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Infant feeding

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

Original poster

Myths about breastfeeding.

159 replies

VictorianSqualor · 13/04/2008 22:00

What common misconceptions surround breastfeeding?

What have you or others been told by nosey well meaning people about what isn't possible?

Is there anything you hear or or see often that makes you want to smack your head off a wall and shout 'IT'S NOT TRUE!!'?

(Would like people to post the first ones they thnk of even if someone else has already said it as I want to see how common they are)

OP posts:
chankins · 13/04/2008 22:02

what springs to mind is the amount of friends I have who have tried then given up within a few weeks saying, they were not getting enough.
I can only think they were getting very poor advice from someone !

TrinityTheProgressingRhino · 13/04/2008 22:03

people being told they dont have enough milk right at the start and that they have to formula feed

Original poster
VictorianSqualor · 13/04/2008 22:16

That was probably the first one I thought of, not having enough milk

OP posts:
notnowbernard · 13/04/2008 22:18

it will hurt

VeniVidiVickiQV · 13/04/2008 22:20

It hurts
B/fed babies are more wakeful
B/fed babies are more clingy
B/feeding is inconvenient
You must only feed on one side each feed
You must feed at 3/4/whatever hours apart/feed for 20 minutes each side/time
B/feeding does not counter for a baby' depleting iron stores after 6 months

Will that do for starters?

MissingMyHeels · 13/04/2008 22:20

It makes you hang on to your baby weight - fibbers!! Mine is dropping off me

Pannacotta · 13/04/2008 22:20

not enough milk, your baby wont sleep, it hurts etc

Original poster
VictorianSqualor · 13/04/2008 22:22

Yes thankyou VVQV, anymore?

OP posts:
KashaSarrasin · 13/04/2008 22:23

Myth #1: Breastfeeding is really hard.
Myth #2: Breastfeeding is really easy.

(I can't remember where I read that but I liked it and it stuck!)

LynetteScavo · 13/04/2008 22:25

It's inconvenient, as you don't know when your baby will need the next feed.

(over heard last week on school play ground]

KashaSarrasin · 13/04/2008 22:26

Another favourite, it was a French paediatrician who told me:

10 minutes on each side no more than every 4 hours otherwise your baby will become obese

We changed doctors after that appointment...

redadmiral · 13/04/2008 22:34

Every woman can breastfeed.

Original poster
VictorianSqualor · 13/04/2008 22:34

Some here to help jog your memories, how many of these have you heard?

OP posts:
berolina · 13/04/2008 22:36

If you bf in pregnancy/tandem feed, the baby gets mature milk, not colostrum.

Asserted by a gyn trying to convince me to wean ds1 dring my pg with ds2.

I asked her where she had that one from, and she said she'd looked it up.

berolina · 13/04/2008 22:37

Your breasts 'empty', and you only have (enough) milk if they 'feel full'.

terramum · 13/04/2008 22:38

According to the senior miwdife at the hospital after I'd had DS, my nipples were the wrong size & too hard so I'd probaly not be able to bf...

PinkTulips · 13/04/2008 22:39

-formula feeding helps sleep
-you can't get pregnant while feeding (ds would disagree )
-an incredible amount of women have told me they didn't have enough milk so they gave top up bottles
-no matter how many times i tell women that it gets easier after the first few months they never believe me and pack it in at 8-10 weeks
-it only hurts if you're doing it wrong (pet hate this one as both mine latched on just fine but it was agonising for the first few weeks, both nipple pain and severe let down pain... it faded both times after a couple of weeks)
-women often tell me that they can't feed a 2nd or third child as it's too time consuming, bollocks! it's easier to run around after a toddler bf-ing than it is to run after them bottle feeding!
-young women have often told me that they would feel too uncomfortable bf-ing (this baffles me too as i was 20 when i had dd, never bf in public but demand fed for a year)

i could go on for hours!

berolina · 13/04/2008 22:39

To have enough/'good' milk:

  • You need to eat a virtuous diet with all sorts of vitamin and mineral supplements
  • You need to drink lots of water
  • You need to rest lots
berolina · 13/04/2008 22:40

The amount you can express is a guide to the amount the baby is getting from you.

themoon66 · 13/04/2008 22:40

Your baby feeding will take your strength away and also take the calcium out of you so you will lose two teeth for each baby you feed.

berolina · 13/04/2008 22:41

You need to pump and dump if you're having any alcohol.

VeniVidiVickiQV · 13/04/2008 22:43

Oh yes...

Foremilk and Hindmilk - spoken about as though they are completely different types of milk. We've all heard "Too much foremilk" or "not enough hindmilk". Tis largely rubbish.

PinkTulips · 13/04/2008 22:45

oh yeah.... you can't feed after they get teeth!!!

forgot about that one

Dalrymps · 13/04/2008 22:45

If baby slows down at end of feed they're not feeding anymore so take them off, actually just getting hind milk. Wait for baby to come off!

TinkerbellesMum · 13/04/2008 22:46

Baby feeding too often means you don't have enough milk
Breasts will sag if you breastfeed
Small breasted women don't make enough milk
Breastfed baby will follow the chart in a red book and gain weight every week
Breastfeeding hurts
Breastfeedind doesn't hurt (I list both because it's like going to the gym for the first time, it doesn't hurt, but you are going to feel it)
Breastfed babies can be fed on a schedule
What you eat/ drink/ take will pass onto your baby
Sleeping for four hours at night isn't sleeping through
I can give a few bottles and it will be fine
A regular feeder is being naughty or manipulative

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