'And many breastfeeding organisations will only recruit and train as breastfeeding counsellors women who have themselves breastfed for six months.
'Immediately, you are attracting the wrong people. These women have already found breastfeeding both wonderful and easy.'
i found bf excrutiatingly painful, intensly difficult and bloody frustrating for weeks (months with dc1). i ended up doing it for 12 months with her and am on 22 months and counting with ds. and i know i'm not the only one who had a rough start and kept going beyond 6 months.
tbh, i could pick another 10 comments from that article that made me but there's not much point, it'll just wind me up and lifes too short.
i've come to the conclusion that those of us who want to bf will just be stubborn about it and do it regardless and those who don't really will find a reason not to, whther it be 'lack of milk' or another reason. and who cares anyway? their babies don't seem to be dying on the streets, they seem happy and healthy and generally not deprived in any way. i'm done wasting any concern over it.
MW do give shockingly bad advice, as do mothers, MIL, friends, HVs and GPs. but tbh, i've come to believe that one of the most negative effects on bf rates is the guilt trip laid on during pregnancy that 'if you don't bf you're failing your child'. the stress and guilt this causes new moms is probably the root of more failed bf-ing attempts than all the other variables put together.
instead of 'just relax and give it a go' mothers are given pages of do's and don'ts and told 'if it hurts you're doing it wrong'. of course formula seems easy in comparison.
the only way i got through bf-ing was by telling myself i'd just give the colostrum and see how it went. every day i figured it might be my last.... much easier than a sentance of '6 months to 2 years or you've failed'
sorry, rant over