Do ANY celebrities/famous people breastfeed?!

[Elf]

It seems to me that these svelte celebs have their baby and then their first priority is to get back into their designer gear and get to the next celeb party. I can't believe any of them are up with their babies at night themselves (surely the nanny does that) or do any breastfeeding. They never look done in enough in the photos?

What with all their stylists etc, airbrushing on photos and now babies which they don't even seem to have to look after, how are women supposed to feel supported in being REAL?

Anyone heard of anyone who did/does? For some reason I always imagine that Princess Di and Linda McCartney did but that's just guessing.

Scummy, you are naughty, your son told you ages ago that you needed a haircut

That's the trouble with women - always blooming crying over something!

Sorry Rhubarb, i only meant that if you go to one of these celeb bashes you are highly likely to see Robbie and so would be ideally placed to give him a, erm, message, from me.

Rhubarb, where did you give birth and can I go there next time, that certainly wasn't my experience. No midwives to warm bottles, or even tell you where the bottle warmer was, they certainly never offered to feed dd in the night for me and actually couldn't be bothered to answer my buzzer.

As for mixed feeding I too was told that mixed feeding wasn't possible so I didn't even try breastfeeding. If it had been explained about building a supply first then giving a bottle I think I would have tried. I still feel angry and upset about this over 12 months later. Exclusive breastfeeding wasn't an option for me as I knew I wouldn't cope with it and it wouldn't be convenient, however mixed feeding would have meant dd got some of my breast milk.

JulieF, what a shame. I think it's time for a national overhaul of information given by midwives and HVs. There is such a huge variation at the moment, and too much misinfo, IMO, considering that they are supposed to be health professionals. Sorry mears and tiktok et al, I know you don't come under this category. There are tons of HVs in my health centre and they all give conflicting advice. I'm heartily sick of it! B**gger it, I'm going to stop ranting and write a letter.

JulieF, I was transferred to a midwife only unit after day one, and it is thanks to them that I ever breastfed at all! The hospital where I gave birth didn't have time to how me how to feed properly. I was meant to press the buzzer each time I fed so they could help me to latch her on, but they took ages and I felt awful as you could see they thought they had better things to do, so I tried latching her myself, but I didn't know what I was doing so I ended up with a bleeding and sore nipple. When the b/f counsellor came round, she looked and told me not to make a fuss, it wasn't as bad as some women she had seen! She told me that before bottles had been invented I would have no choice but to b/f so really I should put up and shut up!

What a difference the midwife only unit made! They were very patient, were only too willing to come and help me out with anything and everything! They showed me the best nipple creams to use, got out a solar thingy to shine on my sore nipple (dunno what it was supposed to do exactly, but it was the thought that counted!), they spent time after time showing me how to latch her on, then watching whilst I did it. They kept saying that I could stay in as long as I liked, if I wasn't sure I could cope I should just stay a little longer. They really were wonderful! So the secret to successful breastfeeding I think, is a sympathetic and patient midwife!

Droile, when I next see Robbie I'll give him your regards!

Thanks Rhubarb, that would be a start

I think the problem is that the wider and government don't know how much help is needed. Midwives are strapped for time and those of us who have been there tend to move on to other things rather than shouting about what's really needed. It all needs making a really big issue of. I've spoken to lots of people who are really quite hazy about the health benefits and who think people like LLL and NCT are b/feeding nazis.
It bloody hurts when it goes wrong, which is often, so IMO needs thorough supervision in the early days. Some juicy incentives for those who aren't really bothered wouldn't go amiss either and would save money in health care provision in the long term. But then, bribery is my middle name - it doesn't appeal to everyone.

I meant the wider world.

Droile , I thought (maybe still think) La Leche league ARE bf nazis. And I still proudly bf my 6 month old, and intend to ontinue for at least another 6 months. I think the problem is that whenever bf is discussed in media it seems to be the extremists - I remember when I was pregnant with dd seeing a La Leche rep on breakfast news who was still bfing an 8 year old. That to me seems wrong, and is the only experience of LL that I have had. I'm not saying that this is what they say, but when such an extreme view is given in the media I don't think it helps the bf cause

An 8 year old? Hmmmmm, that's not big and it's not clever!

My DH just brought home an article that he though I would be interested in about b/feeding. It featured a woman who has b/fed her five children and has now been b/feeding for nine years without a break. She is currently tandem feeding her two year old and one year old and there is a lovely picture of her with both children snuggled up on her lap feeding. It's in that high quality paper The Mirror (he has been following this Paul Burrell thing), quite a nice article mind you.

9 years!!!!!!!!!!

I hear what you're saying prufrock. It's just that the LLL book really helped me when I was having b/feeding problems. It was the only one that really looked into breast pain issues and tried to find solutions. It went into the far end of a fart about everyhting to do with problems, and I'll always be grateful to them for that. I know what you mean about nazis though, as DS1 was mixed fed and so I used to get stick from the nazis for that.

Completly off topic but Robbie used to live up the road from where my husband lived.

Here in Stoke-on-Trent they have great breastfeeding support so I'm told. I was talking to one of the health visitors who runs a group for pregnant women to meet with b.f mums and she said if only I had lived here when i gave birth.

I have to be honest I thought NCT and LLL were b/f nazis for a while although I am a member of NCT now. I think that constantly being bombarded with breast is best pushed me to the other way for a while and made me resent the b/f brigade. Really it was just a way of trying to block out my guilt.

Next time I will know so much more and be able to be pig headed, so hopefully things will be different.

Julie

Rhubarb, there's a MW-led unit near our home in Scotland and that offers excellent bf help, too. Mums can go back there for help any time after they've left hospital and you often see mums visiting with older babies to show the staff how they are doing. It's lovely. In fact it has one of the best, if not the best, bfing rate in Scotland. I sadly haven't experienced it myself as we didn't move to that area until after dd was born but everyone raves about it and it's great when you visit friends cos visitors get cups of tea, too! The actual unit is closing soon and moving to a new buidling in another village but hopefully the ethos will remain.

Droile, Rhubarb and all, I think that action should be taken in the case of providing cross the board support for b/feeders. As you say Rhubarb you wouldn't have made it out of hospital as a b/feeder if it wasn't for the support you got. If you had lived somewhere else you might not have got it. When are you writing Droile? And who to?

Haven't quite decided yet, but I'll let you know. The friend doing b/f research might have an idea of who best to target. I did think about the local health authority to start with, but have a feeling it's likely to be filed or binned. I think prob multiple targets - media, health profs, journals etc.

One scary consequence of the conflicting info given out by HVs, etc, is that mums then often don't believe a blind word they say. I've heard people at mum& tots groups questioning the validity of sleeping baby on its back to prevent cot death, etc, because it's peddled by the same people who peddle the growth chart & solid food at 4 months cack.

JulieF, ooh, got any goss about when robbie lived there?

Sorry no gossip Droile. You could always tell the house though as when he was in Take That there were always crowds of girls outside. His mum had to sell up eventually and the estate agents kept getting bogus prospective buyers wanting to look around.

JulieF. Another Stokie. Fab. But I have to admit to having left there nearly twenty years ago, although go back quite regularly. Dare I ask whereabouts you live?

Thumper,

I have recently returned to the area after iving away for 6 months. I live in a place called Newchapel, near Kidsgrove.