Oh dear Oxfam have made a bit of a boob (or actually a bottle in this case!)

[mawbroon]

Have a look at this. Especially around 2 mins when Mel B makes an appearance

If you understand why this is a big blunder on their part and feel strongly enough to complain, then you can do so here

But lilymolly - why are my points 'very valid' (thank you ) but other people are 'ridiculous' and 'mad' and 'militant'?

I breastfed but I find it bizarre the idea that a woman who has bottle fed isn't allowed an opinion about world poverty.

Can't imagine that many starving people will be downloading this anyway. FFS.

Totally is right, some of you need to take the day off.

She is allowed an opinion FGS - now who's being ridiculous???? But she needs to be careful how she symbolises babies and motherhood on a world stage.

And just because you doubt people in the third world won't see it (some of them will....), why should that matter?

Would you expect Oxfam to permit other inconsistent messages, just because fewer people in the third world would see them?

Bizarre.

Oh ok so you are mad millitant and ridiculous too

My post was really aimed at OP but was prob not written very well.

Your points about breastfeeding and poverty etc where good- but still dont agree that its got anything to do with oxfam and this campaign

Dont want to fall out, as I expect 100%support and help from you when I have dc no2 next year and want to breastfeed for longer than last time

Has there ever been any research done on how breastfeeding saps the mother of her sense of humour and all common sense?

Not falling out, lilymolly

If you think my points about breastfeeding and poverty were 'good', and yet you don't see they have anything to do with Oxfam and the campaign against poverty, then here's another try:

Some areas of the world are disproportionately affected by poverty and debt. In these areas, babies are especially vulnerable - and their risk of illness and dying is increased if their mothers do not breastfeed, and indeed, if they use bottles.

One way Oxfam works against world poverty is to enable mothers in these areas to breastfeed, and to avoid the use of bottles (they are one of the leading NGOs in nutrition and education, and work at a strategic and individual level to protect breastfeeding in areas where bottle feeding is especially dangerous).

To use a bottle as an icon - and this is certainly how it is used in this clip, representing 'babies' and 'mothers' as it does all over the world - undermines this work in principle.

You may not think 'principles' are important, and it would be hard to argue that the effect of one 2 second clip on a video was very great in practice...but lots of people do think working with principles is important, and that how we say what we say may be as important as the actual words.

I don't think that arguing for principles and care about the way messages are made is mad, or ridiculous, or militant.

Well, I piss myself laughing every time I read one of your daft posts, Nancy, so my sense of humour is pretty well intact

I would warn them against phallic symbols such as digeredoos then as high populations for amount of resources is a big problem too.

Nancy I did feel something draining from me.....

It's like something from the Viz letters page.

dya know tik tok - you are just rude sometimes, and constantly belittle others opinions before launching into your own - you often ( not just on this thread but only on breastfeeding threads) infer that someone with a different opinion to yours is a tad thick bless if they were more informed ...and TiK will be the one to show off her grand skills as she is clearly a step up.

i have no doubt that you are guru breastfeeding expert supreme on mn and helped hundereds through v. difficult times - but i find you always rude when faced with a different opinion to yours - rathern than advice giving

custardo, if I was rude every time someone had a different opinion from me, and 'comstantly' belittling, my 'rude' and 'belittling' posts (about 10 in 5 years) would be far more numerous.

Now go away and learn how to play nice.

Er....make that 11.

"But she needs to be careful how she symbolises babies and motherhood on a world stage." something which might also be considered by the pro breastfeeding mob whose constant pro breast/anti formula message is not perceived as a positive message.

If I were fortunate enough to have another baby, I would think very carefully about whether I wanted to breastfeed. And the reason for that is not because I don't want to/that I find it horrible/, the reason is that I wouldn't want to be associated with the whole pro breastfeeding message.

So many people now associate wreastfeeding with militant, and there's no way I would want to be associated with that.

And this is a shame for those breastfeeders who are not militant, because the militants shout louder than everyone else and give the whole experience a bad name.

So wannabe, you wouldn't breastfeed your baby because you wouldn't want to be associated with other breastfeeders?

How deeply strange

Wannabe - that's a very peculiar attitude and frankly a shocking reason to not offer your child the best nutrition available to them. What an excuse!

Given that 1.5 million babies per year die because they are not breastfed.

What a bizarre comment to make. Why are these babies dying due to bottle milk and not breast milk. A very brave comment to make I think.

There are alot more that die because they are not being fed at all.

Christ if this is all the OP has to worry about. How an earth can anyone be offended by a babies bottle. How ridiculous. What does everyone express into then a bucket! Whatever next.

They die because the formula used to make up their bottles is made with dirty water, hence making them ill and they won't have the protection a bf baby would and they don't have the healthcare a baby born in the Western world would.

I totally agree with Tiktok et al.

I didn't say I didn't want to be associated with breastfeeders, I said that I wouldn't want to be associated with the whole "breast is best and anyone who uses formula is poisoning their child" attitude that surrounds breastfeeding.

"frankly a shocking reason to not offer your child the best nutrition available to them." but in my child's case, formula was the best available to him. And that is exactly my point - the fact that the breastfeeding maphia refuse to acknowledge that there are lots of women out there who are unable to breastfeed. But all they do is tell them that they "didn't have enough support/only a small minority of women are unable to breastfeed" thus making women who ff feel like failures.

If I had another baby I would of course try to bf, but as I was unable to last time I would imagine I would be able too again, but if I was able, I wouldn't be shouting it from the rooftops because I wouldn't want to be seen as one of "them".

I have a better excuse but heyho.

LMFAO at this thread I''m sorry but I seriously don't see the point here.?!?

PSML at BF militant WTF?

I just have visions of some sort of Taliban style woman all covered up wearing machine gun etc and norks hangin out LOL.

DaphneMoon - it's not controversial to say that babies die because of not being breastfed.

The reasons are mainly because of diarrhoea and/or malnutrition, caused by i) unclean water used to mix the formula ii) inadequate cleansing of the bottles iii)lack of resistance to infection, which would be 'supplied' by breastmilk iv) inadequate amount of formula because of poverty

In a few third world situations , formula may save lives (such as when the mother is dead or otherwise unable to feed) and of course these babies should get what they need, and as much of it as they need.

But on balance, the use of formula (and bottles, which is where we came in) is Bad News for babies in poor and deprived parts of the world.

Although I find Wannabe's comment rather , I think there is a point to be made about social perceptions of breastfeeding and how debates like this contribute to those.

Far from normalising breastfeeding (which must surely be a good thing given what we know), I think there is a danger that breastfeeding might be seen as a niche choice. For People Like Us IYSWIM.

And I understand tiktok's argument that the use of a feeding bottle as a symbol of motherhood is also contributing to these attitudes towards breast and formula feeding, but how the pro-breastfeeding lobby respond to these challenges needs to be considered too.

I completely agree that babies die because of lack of breastfeeding meaning unclean water etc

BUT

To have a go about that video I still think is absolutely ridiculous

wannabe - I am sad for anyone who wanted to bf and who then didn't - doesn't matter what the reason.

Why would telling you that mothers need support to breastfeed, and acknowledging that a small no. may not be able to breastfeed whatever the support, make anyone feel like a failure for formula feeding?

Lack of support, or physiologocal inabilty to breastfeed, covers most bases, I would have though - and there is no 'blame' or 'failure of the mother' in either of them.

Sorry wannabe but you sound a bit Daily Mail. Who exactly is the "breastfeeding mafia". People like tiktok? As far as I can tell, she gives nothing but extremely sound advice.

If you want to give your baby formula, fine. If you want to breastfeed, fine - get some support if necessary. But don't reject breast milk because you don't want to be associated with some ridiculous notion of breast feeding mothers

I suppose your right FallenMadonna. It would be helpful if it wasn't such a divisive issue, but what is the way forward? BF, unquestionably, must be promoted but people are so different that no matter what level you pitched at there will always be someone who feels you are pushing the issue too much.