Myths about breastfeeding.

[VictorianSqualor]

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)

WHO guidelines are only for 3rd world countries.

Centile charts are for ff babies.

The confusion about when you're an 'extended breastfeeder'. Since dd turned 6 months I've had this hurled at me.

My bf dd has 6 teeth, is consisently on or above the 99th centile, started solids at 7 months after exclusive demand feeding, sleeps well, is bonded with her dad, bfeeds through illnesses, my boobs aren't spaniels ears, I haven't wasted away, I often leave the house and the world hasn't ended. Honestly, my hv thinks I'm the 8th wonder of the world. She won't have it that I'm entirely normal. And she'll tell you dd is thriving in spite of the above.

you see i lost 3 and a half stone in the 10 months i breast fed

I lost none until dd cut down at around 10 months and I ate well and exercised lots.

mothercare do feeding bars looooooooool

only if your tiny

ha i eneded up a 36 l they are useless they really are

oh and your a hippy if you breastfeed my word is angelina jolie a hippy ????

"My lo was sleeping through at 8 weeks. Mind you, she was bottle fed". Yeah, right the magic carton of formula again - works wonders every time, has newborns sleeping through. Yeah right, I think you just got lucky there!!

it's free - you need to see the size of my snack bowl, I spend a small fortune on Green and Black dark chocolate and cheeses - yum....

Not read them all but here are the ones I hear:

Small breasted women don't make enough milk now am not overly blessed in the bosom department but I have 2 very strapping children that can diprove that one.

Never had enough milk, hear it ALL the blinking time.

You don't know if they are getting enough

They will sleep better on formula. yep I know loads of ff mums that would laugh at that one.

"Oh your DS won't go hungry" (whilst gazing at my ample norks while I'm fretting over DS's poor weight gain...assorted men)

"Plenty of milk in there!" - from MW who hooked me up to a painful electric pump to try to increase my supply, convinced that my milk had come in, without checking whether or not I'm normally an H cup, and then declared that I'd have to ff as none was coming out. When the milk finally came in the next day, I went up to an L cup.

Basically, the idea that big breasts make bf easier/ produce lots of milk. Tosh. They make it more awkward and painful (and advice on the tricks is hard to come by) and produce the same amount of milk as any other breasts.

I was crap at breastfeeding and a (not that old actually) lady who I used to work with told me it was because I was "too pale." WTF?

These are great, as in hilariously bollocks! My friend who's a brilliant mother and has bf all three of her dcs was told that bfing was disgusting and dirty by her mother and her sister (as in you can't sterilise your nipples, not disgusting as in a sexual manner)!!

In hospital the other day I heard a MiL telling her DiL, 'of course she can't be hungry, she fed three hours ago' (about a day old baby) and the DiL say, 'the mw said she could feed lots and sometimes comfort feed so to just feed ehr when she wants' (good advice IMO) MiL:There is no such thing as a comfort feed, babies need feeding every three hours not before.

Thankfully I heard said DiL speaking to mws later and being reassured baby would feed lots and not possibly have a routine for a while yet so I didn't have to get involved

Yes, in the dead of night when said baby cried I was planning on 'going to the loo' and offering some sound words of advice, and the URL of a good website

Misconception: that you have to switch to bottles because the milk runs out.

a friend of mine was told her son was allergic to dairy (her milk ffs, she doesn't moo!) because he threw up alot. he was put on soymilk at 6 wks old.

much later when we met up and he was already a toddler and i was bfing my dd, she told me this story and i told her that it sounded like oversupply and or fast letdown. she said so far it was the only thing she had been told that made any sense.

"Never had enough milk, hear it ALL the blinking time."

This can be TRUE if you don't have the circumstances in which you can take the time to increase your supply.

My mother was convinced when I had mastitis early on that I would immediately get an abssess.

PuppyMonkey that's a rather crossed wire from the other lady. Paler skin is more sensitive so fair people tend to feel pain more than darker people - of course there are other factors and not everyone is the same, but it does increase the "risk".

yurt1 you are right you can run out of milk or dry up if you are not stimulating oxytocin. Getting stressed and missing feeds (especially night feeds) both inhibit oxytocin release and will cause mum's supply to diminish. However mums aren't told this very often and sometimes all she needs is some reassurance she is doing great for her to relax and start producing more milk. Also a lot of women who are told they don't have enough milk are told that during a growth spurt or the first 6 weeks when baby feeds constantly or when their body settles into the routine and they are no longer full of milk all the time.

I'm still amazed at having a child into my thirties, and knowing so many people with children, and never had heard ANYTHING about BF being a bit painful in the first days. Actually, until I joined Mumsnet I realised I was not the only person thinking "it hurts!"

The best kept secret ever!

not a myth afaik but who remembers the MNer whose HV measured her baby's head, said it was too large and advised....

give formula!