classic comments from mils, mums and friends and family about bf

[robinredbreast]

seems that alot of negative comments come from your "nearest and dearest"
rather than from the general public who seem quite happy for you

heres a few quotes ive had

"yuuukk a baby sucking on a tit thats disgusting"

"that should be kept private"

"dont do THAT when so and so is around"

"yes i agree with the woman on that programme that bf in public is inflicting it on others"

along with the standard anytime your having any problems with ANYTHING get her on bottles !!!

anyone else got any others to add

My aunt asked me if I was still "Feeding like a cow - squirt squirt squirt" (with gestures). I know I exclusively express and it isn't pretty but like a cow?

My Aunty ' Oh Mimizan, you're not going to be one of those weirdos you see on telly who feeds their child until they're 18 are you?' DD was 11 months at the time.

I think many of the comments people have received are down to naivety.

Whomovedmychocolate I actually wouldn't be surprised how many people don't realise you can tandem feed. Before reading about it on mumsnet I would have assumed you couldn't. All we can do is try and educate people. That or just smile inanely while playing a mental video of shaking them violently!

I didn't realise how lucky I am, I've never had any negative comments from anyone about bfing. MIL hasn't actually said anything negative but I can hear thinking it, she's never said anything positive about bf and does that 'is she feeding again?' thing along with (to dd2) 'You can't be hungry, you only had a feed 2 hrs ago!' yadda yadda ....

Ooh, yes Daisy, I get the 'You don't know how much they're getting' one in distressed tones from MIL as well to which I responded 'well why do I need to know?'

Oh Madlentileater I forgot that one - DH came upon my MIL and SIL hissing like a pair of witches in the corner of the kitchen about how I was causing DD1's colic because I insisted on drinking a glass of fizzy water when breast feeding
They kept trying to prevent me from feeding her too, by physically carrying her out of the room because I was feeding her 'too often' - she was six weeks old at this point. I broke down in tears of rage and frustration at this point.
I'd forgotten that.

Rosa that's awful!

When I was breastfeeding my daughter my mother CONSTANTLY said, to everything my daughter did "That baby's hungry" "that baby needs something else". Then when we went to stay with her for a visit when she was 10 weeks old every time she went into the kitchen she said "Are you sure I can't get something for her?". Eventually my husband got fed-up and answered "Yes she'll have a cup of tea and a biscuit". And when we stopped feeding at 20 months old she said "At last you've stopped that nonsense" !!!!!!!

i got so angry with my dads girfriend at the weekned when she wastalking away to dd saying you nd to give mummy a break, your a naughty lil 1 feeding so much your only supposed to feed every 4 hours not on demand, dd is only8 weeks and is having a growth spurt, this from a woman who knows nothing about children as has never had ny

Rosa me too. Carried out of the room and a dummy forced in his mouth.

Come and join this thread to find out or give advice on how to get out of these situations!

mil via dh as she didn't dare say it to me in person! "i've called cow and gate about where to buy cereal to put in DD's bottles, but apparently they don't do it anymore."
wtf - don't quite understand how she was planning on getting the cereal in to my bbs as dd wasn't getting formula or bm in bottles.

Reading this thread has made me determined to keep feeding my DD until she self weans. After my miserable failure at BFing with my DS 5 years ago, I had a pretty laissez faire attitude this time around. But at 25 weeks, inspite of (or because of?) several problems including a current 2nd dose of thrush, the longer I manage to feed her myself, the longer I want to carry on with it.

Keep up the good work everyone

MIL - 'Why is he crying all the time?' (he was 9 weeks old and had colic)
'it's time to get him on the formula because your breastmilk is making him ill'.

Still doing THAT are you? with raised eyebrow from FIL when she was 5 months old.

"You'll be wanting a private room" friends posh granny in law. Grr

Awww daisy, good on you! Especially after everything you've been through to get this far. And well done to everyone else too!

My Dad (1921 - 2002) used to say "Ah, what a comfort for the baby" and other expressions of appreciation and support. He tried to take photos of me feeding, which would have been all right if I'd got the hang of it at that stage (day 1). He was always really encouraging. He was the last of 11 children, all of whom were bf for 18 months. That's why there weren't even more of them and they all survived infancy.

Am shocked by some of the terrible things the rest of you have had to put up with.

Aww, Elasticwoman, what a lovely message about a lovely dad. Guessing from the dates that you've lost him - sorry to hear that but what a fantastic support he must have been.

Another all time classic from my auntie
" all that bf will ruin her for the bottle, you'll never get her onto it now!"
Er that isn't my goal btw auntie.

Elasticwoman that's lovely.

Actually I had a grand comment from my dad; he met ds for the first time when ds was six months old and when I bf in front of him and ds fell asleep he said, "oh that's a great way to calm him isn't it?!"

Apparently my gran bf him for six months then put him on regular cows' milk!

A friend who didn't bf her children: "oh he tried it but screwed his face up, he didn't like the taste" and the classic to me "are you still bf???" Emphasis on the "still" as if I was a weirdo. It was the first thing she asked me every time I saw her.

Some of these comments make me really angry.

When dd had colic MIL: "Maybe she's allergic to your milk" and "Are you sure she's getting any?". She didn't breastfeed herself and proudly tells the story of how she fed her 7 day old son a mashed up banana because he wouldn't take a bottle.
Once after a feed she told me that I should 'go upstairs and pump and see how much you get', again inferring that I wasn't producing any milk for dd.

I fed dd till she self weaned at 15 months and I sometimes think that it was partly down to MIL and her ridiculous comments. I just had to show her she was wrong.

I have grown to hate Little Britain!

Ispy - how is the son who was fed mashed banana at 7 days now? I have a friend who was given solids at 4 days. Now aged 50+ she has more food allergies than any one I have ever known although the allergies didn't really surface till she was in her 20s.

when dd2 at 10 months had gastro my mum said 'poor thing, it's all that breastmilk she's still having'. and when she was borderline dehydrated and wouldn't take anything but breasmilk ''you better not breastfeed her till she's better''.

when dd2 was a newborn '' so how many ounces do you think she has had?'' everytime she had a feed. As if i knew or cared.

my health visitor '' make sure you bring her in regularly to be weighed, we just have no idea how much milk these breastfed babies are getting, if they're getting anything, unlike babies who are 'bokkle-fed'' we can see every ounce going in them''.