Mothers now advised to bf for 2 yrs - in Scotland.

[kiskidee]

Except for that bit, the rest of the article makes my teeth itch.

scratch scratch

Even the title "mothers told to breastfeed" - told to?!

Carriemumsnet, ffs, ""I can understand why the WHO has these guidelines as two years would be best for babies in developing countries. But we have to interpret these guidelines intelligently and I am not aware of any evidence for this to be recommended.""

Do you actually ever read this board?! This is your quote, isn't it?

Carriemumsnet - shame on you.

But yay to advice in scotland

I was at a group recently where about 90% had bf most of them up to a year and 3 were still bf at nearly two.

Just a normal sure start type thing with a good cross section of people.

Really surprised me tbh

"told to" farkin hell. and here was I kindly saying 'advised' in my thread title.

makes us sound like the 'dictatorship' the Scottish Conservative woman claims we are.

Um, is it terrible that I can see her point? A lot of women find the thought of breastfeeding offputting, or they are ignorant about it in various ways. If they hear "you should do it for two years" I can easily imagine them thinking "Oh ffs, no way am I doing that". While I don't disagree with the advice per se, it would be more effective to put more resources into basic breastfeeding advice and education and getting more people bf initially and keep it up for as long as possible.

"Carrie Longton, a mother-of-three and a founder of the popular parenting forum Mumsnet, said the prospect of breastfeeding for two years might put mothers off altogether.

"Some women stop breastfeeding after a couple of days because they find it difficult. They should be targeting those mothers instead, and getting these people to breastfeed at least for a little while.

"I can understand why the WHO has these guidelines as two years would be best for babies in developing countries. But we have to interpret these guidelines intelligently and I am not aware of any evidence for this to be recommended.""

You could have tried reading the WHO guidelines and research for a start???

Perhaps you were on your way out the door on the school run when they called and asked for your input?

and YES to the general point that giving women proper post-natal bfing support would do more than giving everyone a sodding dvd.

SL, I don't disagree with that - I think it's important that the support is offered to those women who want to breastfeed - nothing outrageous about that.

My point is the old chestnut rolling out Carrie's seemingly done by saying that the 2yo thing is only relevant to developing countries - that's bollocks and I'm angry that, with a forum full of posters who know what they're talking about wrt this subject, Carrie's said something so plain dim.

This is an interesting article which contains shovelfuls of evidence that breastfeeding till at least two is to be recommended in developed AND developing countries - and not just for babies, for mothers too.

Yes, and said it as though putting across general, informed MN consensus - which it certainly isnt..

I think it's the "I am not aware of any evidence for this to be recommended" that I find so grating.

Why not, Carrie? It's pretty basic stuff - and if you're going to speak as the voice of MN on such a serious topic, it's surely a good plan to have your facts straight before you do?

Yes, good stuff in the first bit and, as Aitch says, you may have been misquoted, so... [awaits clarification]

[sceptical]

Right. Bed time for me. And my banging head.

Hope it's better in the morning.

Have emailed link to thread to Carrie, in case she doesn't read this board... [mischievous look]

Hope it was a misquote.

I could pick so many holes in that article it would resemble a pair of crocs.

controversial point, am ready to be shamed into retracting, but: if we look at things from a nature point of view, then shouldn't weaning mean that they are weaned off bm? I am still bf'ing now, with solids introduced 1 m ago, but always said I would stop when DS got teeth as that, to me, is nature's way of saying "time to chew now, don't need the bf any more".

Having said that, that was my feeling BEFORE I had DS, if he doesn't bite me then I am likely to carry on until he is at least a year old - if he does bite me then it will depend on how badly as to whether I carry on.

I realise there are health benefits to be had from extended bf'ing but I was just wondering why this is so, if nature had other ideas?

dunno, thumbwitch. my sister started cutting her teeth at three months.

I don't think nature did have other ideas. Humans evolved to have a period of transitional feeding, i.e mixed breastfeeding and solids. Perhaps because breastfeeding has immune, immunodevelopmental and neurodevelopmental functions as well as nutritional.

Incidentally, interesting little snippet here about breastfeeding in prehistory (last paragraph).

oh and I sincerely hope that the Scottish Executive are planning to do something more helpful than distribute a DVD...

TW, they're called milk teeth - and we get another set once they drop out. And some babies are born with teeth - my dad was - so should he have been on steak and chips and a Creme egg for pud from birth?

(Carrie's out of office has replied to me )

nooo you can still drink things even though you have teeth, I do so all the time, no problem at all

I too am hopping Carrie has been misquoted. Maybe it should have read:

"Carrie Longton, a mother-of-three and a founder of the popular parenting forum Mumsnet, said a HV told me that 'the prospect of breastfeeding for two years might put mothers off altogether.'
"And then she said 'Some women stop breastfeeding after a couple of days because they find it difficult. They should be targeting those mothers instead, and getting these people to breastfeed at least for a little while.

"'I can understand why the WHO has these guidelines as two years would be best for babies in developing countries. But we have to interpret these guidelines intelligently and I am not aware of any evidence for this to be recommended.'
"So I slapped the HV with a wet fish."

I'm pretty sure my quote marks have gone all wrong btw.

I also don't like "told to" sounds very dictatorial.

this part made me put the paper down and take some deeps breaths: "But last night critics warned the move would make mothers who struggle to breastfeed feel guilty and could even put women off trying breastfeeding altogether."

then a little while later i picked upt he paper again and read Carrie's quote. I put the paper down again.

BT, wouldn't that be lovely?

I will email Justine, I think.