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Infant feeding

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

Original poster

The baby show - was anyone there? Because.......

252 replies

Manictigger · 15/05/2007 12:19

...I went to a mother and baby group yesterday and got chatting to the health visitor (she's the group breastfeeding expert) and she was saying how one of her colleagues went to the baby show at the weekend and listened to a talk by some woman who claimed to be able to get your baby to sleep through within 2 weeks. Colleague was absolutely horrified because said 'expert' (she can't remember her name) talked only about bottlefeeding and when someone actually asked what you do if you're bf she dismissed it with oh just give them a very large feed last thing at night or feed them some porridge. Anyway, colleague wanted to stand up and argue with her but felt too scared too because she would have had to use a microphone in front of a whole crowd of people etc. Both HVs are actually quite angry about it.

Anyway, was anyone there and did they see it, are people allowed to promote bottlefeeding indirectly in this way and who was the 'expert'? Apparently she's supposed to be getting her own C4 show soon. If it's SHMN... just someone say yes and we can all quietly retreat...

OP posts:
morningpaper · 15/05/2007 22:02

wow it's like Gina Ford and "Doctor" Gillian McKeith have been involved in a cloning experiment

MissGolightly · 15/05/2007 22:08

I am torn between

and

LMAO!!!!

Is this woman for real?

More seriously, if she is getting a Channel 4 show will they be obliged to put a "don't try this at home" style warning after the programme? Because it seems to me that giving misleading and potentially dangerous or even life-threatening advice on TV is asking for a lawsuit. Surely I wouldn't be allowed to go on telly as an "expert" and state that seat-belts are a load of crap and parents should encourage their children to roam free about the car?

Jenkeywoo · 15/05/2007 22:10

This makes me feel heart-wrenchingly sad, I can't imagine how desperate those little babies who are victims of her routine must feel. If you don't want your baby to disrupt your life in anyway, don't have one! get a goldfish, or a kebab or sky+ - anything! but don't have a baby then expect them to behave like feelingless machine.

glassslipper · 15/05/2007 22:13

I feel truly sad for any little ones she puts through her routines.

MissGolightly · 15/05/2007 22:14

Seems like all it takes to be a baby guru these days it to take every single government guideline and then do the opposite.

[MissG begins to draft proposal for the potential best-sellers "Smoke Your Way Slim" and "5-a-day, your pathway to obesity"]

JoolsToo · 15/05/2007 22:16

is working for celebrity a reference for excellence these days or wot?

morocco · 15/05/2007 22:27

how mad,honestly, would you have to be to employ cruela de vil to look after your pet puppies? so why on earth would you hire the 'cruela de vil' of the baby world to look after your babies? I can't believe that's actually her own description of her techniques

Snaf · 15/05/2007 22:33

I really do want to make a joke about this but actually I just feel fucking angry.

Where the hell do these people come from? What qualification do they think allows them to spout such hideous, spurious crap? How many babies (and probably parents too) have been put through sheer hell because of publicity-seeking so-called 'experts' like her?

Boasting about getting a preterm baby to sleep through within days just beggars belief.

misdee · 15/05/2007 22:37

getting a prem baby sleeping through that long is just dangerous. even dd3 was on two hourly tube feeds in SCBU and she was a 38 weeker. 4 hourly feeds is bloody dangerous in some situations, there was no way dd3 was having 4hourly feeds at birth, we were even trying hourly b/feeds at one point.

AitchTwoOh · 15/05/2007 22:39

what do you think happens to a child who is only cuddled at specific times of the day, d'you think? i'm asking because dd is going through a particulalry darling stage of coming up and kissing my knee/elbow/face/wherever she is nearest to, for no reason at all. she does the same to visitors she likes and of course dh and grandma etc. do you think that she wouldn't be doing that if her own close contact had been rationed? there must surely be an impact of all this no-nonsense stuff. i like dd's nonsense...

misdee · 15/05/2007 22:40

i love dd3 nonsense as well. she just jumps on me and goes 'huuuuuuuuuuuug muuuuummmy'

lulumama · 15/05/2007 22:45

i think i would wither away if my DCs didn;t launch themsleves at me and kiss me, and stroke my face, and wipe their snot all over me

just as i could not bear to not be allowed to cuddle them when i get that all consuming lurch of love, when i am absolutely compelled to grab them and kiss them and nibble them, and watch them sleep...and even wake them up kissing them

i really really really do not like to think that mothers following this 'advice' will not know that absolute soul and heart warming joy

ChocolateFace · 15/05/2007 22:45

Oh no, I'm thinking about feeding a 2 week old in the night with fond memories.Just me and my newborn in the still of the night. I will not get broody. I will not get broody. I will not get broody.........

AitchTwoOh · 15/05/2007 22:47

too late, chocolateface!

lulumama · 15/05/2007 22:47

even i am broody !

misdee · 15/05/2007 22:48

so am i

AitchTwoOh · 15/05/2007 22:48

the thing is, lulu, that no actual mother can not cuddle their child, it's a physical impossibility. so you're setting mothers up to fail, really, unless they have a nanny.

kama · 15/05/2007 22:50

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

lulumama · 15/05/2007 22:50

true..but i can imagine an anxious new mum, having done the feed, then baby is crying 2 hours later, because, guess what, he/she is hungry, and she feels she cannot cuddle, becasue that is not what the book / guru says ......

DontCallMeBaby · 15/05/2007 22:50

Well Aitch I am having my cuddles and kisses restricted by my 3yo ('no more huggles and pisses today!') and it makes me very* sad, and I'm 35 and really should be more resilient.

Switching round the obvious argument of 'how can you make these recommendations when you've got no kids of your own' ... it's not surprising she doesn't want any, is it? By the time the parents and babies are bludgeoned into submission, having their daily quota of affection, she must wonder what it's all about, why anyone bothers.

  • amusing toddler mispronunciation, must get video for future wedding day ...
AitchTwoOh · 15/05/2007 22:52

aaaaw.

VeniVidiVickiQV · 15/05/2007 22:57

So, who else will be coming to the Baby Show on 20th October then????

VeniVidiVickiQV · 15/05/2007 22:58

c'mon misdee - you know you'd love to......

tiktok · 15/05/2007 22:59

Worth posting the link to the interview once more.

And a quote: "I can have babies sleeping through very quickly, within a month they'll be going from 11 to seven. Sometimes it can be just two weeks and I've even had premature babies going through from day one."

And another one:

Cuddles are also restricted. Claire says too much fuss can make a baby crave attention.

"Imagine having a dog with a ball and you keep throwing it for them. Then all of a sudden you stop and walk away and they don't understand.

"It will think: 'Why have you stopped playing with me?' It will start barking, dropping the ball at your feet and annoying you.

"It's the same with a baby. If a baby's picked up for half an hour, cuddled and then put down, it will get upset.

"Mums can have their bonding time when they're feeding or giving their baby a bath.

"You don't need to walk around the house with a child superglued to your hip. They're quite happy on their own."

Snaf · 15/05/2007 22:59

You can count me in.

I would love to have a quiet word in Ms Verity's ear.