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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

Original poster

Whats the strangest/most amusing/just plain bizarre comment you have had about breastfeeding?

168 replies

waitingtobloom · 09/11/2008 20:23

From friends/family/health professionals/ random people?

Mine has to be the doctor who suggested I should express and put it on my cornflakes. I didnt - I dont like cornflakes.

Any odd or amusing (at least in hindsight!) ones out there?

OP posts:
harpsichordcarrier · 09/07/2009 13:12

I am delighted to be "one of those mothers"...

I was told by a long line of midwives/doctors that I would absolutely not be able to tandem feed a newborn and 2.5y old and that I should give up immediately (great advice! when I am in hospital having a baby! cool idea!) and that I should give my two year old strawberry milk shake instead
on the positive side, a male gp (locum I think, never seen his before or since) saw dd2 when she was about 18 months and had a bad vomitting bug. he asked what she was eating and I told him I was bf her on demand and he said "I bet you are really glad you carried on now, aren't you?" and that it was the best possible thing to help her recover.

It was such a lovely thing to say, and made such a change from the usual sniping and criticism about "extended" bf that it made me cry

SarahL2 · 09/07/2009 13:41

I was told by the HV that DS 'obviously' needed weaning when he hadn't put on any weight for about 3 weeks when he was just over 5 months old. We started on baby rice but 3 weeks later he still hadn't put on any weight. She told me that my breast milk obviously wasn't enough anymore and I should switch to formula.

I believed her

proverbial · 09/07/2009 13:48

That my son would grow up to be a homosexual mummys boys weirdo with a boob fetish who would never leave home as I was still feeding him at 15 months. I was so that I couldn't even answer that.....

bumpsnowjustplump · 09/07/2009 17:07

My MIL told me to FF my ds as he has reflux so there must be something wrong with my milk......

WoTmania · 09/07/2009 18:19

I once (while putting DS2, then 8 months ish into the sling on my back) got asked whether I was still feeding him 'myself'. I confirmed her suspicions to be told 'no offense but you look like the type'
Not sure whether it was a dig or not...

Paddles · 29/07/2009 21:21

Irish consultant endocrinologist when DD was being investigated at 15 mos for suspected growth hormone deficiency (subsequently confirmed):

"It's your fault she's small because you're still breastfeeding her - all that milk is suppressing her appetite."

!!???

Referred us to dietician, who couldn't find anything to criticise with how DD was being fed, but asked, "How would you feel about adding some formula?"
Me: "I feel that would be a seriously retrograde step!"

Not sure, either, how adding modified moomilk would have squared with the endo's - admittedly daft - view that she was getting too much milk already...

cartoonkate · 31/07/2009 18:14

Spanish casualty doctor said that I was feeding my 8 mo old DS "too much" and started shouting that "the milk will turn to cheese in his stomach" (sounds even worse in Spanish). Phoned my mum in tears who said it was a load of Victorian codswollop. Cheers mum.

norktasticninja · 31/07/2009 18:30

Mad Dutch aunt-in-law on seeing me feeding 6 week old DD:

Oooh, you don't want to do that. Give her the bottle and hold her as far away as possible when your feeding her.

JetLi · 31/07/2009 19:24

3 year old nephew pointed at my nipples and asked if they were made of chocolate
Twas very cute if a little bizarre

DitaVonCheese · 28/08/2009 22:07

My 90 year old gran told me today that breastfeeding beyond six months is now known to be terribly bad for babies. I asked her who was saying that and she said everyone I pointed out that the WHO, Unicef and the DoH aren't saying that, but she was adamant that this was in fact the case. The curious thing is that I've just googled the Telegraph, which is where she usually gets her mad stories from, and they seem to be broadly pro-bfing, so I'm not sure where she's got it from.

On the plus side, it made a nice change from her telling me how she had to stop bfing my uncle when he was three months because her milk was too rich, which she's told me pretty much every week for the past year (that one just makes me sad).

Beveridge · 06/09/2009 23:55

My Great Aunt suggested the reason my 2 month old was vomiting a lot after every feed was maybe because my milk was "too strong for her".Like it needed diluting in some way!

But as she is not a health professional, I can forgive her for this unscientific statement, unlike the HV who told me "you can't overfeed a bf baby" because "they have to work harder" to feed and it was probably reflux and I should go to the GP to get Gaviscon. Funnily enough, when I stopped offering my horse of a daughter 'seconds'after being winded, the problem disappeared. (Greedy?Yes. Lazy?No)

KittyTN · 07/09/2009 16:16

one of my NCT group said that her dh felt ff was better as 'you don't know what's in breastmilk'!? I was the only one to exclusively bf. The rest were all quite negative re bf - so not indoctrinated by NCT as is usually claimed!

WreckOfTheHesperus · 24/09/2009 17:57

I had, from a male colleague:

"In these days of advanced science and technologies, I can't believe that there's any excuse for women still to breastfeed"

Needless to say he was given short shrift...

WoTmania · 24/09/2009 18:41

I love this thread.

LilianGish · 24/09/2009 18:46

"Of course the problem with breast feeding is only you can do it" - from my MIL.

MoonlightMcKenzie · 24/09/2009 18:56

I took dd for her 4month jabs at 1yr.

The nurse looked at her form and asked me if I was exclusively bfing. When I said 'no' (obviously - she'd been on solids as well as bfing for the past 6 months), she suggested I see a breastfeeding consultant

mehdismummy · 24/09/2009 19:16

a hv and i use the term loosely told me that he really should be on just solids at 18 months and it had no benefits to him anymore ( i told her to fuck off and walked out). my ds stopped bf at 2years 11 months due to mutual agreement! and the other day (he is now 3years 6 months) he ponted to my boobs and said "there is no more milkies in there is there mummy, i drank it all!" i replied no there wasnt and he said " it was my favourite though wasnt it" i replied yes and he said "can i have it again!!" i replied no to which he asked if he could have a ben 10 lunchbox to help him deal with it!!!!!!

Rhian82 · 24/09/2009 19:50

LillianGish - have to agree with her though, I hated breastfeeding a lot when feeding DS three-hourly through the night, and DH could sleep through as there was nothing he could do!

(Stuck at it though, still going at 11 months. No more night feeding though!)

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