Anyone else made to feel like a paedophile for breastfeeding past 6 months!

[cruisemum1]

getting miffed at peoples attitudes to bf past the 'required' 6 months. ds is only 7 mths ffs! makes me feel they think i'm a freak! grrrrrrr

[2cheekymonkeys]

Bananabump, there's no need to flash any boob if you don't want to. I bf both my ds's or 18 months each and as far as i know no-one ever got an eyeful. I'm also very private about my boobs. I just always wore a loose top when out with ds's which i could lift up a fraction and pop them under. When they're older you might have to hold on to the top to prevent it being yanked up, revealing all.

[FrannyandZooey]

Bananabump there certainly are ways of being very discreet if you want to. A friend of mine always wears a vest tucked firmly in so that her child can't flash any of her skin even if she is distracted at the time.

However, you really, really do get less embarrassed about it. Something about giving birth and the sleep deprivation involved in having a young child kind of makes you realise that modesty and dignity are not really the most vital things in life

[amijee]

twinkle - i don't think you have read the thread properly.

It was being argued that extended btreasfed babies don't develop properly to feed from a cup - which is obviously wrong. I wa smerely pointing out that bottle fedbabies don't automatically know how to use the cup just beccause they use the bottle - they have to be taught. My son does all three!!

[IcingOnTheCake]

amijee i don't think YOU quite got the jist of the thread properly. You said earlier 'FACT-Bottle fed babies don't get fed from a cup, they get fed from a bottle'.

Yes ff babies DO feed from bottles but like bf babies they do move onto a beaker and a cup. I don't know where you got the FACT part from?

[amijee]

oh dear, i don't think i've made myself very clear.

A "bottle fed baby" is by definition fed from a bottle!! Whether they additionally feed from other utensils is optional.

A "breast fed baby" is one that by definition is fed from the breast. Again use of bottles/cups is optional.

I'm not saying that bottle fed babies don't feed from cups - that is ridiculous. But it is as ridiculous as you saying breastfed babies don't learn to feed from cups and are not developing right.

[bananabump]

Thanks for all the responses. I guess there are ways and means!

Lemonaid: I had/have a pre-baby wobbly belly so a few more stretchmarks won't make any difference to my attitude about that never-sees -the-light-of-day body part!

[Jacanne]

Bananabump you can get tubes of material that you can wear under your clothes so that when you lift up your t-shirt to feed baby your wobble bits aren't exposed. I am not fond of the idea of exposing myself either and feel that I have managed to BF both of mine without doing that. You can teach nursing manners to your little one with regard to how you want them to feed in public when they're older so I wouldn't worry too much about that. You really do get used to feeding out and about.

Twinklemegan - I don't think anyone was intended to start another BF vs FF debate - my point was that you often see FF babies over a year old drinking from a bottle (and whether yours do this or not, it is a fairly common sight) and nobody thinks twice about it - but for some reason they do about BF an older child - surely it's the same thing - comfort and nutrition, whether BF or FF?

[whomovedmychocolate]

Bananabump - I invested in six black and white t shirts from M&S Underwear collection - they are really soft. Then in half of them, I made a cut at just below boob height. So I wear two, the cut one underneath. You can then pull up the top one and feed discreetly without disturbing the bottom one or showing your tummy or boobs to all and sundry.

However once you've got through the labour you will have kissed bye bye to any sense of dignity so.......

[cruisemum1]

banana - one surefire way to get people to look away is to start bf! they are generally more embarrassed than you are - esp men

[bananabump]

hehe, you're probably right, I've just never seen anyone breastfeeding myself ever, even though everyone in my family has done it.

Some great suggestions, thanks!

[Spidermama]

There are even special nursing tops available which have horizontal openings.

I had a lovely one from ebay which was a wrap top with two vertical openings runing either side which were covered by the wrapped cloth. It was made by a company called MilkFace. There are other nursing clothes companies but most of them are American.

TBH I'm just as happy with a loose t shirt or vest.

[Spidermama]

This looks quite nice.

[Spidermama]

Nice.

[Katy44]

I was going to get some wrapover tops from next (the kind that tie at the back I think), would they be easy enough to bf in? Surely I can just loosen it a bit, slip it down and then straighten it afterwards? I might even wear a vest top underneath which I can pull down. Will this work?

[Katy44]

these

[Katy44]

although am as my boobs don't look that perky

[TeeCee]

Past 6 months, no not at all.
I'll admit to being weireded out byt eh 8 yr old that still breastfed but how can anyone make you feel weird at feeding a 7 month old? Theya re the freaks, not you
I only ever got pats on the back and told well done by people, sorry you are not getting the same.

[cruisemum1]

these mssgs are so encouraging.

[tibsy]

spider - i love that top
katy - you could get away with a vest top underneath. i wear wrapover tops and if am at home, just whack me boobs out as they are if i'm out and have forgotten to wear something else underneath it, i just drape a terry nappy (clean of course!) over my shoulder.....although dd thinks peepo is a great game atm so can be a bit risky al fresco!!!!

even tho before, i probably didnt envisage breastfeeding or wanting to continue breastfeeding past 6 months, now with dd at 8 months, i just think how small she still is and how lovely it is to be able to nourish and nurture her in this way sincere apologies for the mush!

[tibsy]

bump

[MissM]

DD is 1 in two weeks and I'm still bf, although less so in public simply because she doesn't want it so much. I'm like litttlapin - the only person who has made a negative comment is a close friend who said 'you're doing it more for yourself than for her'. I was so hurt and angry that I've not been able to speak to her since. Luckily I go to a fantastic NCT group who are practically all still bfing and treat it as completely normal (which it is - who are these people who think that feeding your baby is digusting and selfish and abusive????)