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Infant feeding

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

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Original poster

FF at a Breastfeeding Support Group

91 replies

BabiesEverywhere · 22/11/2007 18:26

Looking for opinions.

Would it be reasonable to have a couple of FF feeding mums (very nice ladies) at a Breastfeeding support group ?

Would your opinion change if you knew they started to breastfeed and swapped to FF ?

Do you think they would be supportive and give helpful advice to the other new mums or would the fact they swapped to formula lower the rate of other mums trying to establish breastfeeding ?

Thanks

OP posts:

moondog · 22/11/2007 19:01

Where I live there are general new baby group and breastfeeding support groups.
Doesn't take much of a brain to work out which one is best suited to yuor needs.

imaginaryfriend · 22/11/2007 19:01

In fact I remember there became a group of 'closet' BFers who claimed they were giving FF but in fact were BF for ages! How daft is that?!

wildwoman · 22/11/2007 19:02

VVV sorry I think I've got my wires crossed, I'm not talking about a group with limited places. Of course I would free up a place if they were restricted.

Original poster

BabiesEverywhere · 22/11/2007 19:03

QUOTE The women who were still BF began to be looked down up on by the women who'd 'succeeded' to get their babies on FF.
UNQUOTE
Yes, several breastfeeding mums dare not speak in the group, expecially if their child is not sleeping thought the night.
The leader derides the extended breastfeeders and is 'proud' of the FF ladies

OP posts:

imaginaryfriend · 22/11/2007 19:04

ww, in my area there are many general groups for new mums but only 1 bf group.

To be honest as I said earlier I am sure that anyone generally supportive of bf would / should be allowed to attend a bf group. But like it or not they would be 'set apart' from the majority of the group and I'm not sure who that would benefit?

wildwoman · 22/11/2007 19:04

Doesn't sound like a very supportive support group BE!

hunkermunker · 22/11/2007 19:08

Not at yours, BE, no, not with the lunatic HCP running it.

And I'm unsure why a ff mum would go to a specifically stated bf support group.

And if it's got funding to be a bf support group and it ends up predominantly attended by ff mums, it'll have its funding pulled and then nobody would get any support.

So no, it's not all right.

BreeVanDerCampLGJ · 22/11/2007 19:12

God forbid, the twain should meet.

Original poster

BabiesEverywhere · 22/11/2007 19:14

wildwoman, It isn't see here

But in general with a better leader, shouldn't FF mums be welcome if they :-

: wish to learn about breastfeeding
: might choose to breastfed their next child
: could be a positive influence to other BF especially if they breastfed previous children.

But then I worry that they could :-
: upset other BF women especially those having problems
: normalising FF even within a minority support group for breastfeeding.

I suppose it really depends on how well the group is run and the particular women's attitude and opinions to breastfeeding.

OP posts:

Camillathechicken · 22/11/2007 19:14

if she wanted to re-establish breastfeeding or perservere with mixed feeding, then why not.. otherwise, i don;t think it is appropriate

Original poster

BabiesEverywhere · 22/11/2007 19:15

cross posted with HM.

Totally see the point about funding.

I have no idea why they want to come to the group still. Plenty of parenting groups around here.

OP posts:

charliegal · 22/11/2007 19:16

Why would the twain meet at a BFing SUPPORT group? We meet all the time otherwise!?

mazzystar · 22/11/2007 19:18

what's the group for?

is it explicitly meant to be about supporting bf? or is it a coffee and a biccy and a sit down with other new mums. because either are obviously valid things to go on.

its a tricky one i think because group dynamics do change in all sorts of scenarios.

have any new bf mums joined?

whilst i think it would be awful if ff mums who have been part of the group and gained other kinds of support and companionship from it were turned away, if sounds like the group organiser is doing a spectaculalry poor job of keeping things pro bf. is she a hv?

charliegal · 22/11/2007 19:20

I can't understand why it is even being debated who a Breastfeeding Support Grop is for. Doesn't the title say it all?

Original poster

BabiesEverywhere · 22/11/2007 19:21

Breastfeeding support group, run by a Health care assistant.

OP posts:

charliegal · 22/11/2007 19:21

Grop? Group

hunkermunker · 22/11/2007 19:21

BE, it's inappropriate for them to be there, it's inappropriate for the HCA to be running it and I want to come to the next one - and would if I was anywhere nearby!

charliegal · 22/11/2007 19:22

BE- where is this group? Quite keen on attending!

BreeVanDerCampLGJ · 22/11/2007 19:24

LGJ sits on her hands and does not reply to inappropriate comment as she really loves Hunker.

monkeybird · 22/11/2007 19:45

yeah give us a hint then we can all mob it!?

hunkermunker · 22/11/2007 20:07

LGJ, please, please understand - it's not about ostracising ff mums, it's about funding being pulled from the bf support group. It's sodding hard to get funding or hours for a HCP to attend any sort of support group because they're often booked for months in advance and the funding's set in stone annually.

Come on, you know me better than that! I only mean that it's inappropriate because it could get the group shut down and then nobody gets any bf support.

And if you read the threads BE's started re this group previously, you'll see this HCP is mental.

Original poster

BabiesEverywhere · 22/11/2007 20:09

Hopefully the people I have spoken to recently will change this group for the better.

But if it has not improved in the next few months I will pay petrol money to gain a few supporters ;)

You could all sit there are ask banned questions like..

What are the goverment guidelines on :-

: exclusive Breastfeeding
: sharing a room under 6 months of age
: benefits of exclusively breastfeeding
: prove that night wakening in a breastfed child are linked to lack of formula/solids/more solids ?

etc etc.

I bet she would start shouting at the second question asked ?

OP posts:

Kathyis6incheshigh · 22/11/2007 20:18

OK obviously if having too many ffers is going to threaten the survival of the group, that's a different issue.

However I think 'supporting bfing' could be understood more broadly than just supporting people who are bf at that moment - personally, about a third of what I know about bf was learnt when I joined MN after I'd stopped bf dd. Then when I came to have ds and had a whole new set of problems, it was what I'd learnt from MN that got me through it. So if people who have given up bf want to still continue going to a bf support group, I would hope that part of that might be because they want to keep on learning about it in the hope of doing it again, maybe for longer, with subsequent babies.
But obviously you know the circs and that may not be the case.

LoveAngelGabriel · 22/11/2007 20:20

I went to a BF-ing group, then eventually switched to formula, as did some other mums there. Was I supposed to stop going? How ridiculous. It's a feeding choice, not a bloody cult.

Original poster

BabiesEverywhere · 22/11/2007 20:29

LoveAngelGabriel, Thanks for posting.

Did you continue to attend the group in order to be supportive of the new breastfeeding mums ? I am assuming you had positive and/or negative breastfeeding experience which could help some of the newer mums ?

Or did you keep attending due to social reasons and to meet the other mums ?

OP posts:

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