did you ever see anyone bf before having your own kids?

[moominsmummy]

talking to alot of other mums I am surprised that so many of them had never seen anyone breastfeeding until they had babies themselves. (I was a bit naive in this as have grown up with lots of bf going on around me)

did you ever see anyone breastfeed before you had your baby(ies)? If not would you have found it useful to have met someone who bf whilst you were still pg?

am just wondering if it's worthwhile for PG ladies to have the chance to meet bf mums to see what happens and hear about their experiences?? (FWIW i wouldn't be bothered about a stranger watching me bf but can appreciate there are many who would be bothered)

I must have but can't say I noticed
I even went on a hen do with a mum and her newborn, never saw any bottles so she must have bf. I was probably concentrating on the wine

Same as SPB - didn't see anyone bfing until NCT Bumps and Babies when I started my ML.
Moominsmummy - it is a very good idea for expectant mums to meet bfing mums, I've spoken to a couple of MWs and the HVs at my Surestart centre to ask them to tell the ladies that they see at the AN clinics of the bfing group and they would be very welcome to come. But none so far

someone at my nct group did just that when i asked

Yes, I saw my mum breastfeeding my sisters

I like it when my little cousin comes and has a good look when I bf ds, she's not shy or embarrassed about it

The only person I saw was a lady I used to babysit for when I was 16/17. We were sitting on the sofa and she was just bfing. I remember not really knowing where to look when the baby popped off and I got a full view of her boob. Mainly because I hadn't seen another woman's nipples (other than my sis and mum's) that closely before.

I made my dsis watch me bf ds2 while she was pg as most of the people she knew with dcs had bottlefed and I wanted her to know what it looked like.

I do tend to stare at bfing women, because I want to run over and say 'well done' but figure the staring probably freaks them out enough .

Yes - my mum, and lots of other family members.

One close friend fed openly her 2 children - I have to say she was the most tremendous support and encouragement to me when I first gave birth.

And another friend who had 5 children and fed them all wherever and whenever very naturally. In fact when I had my dd1 and went to visit her 3 girls all aged around 10-14 ish were fascinated and practically sat on my lap to observe and question me. I felt ok-ish, and friend was polite and offered me a more private area!

I said to her (and in retrospect am so glad at my response) that I felt it was important in terms of "normalising" bf that I should stay put and they learned a valuable lesson imo. I did at one point have a muslin as a bit of cover but her oldest dd said loudly "auntie lolly why have you put a cloth on the baby's head?"

My Mum, all her sisters and several of my female patients because its better to bf while having an eye test than have an eye test with a screaming baby!

Moondog - Port Moresby, between 1980 and 1985. How about you?

Yes, I think ti's a class issue. If you're working class you probably didn't see it. If you were middle class then you probably did. Sadly that is still the case. Hopefully it will change and if you went back to the 1920s my father was bottle fed (as it was modern - he had his own certified TB free cow too) and my mother more working class was breastfed.

Yes, my mum (I am oldest - she stopped feeding my brother when I was about 6) & my aunty - fed her twins until they were 15 months.

Plus my Best friend who had a dd 9 months before I had dd.

My mum & aunty are my BF role models. I feel lucky to have them & wouldn't have coped with BF so well without them.

Partly to do with class perhaps, but also to do with your own family experiences. My mother b/fed me and in the early 70s there was only her and one other woman (out of dozens in the maternity hospital) who were b/f. Most of the midwives (in her experience, at that time) were very pro-ff.

I was breech, she had a vaginal delivery, and only one midwife said to her very encouragingly that it was the best thing not just for me but for her recovery.

I remember my mum nursing my baby brother when I was 8 years old. Then nothing until I was 27 years old and visited a friend in hospital post birth.

In more recent years I saw Tigerfeet nursing her DD and very recently many aquaintances/friends but that is because I am surrounded by mothers now and involved with the local peer supporters etc

imagine - similar here. My mum said to me that when she b/f my brother she ignored all the 4 hourly advice (which over 30 years ago was spouted a lot) and basically fed on demand. She fed me more often than was "allowed" - at least every 3 hours, and has said many times since that she wished she had fed on demand as she thinks I would have been more settled. She has always been a big encourager of me b/f (and in some ways we are not especially close) and to feed on demand.

She doesn't give me any well meaning advice about making a small baby "last" through the night.

Blimey Drama!
In PNG from 1972 to 1989.
Mt Hagen, Buka, Goroka and then Moresby!
I left Ela Beach primary in 1978 to go to boearding school at age 11 but parents stayed on there until 1989.
Small world eh?

We had a heavenly childhood.

Blimey Drama!
In PNG from 1972 to 1989.
Mt Hagen, Buka, Goroka and then Moresby!
I left Ela Beach primary in 1978 to go to boearding school at age 11 but parents stayed on there until 1989.
Small world eh?

We had a heavenly childhood.

Blimey Drama!
In PNG from 1972 to 1989.
Mt Hagen, Buka, Goroka and then Moresby!
I left Ela Beach primary in 1978 to go to boearding school at age 11 but parents stayed on there until 1989.
Small world eh?

We had a heavenly childhood.

Blimey Drama!
In PNG from 1972 to 1989.
Mt Hagen, Buka, Goroka and then Moresby!
I left Ela Beach primary in 1978 to go to boearding school at age 11 but parents stayed on there until 1989.
Small world eh?

We had a heavenly childhood.

StarlightMackenzie, yes iirc I asked. I was amazed she was feeding such an old baby (about 8 months I think) and said I was worried about how I would get on with breastfeeding. She showed me latching on and positioning etc.

I don't think it is due to class at all. Sorry. In my case, my SIL is the only person I knew who had a baby before I had mine apart from a few people at work - so not really the ideal conditions for asking how it all worked.

I'm in my early 30s so I guess in part it is a consequence of most of my friends not having babies yet and a reluctance to feed in front of people you don't know very well. As someone else has said you don't really learn an awful lot from seeing a baby's legs poking out under a shawl...

Come to think of it no I never. It was my dp that suggested I bf. I had never known anyone to bf, everyone was shocked when I decided to - even me

Just about everyone in my family did, plus most family friends. Although I grew up in a pretty remote and conservative area of North Wales my family was of the english-middle-class-hippy-escape-to-wales-and-grow-veg types.

mainly my aunt feeding my cousins.
We always suggest that pg mums come to the BF group before they sprog. I think watching other mums BF can be invaluable; just to watch how they position their babies and a lot of them realise that you can BF discreetly.