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Infant feeding

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

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Original poster

When did you first see a baby breastfeeding?

74 replies

mears · 09/02/2007 10:39

Or was it your own.

As a follow on from comments on the other thread I thought it would be interesting to know.

I was about 11 years old and used to visit our next door neighbour and help her with her 2 children (there's another thread - that doesn't happen anymore!).

I used to watch her bath the baby then sit and breastfeed him. It just looked so lovely.

My mum breastfed all five of us which included a set of twins. She was very unusual in 1963 with the twins that the consultant used to bring people to see her!

Breastfeeding was therefore the norm for me which has moulded my beliefs.

OP posts:

wurlywurly · 09/02/2007 11:52

i can honestly say when my friend had her daughter nearly years ago. I wish now it was something that i had percivered(sp??) with. My mother never breastfed any of us, and spose when i has ds1 thought it was just something "weird" people did (no offence meant) then when i went on to have ds2 he was automatically given a bottle in the hospital. I did try and breast feed ds1, but could never get it right, IYKWIM and the hospital was very "its fine, we'll just give him a bottle", wish they had been a little more forceful and said, right this is how to do it......

I know noe, if i ver have any more children where to come for advice on BFing

drifter · 09/02/2007 12:03

When I did it myself!

dejags · 09/02/2007 12:07

I can't remember a particular instance.

I do remember my friend BF'ing her little one (I would have been about 23) in front of a crowd of us. We all whispered about it afterwards . That's terrible but certainly not how I feel now.

I was certainly never conditioned to BF it is only since becoming a mother did I realise it's importance.

CocoLoco · 09/02/2007 12:09

I remember seeing a woman in a church creche breastfeeding when I was about 8, I found it fascinating but a bit odd. I knew that my mother hadn't breastfed us and found the whole idea unpleasant, so I'm not sure when I realised that it was normal/desirable to breastfeed. Certainly by the time I had my first baby I didn't contemplate NOT breastfeeding.

I do feel ashamed to this day that when I was a student and worked in a shop I didn't say anything when my supervisor had a fit as some woman sat on a chair in our department to breastfeed - I remember the look of disgust on supervisor's face as she hissed "ain't she got NO shame??" and I think she actually told her to leave.

3andnomore · 09/02/2007 12:12

It's so weird, because when I was pg, I never even thought of asking myself how I would feed, I never considered Bottles, tbh...but my first real memory of bf is a friend of mine feeding her dd, and that was the year before I had my es....I have no idea if my aunts did bf, I know my nan bf'ed all of her children (she had 13, lol.), but I only know it because my mum and nan told me, not because I saw it.
In my nursing training I did a stint in Postnatal ward...but can't recall bf, I remember bottlefeeding some Baby's though...!
SO, I suppose the first time I "saw"(as in taking it in) bf was when I was 24 years old-ish.

KathyMCMLXXII · 09/02/2007 12:15

When I was a toddler and my mum bf my younger brother who is 3 years younger than me.
I remember asking if I could have some and being very put out that she wouldn't let me - I got the impression she thought there would be something gross about that; she didn't just say 'no, there might not be enough for the baby' or other neutral excuse.
Hence I vowed that if my dd wants any (she's only 18 months older than ds) she can have some, but she's more interested in poking the baby's eyes, quite frankly.

DumbledoresGirl · 09/02/2007 12:23

Saw as in really saw, you mean? had real contact with a breastfeeding mother? as opposed to saw on tv or in passing?

I don't have any memories of seeing someone breast feeding until I did it myself. I am the youngest in my family and I am not a baby person so it is not something I would be in contact with. I had only ever held one baby before I had mine and that was very briefly as she was a very sick baby, poor thing (she later died).

Oh, I have just remembered! My best friend from school had her first baby when I was about 27. I saw her breast feed once then. I had my first baby at 31.

WanderingTrolley · 09/02/2007 12:25

Just re-read this thread and Christ!FioFio

"my mum breastfed both me and my sister (77 and 80)"

Are you the oldest mumsnetter?!

Oh, wait, hang on....

DumbledoresGirl · 09/02/2007 12:25

Thought again. Another friend breastfed her baby before that and that was when I was about 23.

My decision to breastfeed wasn't really anything much to do with my upbringing or culture. To me, it was common sense.

franke · 09/02/2007 12:27

My nephew 26 years ago when I was 13. All four of us were breastfed too albeit for a few weeks (this was in the 1950s and 60s so quite unusual) - my mother gave up every time because she thought we weren't getting enough There was little support for her particularly from her mil who would declare loudly and often that breastfeeding women were like giant milk cows.

Bugsy2 · 09/02/2007 12:28

My mum breastfed my brother & sister & her friends would breastfeed their children in our house too. Grew up thinking it was completely normal to breastfeed babies.
So don't understand why I found it totally grim & loathed every minute of it!!!

Hulababy · 09/02/2007 12:31

Not sure really. I guess when quite young as I am pretty sure my aunties breastfed their children. I know my mum wasn't able to with my brother - 16 months younger than me - so not then. I distinctly remember mum breastfeeding my baby sister; I would have been 9.5 at the time.

dressedupnowheretogo · 09/02/2007 12:32

i think iwas about 18 to be honest

yellowrose · 09/02/2007 12:32

can't remember actually seeing a bf baby and if i had i hadn't paid any attention as like 3and... says i never thought about feeding my own baby until i was pregnant - and when i was pregnant a hospital birth and ff were quickly banished for all time by what i learned in my NCT antenatal classes !

i guess main reason i never saw a baby being bf when i was young nor remember is because i am the youngest in the family and we didn't have any babies in my own family after me and my sister and sil did not bf for more than a few days or weeks max. and i never saw them doing it.

i decided to break the mould as it were by asking my ff niece (whom i hardly ever see as she lives miles away) to come upstairs with me when ds was around 1 year old so that she could help me put him down for his nap. once we were in the bedroom first thing dear niece (11 at the time) said was shall i go and get him a bottle of milk ? i said, "no just watch, i feed him with my breasts". she watched and instantly said "aaaahhhh, how sweet" and i felt very happy in getting a young "convert", i hope

ds will also get much "indoctrination" when he is old enough !

belgo · 09/02/2007 12:33

lol Wandering trolley - I have to admit, that was my first thought too!

MerlinsBeard · 09/02/2007 12:34

i can't say i looked before and tend to notcie these things more since having my own children but i didn't see anyone BF until i BF my 1st. Probabaly why i stopped so quickly, that and having NO support at all

MerlinsBeard · 09/02/2007 12:35

should say i was 21 when i had ds1 -only 4 (almost) years ago

Dinosaur · 09/02/2007 12:37

Not until I was an adult, and pregnant with DS1.

No-one in my family breastfed.

QueenofTwee · 09/02/2007 12:38

Must have been when my sister was born and I was 2 1/2, remember the mw helping mum to get her to latch on, one of my earliest memories

pinkchampagne · 09/02/2007 12:39

When I was 10, I had a friend with a new baby brother & would see her mum feeding him when I went round for tea.

shonaspurtle · 09/02/2007 12:41

I vaguely remember my mum bf my brother (I was 2.5 when he was born) but after that I think it was when my friend had her son a couple of years ago and then again last year when another friend had a baby. They both made it look easy and were enjoying the experience.

I know that statistically that's normal as not a lot of people do bf beyond the first few weeks but I must have seen women bf their babies out and about - perhaps I just really didn't register it. That's something for those of us who get a bit nervous feeding in public to think about!

PandaG · 09/02/2007 12:41

first I can remember was my mum's cousin bfing her children. I would have been about 10 at the time. I was fascinated and she was happy to let me go up close and watch what was happening - but then I also changed the nappies and gave her a bath.

My DD is as likely to shive her doll up her jumper to feed, as she is to give it the plastic bottle, she has seen so many of my friends bfing.

QueenofTwee · 09/02/2007 12:44

I love bfeeding now, can't imagine not having done it, dd still bfed at 8 months, intend to carry on until 1 year at least or until she no longer wants it....I'm astounded that so many women didn't see a baby bfed until they had their own Practically all mum's friends and family bfed.

Dinosaur · 09/02/2007 12:45

But the fact that I didn't see anyone breastfeeding when I was growing up certainly didn't deter me from breastfeeding my three. It's not really that relevant, is it?

QueenofTwee · 09/02/2007 12:52

Not always relevant, as in your case, dino, but I think it helps to have been brought up in an environment where it's considered a natural thing to do. From speaking to others about this, I think familiarity breeds confidence.

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