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

[Manictigger]

...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...

Hmm, that programme looks interesting, lets hope CV actually is proved wrong. However it is imposible to compare strategies from different times as you can't possibly have a simliar control group can you? EVERY single parent and EVERY single baby is different so their programme will prove nothing. Might make interesting watching though. Thanks for the links everybody, and well done the NCT for declining to be involved, you are far mightier than any '15 mins of fame' style programme.

As a mother of a preterm baby I find her comments about getting pre-term babies to sleep through staggeringly insensitive. Personally, I was glad to have my baby home, waking me up through the night, rather than being cared for in hospital by nurses.

I'm actually really upset about this woman - read the sun article.

it PISSES me of royally, treating babies as though they are the enemy and handing out potentially dangerous 'advice'. Makes me feel furious and tearful.

If you really want to complain about this show, I would do so to the regulatory authority. I agree that it is dangerous to put misinformation out there, but Channel4 seem to have been happy to do so with McKeith. But I think in this case, it is irresponsible.

If she learnt from watching animals on her dad's farm, she didn't observe very closely I have been a shepherd for 20yrs and sheep ,cattle etc mother and attend their offspring 24 hrs with a few exceptions, a ewe will get up any time a lamb wants to feed, and the distress a dairy cow exhibts when her calf is taken proves they do not like being separated. Also had she taken into account the fact that animals are born much more capable and independent. Babies cry for a reason my 4 th ds 5wks rarely cries he is carried and co sleeps so his needs are met instantly I know this method isn't for everyone but I think her methods are potentialy dangerous and will destroy any mother and child bonding.

I thought maybe this was a windup but I did a nerdy google and found this . Fave quote: "I'm not the sort of person who adores children but I think that allowed me to cope with crying babies. I could respond to their needs without becoming emotionally involved. My job was to care for them when they were very young, establish a routine and then move on."

Brilliant link, MissTea - backs up what I said yesterday about nannies versus mothers.

she lives near me
must avoid that chocolate shop

oh GOD it makes me so sad to think of babies being cared for by someone who wasn't emotionally involved with them. i worked as a nanny/glorified babysitter/au pair when i was a teenager and i absolutely loved all the children i cared for (well, apart from one but even she had lovely aspects). and they loved me...
how can you not love a child in your care, that's the whole point of them, surely? and i'm emphatically not a soppy ba-ba-wa-wa kind of a person i should say. but a child is a wonderful creature...

Really, who would hire someone who claimed not to love babies to look after theirs? (I know, lots of folk, including our dear PM, if that article's to be believed.) Even SHM...whatever the acronym is... says she loves babies and regrets not having any of her own.

I can't imagine it either. DD has just started nursery, only goes a couple of mornings a week but her keyworker there obviously loves kids. And dd loves her, you can tell. Honestly, I just think some people have their head up their arses.

God I feel cross today.

This has really really upset me. How could anyone think this is OK? To imagine not cuddling my dd whenever we wanted is utterly abhorrent to me. I agree with an earlier poster saying it implies "if its Ok for celebrities to use her, then its OK for all of us". What a sad inditement on our society.

i've complained to Channel 4. Which regulatory body should we also complain to?

i am so angry . This woman is a fecking heartless b*h

I would have thought OFCOM...

ofcom website

Btw, there is another thread with a link to the show's producer's website and apparently they are getting different families to try out the parenting advice of 3 popular parenting books so, if it is the same show!, I don't think they are holding her out to be THE parenting guru...

So - you're not allowed to feed the baby before 4 hours is up. You're not allowed to cuddle the baby to comfort the baby. So basically, she's putting the newborn baby in a room by itself and ignoring its cries. What is so expert about that?

I'm sure any selfish parent that wants their baby sleeping through the night and in a routine within a week could manage that alone

JUST GOT THIS REPLY FROM CHANNEL 4

Thank you for contacting Channel 4 Viewer Enquiries.

With regard to your comments regarding BRINGING UP BABY, may we inform you that Channel 4 is required as a commercial operator in the UK to have a licence to broadcast from the Office Of Communications (OFCOM).

A condition of every licence is compliance with the Programme Code. As stipulated in this code, television programmes are free to deal appropriately with all elements of the human experience and while doing this, must keep in mind the expectations of those watching, and respond accordingly. Decisions on programme content will vary according to the time of day, the likely audience and taking into account the Channel 4 remit. This is true both of children's programming and for audiences in general.

Channel 4 was launched in 1982 as a national service. Though funded entirely from commercial revenue, the channel is not simply committed to public service broadcasting in abstract principle. It is required under the original 1980 Broadcasting Act - and by the subsequent 1990 Act - to cater for tastes, interests and audiences not served by ITV (or other television channels), to innovate in the form and content of programmes and to devote a proportion of its airtime to educational programming.

Understandably, our selection of programmes and films may not be to everyone's taste but we are obliged by this remit to provide a varied and alternative choice of programmes. Channel 4 takes its responsibility to its audiences very seriously and does everything to ensure that its programmes comply with the Office Of Communications statutory rules on taste and decency.

With regards to the comments expressed in your email correspondence to BRING UP BABY, please be assured your complaint has been noted and logged. The log is distributed throughout Channel 4.

We appreciate Channel4 viewers contacting us regarding this matter.

Regards,
Joe Fitzpatrick
Channel 4 Viewer Enquiries

form letter, lulu. still, if we all email then it will take up a lot of room when the log is circualted.

Reading this woman's "methods" put me in mind of Truby King. He advocated strict 4 hourly feeding (though I'm fairly sure it was 3 hourly for newborns), no cuddling, and lots of fresh air. My mum was raised by his methods and so was I. They used to leave me to cry in another room and/or outside. I have had years of counselling and my mum wonders why I had 5 children who were all demand fed and picked up when they cried

(and honestly my mum also has serious mental problems she has never addressed )

lulumama, I got the same reply word for word

do you think it is a form reply and we will get more personalised replies in a while.....they did say it could take a week to hear back?

I've just sent a complaint to Channel 4.

Am horrified by the article and also by the fact that she owns a chocolate shop in Harrogate that I will now never be able to go in after a Turkish bath!

lulumama, he's obviously cut and paste the BRINGING UP BABY bit - and in the penultimate sentence, he says "BRING UP BABY" (sic) - mine has the exact same error.