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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:
ChasingButterflies · 13/04/2008 22:49
  • you can't exclusively bf a big baby as you won't make enough milk (and you'll need to wean him early )
  • you'll need to stop when he gets a tooth
  • the idea that bf is just something you do for a while before inevitably switching to formula (hence all the "so you're still bf-ing him?" comments)
LyraSilvertongue · 13/04/2008 22:49

It hurts
It's really difficult
Baby will sleep through sooner if ff (mine slept through at 8 weeks but weaning ruined all that...)
You have to sit on a sofa for hours to bf (I once BF DS2 with one arm while pushing DS1 on a swing with the other. BFd while cooking dinner etc too)

mollymawk · 13/04/2008 22:51
  1. It may feel a little uncomfortable but shouldn't hurt if you are doing it right.
  2. If the baby wants to feed all the time this is becasue you are not making enough milk for him/her.

These two really annoy me as I reckon they are the most responsible for people giving up when they don't really want to give up.

itisme · 13/04/2008 22:55

ok typing first and reading others in a minute:

  1. i didn't have enough milk/couldn't fill x up that one really maddens me as it's such a misconception. only true in like 0.5% or some such stat. do feel very sorry for those for whom it is true
  1. i gave a bottle to make x sleep longer at night not necessarily true and also not good for baby or milk production
  1. need to feed for certain length of time on each side - big fat lie
  1. need to feed for certain length of time to get to hindmilk - also big fat lie

annoying things people said to me:

  1. is that baby feeding again - yeah, what of it??
  1. are you still breastfeeding - yeah, what of it??

and my personal favourite

  1. what that baby needs is some baby rice/a bottle/ (and i kid you not) a spoonful of sugar. yes someone did actually say that to me!
itisme · 13/04/2008 22:57

oooh don't i look angry!!

i'm not really, but i do feel passionately about breastfeeding and although i do believe in each to their own i do think people are not given good information to make informed decisions.

JulesJules · 13/04/2008 22:58

berolina "She'd looked it up" Did you ask her what she had looked it up on?? (Cereal packet?)

I had all that confusing stuff about feeding for set times from each side (from the midwife, fortunately I was too tired to take it in). Lots of people have told me that they (or their wives) had to stop at 6 weeks when the milk "ran out". Also, apparently, you can't get pg when you are bfing - I must be imagining DD2 in that case... and there is no goodness in it after 12 months - after that time, you are just doing it for yourself...

The worst aspect of all this, I found, is that the idiots misinformed people who tell you this stuff are so sure that they are right and they are doing you a favour by filling you in on the "facts".

ChasingButterflies · 13/04/2008 23:01

it's true, the "not enough milk" one is such a tough one to counter - so many people have said to me, on seeing me bf ds, that their friends/sisters/whoever had to give up because they weren't making enough milk, and it's hard to know what to say... i had no idea (before mumsnet ) that newborns would feed so much or that this was all perfectly normal and in fact a good thing for supply

grouphug · 13/04/2008 23:01

My hv told me If you baby wakes in the night after 6 months give cooled boiled water never breastfeed.

During the day only breastfeed after they have had their food as this is more important than breastmilk.

itisme · 13/04/2008 23:03

yes grouphug they're awful ones! actually they all are!

jasper · 13/04/2008 23:06

If done correctly it will NOT hurt.

Bollocks to that

VeniVidiVickiQV · 13/04/2008 23:07

oh yes...

"even b/fed babies need water in hot weather"

no, they dont, they just need to b/feed more.

"you shouldn't b/feed if a baby has an upset stomach/sickness & diarrhoea"

It's the best thing you can do.

JulesJules · 13/04/2008 23:09

Oh and bf babies don't sleep as well - my DD1 slept throught the night at 2 weeks, DD2 didn't. Both bf.

2 friends have been told by their HVs - if that baby hasn't put on x oz by next week, you must start topping up with formula.

If it hurts, it is because your positioning is wrong - midwife told me this in hospital, the day dd1 was born. I asked her for help and she said "We are not really supposed to touch your boobs" ???

You have to eat lots and lots of extra calories in order to make milk.

LyraSilvertongue · 13/04/2008 23:10

VVVQV, I was told the first one by my mother. I ignored her as she ff so what did she know.
I was told the second one by my GP when DS1 was ill. Told me to wean him off BF. he was only about 4 months at the time. Needless to say i ignored him too.

theUrbanNixie · 13/04/2008 23:11

you need to drink milk to make milk

you shouldn't give dairy so no breastmilk for ds (said to me by a paediatrician at kids' A&E. i said "Are you calling me a cow?")

SparklyGothKat · 13/04/2008 23:13

premature babies need more calories, I neevr did find out if that is true or not

VeniVidiVickiQV · 13/04/2008 23:17

I think GP's are the worst for that advice LS.

TinkerbellesMum · 13/04/2008 23:19

This is from my training manual:

Breastfeeding is only an effective form of birth control (98%) if the baby is receiving NOTHING but breastmilk on demand. No supplements, no water and no dummies. The chances of pregnancy increases greatly when the baby starts to sleep through the night, starts eating solids and/or when the mother resumes her menstrual cycle. If you really don't want to become pregnant again, it is wise to use an additional method of birth control.

I like the way it says "when the mother resumes her menstrual cycle" like it's a choice!

I think a lot of women aren't able to achieve those conditions so it's not effective. If you imagine that with the pill missing a tablet leaves you uncovered for a few days, but with B/Fing missing one leaves you completely uncovered.

MadamePlatypus · 13/04/2008 23:21

You can tell how much milk you are making by "taking a milk yield" (expressing).

Feeding more often than every 3 hours is 'snacking' (as opposed to how a baby normally feeds).

MadamePlatypus · 13/04/2008 23:22

Its dangerous to suckle on an 'empty' breast.

SparklyGothKat · 13/04/2008 23:22

I was told that because Callum feeds every 2 hours that he 'snacks' rather than 'feeds'

MotherofUBERboys · 13/04/2008 23:24

myths i laboured under which mn have debunked for me

-you need to eat a good/balanced diet to do it -you need to drink plaenty of water (presumably both of these things help YOu but arent essesntial to the baby??) -6m is optimum -all ^sorts6 of contradictory stuff about fore and hind milk and using only one b per feed or changing every 20 mins etc etc -various stuff i was supposed not to eat or drink (most of them i did anyway ) -an anti myth, ie a TOTAL lack of any mention of the possibility of tnguetie. -any problems with soreness are to do with latch and therefore, youre just not doing it right.

is all i can think of for now. i have to go to bed. night all!

TinkerbellesMum · 13/04/2008 23:25

Jules, Birmingham has a hands off policy but it doesn't mean we can't help because we're not allowed to touch. It's actually there because when we've gone home Mum is left to do it on her own and if it's been done for her she's still not going to be able to do it.

Sparkly, odd one. Yes they do, but our bodies know when our milk has come in too early so it will adjust to feed a premature baby. So no, extra milk is not needed.

SparklyGothKat · 13/04/2008 23:27

someone on MN told me that when you have a premature baby that the milk you produce is actually very rich because you have given birth early, and it adjusts as the baby gets older. Is that true?

LyraSilvertongue · 13/04/2008 23:28

I hadn't discovered MN when I was bfing DSs. Thank God i ignored some of the 'advice' I was given.

katwith3kittens · 13/04/2008 23:30

If you BF your boobs go saggy