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Infant feeding

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Original poster

Make Breastfeeding Normal exhibition and National Breastfeeding Awareness week

80 replies

theAfkaUrbanDryad · 13/05/2008 08:14

Morgan's blog has a fantastic article about National Breastfeeding week and the problem with those awful posters. At the bottom, my account of my experience yesterday at the photocall for the Make Breastfeeding Normal exhibition - and the points that need to be made about that.

It's quite long - but there are things said in there that I could not say as eloquently and i feel this is an issue that needs to be in the public domain as much as possible!

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theAfkaUrbanDryad · 13/05/2008 20:10

yes Scottishmummy, bang on - that's exactly what is was, a PR event. Just not for the right product!!

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beansprout · 13/05/2008 20:21

That really is a brilliant blog.

Katsh · 13/05/2008 20:33

Have read the blog. Can't believe the posters. I've also looked at Be a Star. What great pictures. I'm currently bf my third child,and nothing seems to have improved the image of bf in the 8yrs between no.1 and no.3. What can we do?

Tangle · 14/05/2008 08:19

I'm so about how you were treated UD. And the posters are just depressing

Just ran DH through the salient points, and he suggested you withdraw your consent for your photo to be used...

Highlander · 14/05/2008 11:18

the posters highlighted on Morgan's blog are awful, but her 'Mili Tant' blog, for me, is just as bad.

Why should BFing mums only be portrayed as flabby and unattractive. My word, how dare we wear sexy bras?

I agree with UD though, the Be A Star campaign is spot on.

Highlander · 14/05/2008 11:23

I think what I'm feeling is that breasts are primarily for milk and I hate it when friends complain about their DHs wantiing 'their' breasts back (utterly pathetic).

But, I feel as if I've worn nothing but nursing bras for the past 3.5 years. You frequently read posts on MN from mums asking for links to companies that sell sexy, feminine bras. So there is a conflict (?) between wanting to nurse for years and sexualise your breasts at the same time.

It's been done very, very clumsily, but I think the posters are maybe trying to bridge that conflict.

Eirlys · 14/05/2008 15:34

Agree those posters are dreadful, and I think they could be counterproductive. Should I give up because my experience is nowhere near that- because my breasts are often too tender for DH to come near me, or any bra i wear is likely to have milk leaked or sprayed all over it?

Is there really more need to convince women to start bf, than to convince them to continue beyond a few days? From my admittedly limited experience it seems like more needs to be done to publicise that it is normal to have problems when starting out in breastfeeding, but there is so much help out there go get you through these problems, and they can often be resolved with the right help.

If these posters do convince any woman to breastfeed, they are almost certainly in for a shock as to the realities of breastfeeding in the early days.

omy · 14/05/2008 16:41

Eirlys - I agree totally. which is why I love the 'be a star' idea - women who overcome the probs ARE stars!!!

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theAfkaUrbanDryad · 14/05/2008 17:37

Eirlys - fantastic post.

Highlander - nobody is saying that breasts shouldn't be sexual. No-one is saying that women should wear dowdy nursing bras for the whole of their time bf-ing. I think Morgan's point is that first and foremost breasts are for feeding babies, whereas these posters are saying, "No, breasts belong to your man, but hey girls, look, you can also give them to your baby! Isn't that great??"

From these posters - as Morgan says in her blog - the last person to have a say in who "gets" her breasts is the woman herself!! These campaigns should be about helping to empower women to make informed decisions about infant feeding, and that means being honest and clear about the realities of breastfeeding.

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theAfkaUrbanDryad · 14/05/2008 17:44

And also to address this point:

"Why should BFing mums only be portrayed as flabby and unattractive. My word, how dare we wear sexy bras?"

i think that there must be some middle ground between airbrushed super-sexy model and flabby, unattractive mum. What I would like to see is reality - a normal looking, average bf-ing mother, nursing her baby in a normal way. No man on the other side, groping her, no glass of vodka and orange. To make breastfeeding normal we have to get normal images out there - not soft porn masquerading as healthcare advice!

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Highlander · 14/05/2008 21:08

TBH, as Hunker points out, it going to take a fek of a lot more than trendy posters to persuade women to try, and keep going with, BFing.

hunkermunker · 14/05/2008 21:39

I just want women to be supported to breastfeed for as long as they want to do it.

Because, you know, if more women had better feeding experiences, more women would do it for longer.

It doesn't help to bang on about doing it for two years or talk about how dreadful formula is - it's got to be "Look, we know our stuff, we can help you to breastfeed, let's talk about what it's like to do it for other women, but also think about how we can make it work for you."

It doesn't need flashy, it doesn't need smug, it doesn't need sneering at - it just needs doing, quietly, calmly, with nobody judging one way or the other - just doing.

morocco · 14/05/2008 21:55

fab article, exactly what I was thinking except i'm too inarticulate to put it so well. be a star campaign is spot on though.

emma1977 · 14/05/2008 22:53

Those bloody awful posters will not be given house room in my surgery.

Top blog- what an immense shame that such a worthwhile event should turn into such a shambles.

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theAfkaUrbanDryad · 14/05/2008 23:14

As Morgan says at the top of her blog:

" Babies are born to nurse at their mother's breast: fighting to make sure their mothers have a choice in allowing this for as long as they both mutually desire it. Fighting to keep formula fed infants as safe as possible. Feeding your child is your personal choice: let's make sure it's your choice, not everyone else's."

I heart Morgan!!

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LuXander · 14/05/2008 23:30

Victorian Squalor, I was thinking about your calendar idea as I read this. Perhaps it is time that a proper BF campaign was started by real BFers, to show that BF can be portrayed tastefully. I'd be happy to have my photo taken.

Madlentileater · 14/05/2008 23:43

agree that the posters are awful and sad that the London event was so hostile to bf mothers and babies, esp the Avent issue BUT...did anyone read further down to the news of the poor woman from Cameroon? what are we doing for her?

gagarin · 14/05/2008 23:56

These posters were designed by young people with the precise aim of engaging debate on breast feeding with young people!

What's the problem with that!? Most 15-16year olds would prob welcome a suggestion that they can use their breasts as sexual objects and feed a baby - not one or the other.

There is a lot of work to do before every young person in that age group says breasts are for babies first and sex second.

There's a lot of sexual fun to be had from breasts when you're young... so introducing the idea of breast feeding alongside sexual fun is not altogether bad??

Look at this article...

www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-wellbeing/health-news/the-posters-that-celebrate-cool-mu ltitasking-breasts-816224.html

If you want the other sort of posters they are still available on

www.breastfeeding.nhs.uk/en/materialforclients/index.asp

No sex or men in those!

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theAfkaUrbanDryad · 15/05/2008 00:08

Madlentileater - there's not a huge amount we can do for Glory and Tracey I'm afraid. She is back in Finland now, with an asylum claim ongoing, on the basis that Tracey faces the threat of female genital mutilation upon their return to the Cameroon. We are hoping that Glory may become a vocal opposition for the anti-FGM movement, as it's so rare to find someone who will talk about it. It's way out of my league I'm afraid, but if you CAT me your email address I can put you on the Nursing Matters mailing list. That way, next time something like this happens (and isn't it depressing that i just know there'll be a next time? ) if you're in a position to, you can help.

nursingmatters.org.uk

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theAfkaUrbanDryad · 15/05/2008 00:09

gagarin - the problem is that they're promoting breasts as for sex first and babies afterwards.

Have you read the blog or any of my posts?

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gagarin · 15/05/2008 07:47

I've read it all! I just don't agree with your interpretation of these posters.

I still think that young people at this present time see breasts as sexual objects only (and I agree that is a BAD thing) and that these posters are a tiny step along the road to saying "hang on - breasts are for feeding too" (which IMO is a GOOD thing).

I don't think that it is an easy job to try and gently move young non-pregnant people away from the over-sexualised view of the female body.

IMO this is an attempt (not a great one but an attempt all the same) to address young people from within their own mind set by just asking them to spend a little bit of time thinking about breastfeeding as a life choice that does not mean big white bras, droopy boobs and no sex!

So I don't agree that they are promoting breasts as sexual objects first - rather that they are acknowledging where young people are in regard to their bodies and breast and taking that as a starting point in a VERY LONG battle.

mariamerryweather · 15/05/2008 08:47

Usually lurk here for breastfeeding information but couldn't not post on this. I feel these posters do women, and mothers, no favours whatsoever as they are so unrepresentative of most women's experience of life with a breastfed baby. Would much prefer a realistic representation - so unhelpful for those struggling to suggest that life goes on as normal after a baby. Bereastfeeding has so much going for it I really wish the campaign had focused on the real positives.

mariamerryweather · 15/05/2008 08:47

Usually lurk here for breastfeeding information but couldn't not post on this. I feel these posters do women, and mothers, no favours whatsoever as they are so unrepresentative of most women's experience of life with a breastfed baby. Would much prefer a realistic representation - so unhelpful for those struggling to suggest that life goes on as normal after a baby. Bereastfeeding has so much going for it I really wish the campaign had focused on the real positives.

mariamerryweather · 15/05/2008 08:48

Sorry - guess you can spot the newbie!

lizzytee · 15/05/2008 09:54

Have been musing on this one since yesterday (partly because my firewall rates Morgan's blog as NSFW lol). I was at the photocall (wasn't made clear to me that I had to bring DD so didn't join the photos or stick around for long), and also went to the poster exhibition.

I wasn't totally comfortable with all the images in the exhibition but my take on it was that it was there to provoke discussion and give a different perspective. Yes, some of the images are quite sexual, yes the posters that you object to show an idealised form of female beauty and I see that that could be contentious but I really cannot accept that there is nothing sexual about breastfeeding given that it is a fundamental part of female sexuality. I read the poster showing breasts and hands as saying that breastfeeding is a close and intimate bond within a family and does not exclude fathers, as many people still seem to think.

FWW (but will check) my understanding is that the posters were an exercise, not a new campaign.

And although I have sympathy with Morgan's friend re how the photocall etc was conducted, really what did you expect? It's not to condone the things but happened but it kind of goes with the territory.(I say this having done some media work this week around bfing)