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Infant feeding

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

Original poster

Is the GMTV breastfeeding piece going to be shown on Wednesday?

326 replies

verylittlecarrot · 06/02/2008 00:46

I had heard a rumour it was, but it isn't in their "what's on" listings.

However, I did find this on their website today, which seems to be a little more balanced in terms of debate. Perhaps it is hoping to do the piece without warning us [cloak and dagger emoticon]

Dr Hillary's comments will make you want to flick his silly head though.

You have been warned.

OP posts:
losingitagain · 07/02/2008 02:19

Wow. Jenny was great. And Hilary seemed out of his depth

kiskidee · 07/02/2008 02:30

and babieseverywhere how awesome are you!
loved how calmly you answered some really idiotic questions. felt like howling when that woman said she handed her breasts back to her husband.

how? on a plate?

losingitagain · 07/02/2008 02:32

Oh, I watched the unedited clip first.

at GMTV editing out everything Jenny said. The clip on their website made it look like Hilary was telling her off. V. patronising.

beachlover · 07/02/2008 09:05

just watched the video again, jenny did such a wonderful job,

i love the way when jenny made the point about how great it was still bf when her dd had cpox
they where really fummuxed for an answers
lk just replies mmmmm well when will you stop !
i would of thought a fair reply to the kind of comment would at least be well yes i can see that is a good point

loved the way jenny told hj about the childs immun system isnt fully developed till 5, he looked like the complete and ignorant twat he is

beachlover · 07/02/2008 09:47

isn't cows milk full of antibiotics and other crap? why on earth would a dr tell women to give that to there 1 year old instead of mummys milk made just for that baby ? just because of his own person hang ups?

BabiesEverywhere · 07/02/2008 09:59

QUOTE Why your local b/feeding group leader doesnt think your contributions appropriate I dont know.
Because I would say to a weeping mother, it is your decision if you want to wean your child onto formula/baby rice today...
[like the idiot HCA just told you HAD to do]
...if you don't want to, have you considered trying X or Y instead ?

Apparantly the HCA prefered to order the mothers to wean as the ONLY choice. Rather than allow me and the other mothers to put forward the other options, so the mother had a REAL choice.

Luckily we have had real HV's at the last few breastfeeding groups (one even mentioned tandem feeding !!!) and we have also had NO mother weeping desperate for real advice..I think these things are connected. Apparantly the HV will only stay until the HCA receives her 3 day Unicef training.

Jenkeywoo · 07/02/2008 10:09

oh my god, just watched the video - I feel physically sickened that he dared to mention sexual issues in the same sentence as breastfeeding. He really is a narrow minded bigot and I feel like doing more than flicking his tiny little head. I feel abosolutely sick that my lovely breastfeeding relationship again comes under attack, how dare he sully something so perfect?

Tatties · 07/02/2008 10:16

Thanks for the link Kiskidee! Jenny was FANTASTIC

I also watched the edited GMTV clip first

I really hated the "eccentric" slant and the implication that there is potentially an "unhealthy" relationship going on between a mother and her older nursing child. The misinformation is just scary. I think that sadly the doc may be representing how a lot of people feel about this though

tiktok · 07/02/2008 10:33

I hate the way that thread went, and I have to say 'Emily the Strange' has not helped...if she's a mumsnetter, can I ask that she gets some input from her supervisor and debriefs a bit?

She is certainly not a 'breastfeeding counsellor' but probably a peer supporter of some sort - she said she'd trained with LLL, so I guess she is a La Leche League peer counsellor (and I wish they wouldn't use those terms, as it confuses people!).

It is very difficult to keep your cool when debating on a forum with people who have an agenda, but if you don't keep your cool, you end up saying things that are incorrect or sweeping - and the 'other side' picks up on it and discredits everything you say. I feel cross that people reading that forum will now think that people who are breastfeeding counsellors - like me - are rude, make sweeping statements and ill-tempered! Emily may not be like that in RL at all!

Babies - you are doing a grand job, actually listening to people on the forum and remaining non-judgemental. Don't be afraid to distance yourself from Emily!

BabiesEverywhere · 07/02/2008 10:53

Tiktok, I did wonder if 'Emily' was a peer supporter, wonder why she said counsellor. I thought LLL had their own terms for their volunteer. Why bring it up at all, it smacks of 'I know best' and as for calling that mother who nursed 4/5 children anti-breastfeeding....mad my blood boil. Sounds like that mother had no support 4/5 times, she needed careful understanding not insulting.

I agree Emily is not helping though. At one point I was happily chatting to a couple of mums and though they disagreed with me (their choice) they were being polite and actually started to ask questions and seemed interested in the answers. Then Emily came on and upset them all.

Can you see all the miss-information on food. Emily et al are insisting that food in a mother's diet can NEVER effect a baby but according to Kellymom in a small number of cases it does...Not common but does happen.

hunkermunker · 07/02/2008 11:11

IMO, some of the most damaging things done to the bf "cause" are unhelpful things said by those who are pro bf and short on empathy/brains.

IME they have often either had a very easy time of bf and think that anyone who doesn't do it is lazy, or they've had a rotten time and think "well, I did it, why can't you?" - and they're wrong and need to be challenged each time. Often they're the ones the media uses to portray the "breastfeeding mafia" and they make me very angry because it's unkind, thoughtless and undermines the work that more sensitive people are doing.

I haven't got time to read the other thread now (but I will, later) - from what I saw yesterday, BE, you are doing a sterling job, as others have said. Emily sounds like a plum though.

VictorianSqualor · 07/02/2008 11:55

I think I'm in love with Jenny.

I do hope everyone who ever has anyone mention breastfeeding after 2 to them again remembers what she said about the immunity boost, I knid of knew that but she worded it very well.

BabiesEverywhere · 07/02/2008 11:58

Hey, VS get in the line behind me. I think a lot of people love Jenny today, we have a queue ;)

hunkermunker · 07/02/2008 12:05

I really liked her necklace.

And her facial expressions. I make similar ones when confronted by numbskulls like Dr Hilary.

But I didn't think this was as negative a piece as it could've been...

Shizaru · 07/02/2008 12:07

I have been guilty of that in the past hunker

I have you to keep me in line now though

can we start a Jenny Love thread?

Shizaru · 07/02/2008 12:08

LOL "I really liked her necklace" sounds so shallow

VictorianSqualor · 07/02/2008 12:18

I have to say I'm kind of glad this happened, because I have said to DP about 'extended' breastfeeding recently, I only bf DS til he was 9 months and wasnt with DP at the time so whenever I've said about feeding this LO til it's two (my main aim atm) he has been a bit especially as when he met DS, he was 16months, so he tries to imagine me feeding DS.

But I have been going on about this GMTV thing since the 'poll' and after telling him what happened yesterday he has said that he's perfectly fine with feeding til two, and that he can understand when baby is two we might not feel ready to stop it and he'll be used to it by then.

So thanks Dr.Hillary, you made my DP realsie what a plonker he was being

hunkermunker · 07/02/2008 12:21

So've I, Shiz, before I had children and when DS1 was teeny and I didn't know much except my own experience. But I was interested, so I read a lot, talked to a lot of people and learnt, the hard way, sometimes(!), that not everybody has the same experiences or feelings or priorities as you and just because they're different, doesn't make them wrong.

What is wrong is that women are making decisions about their priorities based on myths and nonsense. The women aren't wrong. The way we get information about infant feeding is though, very wrong.

Shizaru · 07/02/2008 13:16

oh absolutely.

The thing is, when you have your PFB, and things go reasonably well, your opinion is based mainly around your own experience, and how you have managed.

People dont talk about b/feeding openly, which adds to the limited opinion a woman has. When I struggled to b/feed DS (largely due to undiagnosed thrush) I did feel like I was failing miserably because I managed it 'easily' first time around (apart from soreness for the first few weeks).

It's only through coming on here, and the power of the internet that my knowledge has broadened. I have become more aware of the problems other women have endured to breastfeed so my opinion is far more centred because it is now based on a) my own experiences and difficulties with b/feeding DS, and ease of b/feeding DD, b) other women's experiences and feelings, and c) a whole lot of facts surrounding b/feeding and infant nutrition.

I wish b/feeding was talked about so freely in RL, with plenty of facts and plenty of sensitivity surrounding the complexities of b/feeding and associated feelings.

tiktok · 07/02/2008 13:28

Babies.....if the twonk who doesn't believe bottle fed babies are more likely to end up in hospital wants to bother with research, you can, if you like, refer him to

Breastfeeding and Hospitalization for Diarrheal and Respiratory Infection in the UK. Millennium Cohort Study. Pediatrics 119, e837-e842

These are UK babies, and this very good, thoughtful study finds that the less breastfeeding you do, the more likely your baby is to spend time in hos. in the first year.

You can get a pdf of the whole study here

hunkermunker · 07/02/2008 13:33

I love that this site is informing others all over the world wide interweb

BabiesEverywhere · 07/02/2008 13:42

Thanks Tiktok, I have used that link.

3andnomore · 07/02/2008 13:42

Dr Hilary obviously is a real expert then ...or maybe not...what a [insert choicewords here]

tiredmumof3 · 07/02/2008 13:55

I watched this yesterday in total disbelief that a Dr could be expressing those kind of opinions. It is exactly the kind of stuff my FIL comes out with - actually he is worse as according to him breastfeeding AT ALL is bad. I know that MIL and FIL watched this yesterday and they are coming over this afternoon to "discuss" it with me - cant wait.

They already think I am some kind of deviant to be STILL feeding my 3rd daughter, after all she is 13 months now.

hunkermunker · 07/02/2008 13:56

"2shy
Star Member Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 1,388

----------------

You are preganant but breastfeeding? how did THAT happen then????

Look sweety, she doesnt need it , trust me she will survive without it, and your new baby needs all the nourishment it can get from you, so I would advise you stop if you are pregnant."