baby into our modern lifestyles. but then again this probably wouldnt be seen as weird coz to a degree its how most of western society parents.

ilovecaboose · 22/08/2006 13:26

co-sleeping and EC that sounds like a recipe for disaster to me. And eeuugh

I had never heard of attachment parenting before I came on here. Seems quite sensible to me most of the time. Especially as people keep saying how they take the bits of it they want and how they make it fit into there lives - unlike another certain approach recommended by someone that scares me deeply (and I have had ds in a relaxedish rountine since a very young age).

But reading the link, it seems to much to hope for that this will be a carefully thought out balanced show, rather than set out as a freak show.

Oh dear, might have been nice to watch something informative and interesting on the subject.

youknowwhat · 22/08/2006 14:40

Just a comment about EC. Inuits do not use nappies and carry their babies close to them. They 'know' when the chils has a bowel movement and will wipe them before there is any mess.
Now, I have use the present tense but perhaps I should have used the past tense. Now should we have the same sort relation/ behaviour with our children? Well, \i think that's up to us, as a person & family, to decide.
But now, is it not another of these programs that is trying to attract viewers with sensationnal headlines and 'wierd' people/customs? I really hate when outsiders are allowed to judge other people way of living. They usually haven't a clue.

UCM · 22/08/2006 14:54

Certainly sounds different! Maybe they have a point.

I will be sticking to Pampers for my new one. I don't have the stomach for 'watching my LO's every move to prepare for pooing/weeing'.

Chandra · 22/08/2006 15:15

I have learned many things in Mumsnet, so I'm no longer surprised at breastfeeding toddlers (good for them), I used to consider co sleeping an irresponsbale act and now I'm able to apreciate that it works wonderfully for some families.

I think that all we do, even using a cot (GOOD HEAVENS!!!) could be a good or bad thing depending how and for how long you use it. I met a person who told me she wouldn't use a puschair as no other animal in the animal kingdom carried their offspring in an artifact, and 6 months and a painful back later she got one.

So I guess it's all about finding the balance.

Joolstoo · 22/08/2006 17:44

"I met a person who told me she wouldn't use a puschair as no other animal in the animal kingdom carried their offspring in an artifact"

pmsl! did you keep a straight face?

visions of Lenny the Lion visiting Mothercub for prams and nappies

WigWamBam · 22/08/2006 17:50

One of the mothers at dd's school carries her younger child around as she doesn't agree with buggies - she thinks (and says so very frequently and very loudly) that it's unnatural to put them on wheels and push them around, and believes we should be in contact with our children whenever we can, rather than shoving them about at arm's length. She has a little girl of about 2.5, who she carries around everywhere in an enormous rucksack carrier - must be hell on her back as she's only tiny.

I don't get it - but it's no skin off my nose. The fact that I think it's a barking idea is immaterial; she's obviously comfortable with that and who am I to say that she's wrong?

suejonez · 22/08/2006 17:51

HunieBunie - the programme is nothing to do with attachment issues in adoption. I checked it out as I would be interested if it were.

amijee · 22/08/2006 18:25

I'm looking forward to seeing how the anticipated pooing works. I guess it's a bit like training dogs conditioned responses and can work (Pavlov's dogs and salivation at ringing of a bell)

My sister in law did something similar when her baby was a few mths old. Everytime she opened the nappy, she would carry him squat over the garden drain and make whistling noises until he poo/weed. Very soon he learnt that this whistling noise was a cue to his business. Pretty cool, heh?

I try to lieave my LO open on an inco sheet as much as possible ( mainly for his nappy rash) but am pleased that he does his business several times before having his nappy put on again.

As far as the co sleeping is concerned - I find it disturbing that sex is happening at the same time. It does become other people's business if the kids may be affected by parental bahaviour.

LaDiDaDi · 22/08/2006 18:56

Yes, i did find the sex thing a bit distrurbing. i understand that the child is not in anyway actively involved in sexual activity but I still find it odd. I have co-slept with dd sometimes and there is no way that we'd think of having sex at the same time. Tbh even dd asleep in her moses basket next to the bed was too much of a psychological barrier to either dp or me enjoying ourselves.

Joolstoo · 22/08/2006 20:37

wwb - I agree BUT I think its unnatural to carry a 2½ year old around (all the time) when they are perfectly capable of walking - I mean, whats the point of learning to walk if you never get the chance to use your legs?

terramum · 22/08/2006 20:47

But surely your wouldnt expect a 2 year old to walk everywhere - they get tired very easily so unless you like having a bad back etc then slings & wraps etc are really useful (& a lot less hassle & cheaper than pushchairs!)

Rosieglow · 22/08/2006 21:10

I'm interested in the EC stuff because lots of other cultures don't use nappies and presumably don't have poo all over their kitchen floors so there must be something in it. But I'd much prefer to see a documentary on how people toilet train their kids in rural India / china / where-ever than some sensationalised / extreme western parenting (I speak as someone struggling to toilet train a 3.8yo so I'm deeply envious of anyone that's managed to train their lo by any method!)