Anyone else prepared to admit they actively wanted to bf in order to stick it to The Man!

[Penthesileia]

Of course, breast is best for my baby, and all.

But - anyone else read 'The Politics of Breastfeeding' and think: no damn evil corporation is going to take advantage of my need to feed my baby, dammit. Those lousy companies, still responsible for infant deaths in the developing world, ain't getting a penny of my cash.

Etc. Etc.

Breastfeeding was as much a political issue for me as it was a bonding and nurturing one. I'm not afraid to admit it!

In your face, The Man!

Did Ani Difranco breastfeed?

OMG Balthamos. I could almost have written your post, especially the lazy and able to eat lots bit.

I wasn't brave enough to do exposed feeding, preferring to cover up (just with my top though, no hooter hiders here), but I do still feed 3.2yo DS out and about if need be.

I love it when people ask me if I am 'still' breastfeeding little Ff, as if she is 10 years rather then 10 months. Have never been challenged about bf in public though, even when I have whipped the norks out defiantly half expecting to be challenged. In fact, I was talking to an elderly lady when little Ff was about 6 months old, trying to restrain myself from hitting her for repeatedly calling her 'him', even though she was top to toe in pink AND LOOKS LIKE A GIRL , when she sternly told me, 'And I certainly hope that you are breastfeeding him, and not giving him any of that artificial rubbish.' I beamed, and forgave her for thinking my booootiful little girl was a boy.

Lactivist.co.uk do a fab badge 'still breastfeeding...still none of your business'

If only strangers would be rude we could wear them. Have seen a few threads where bf mum could fair stick the badge pin in mil's eye though.....

treedelivery - aint that the truth, mine cant draw breath between 'your dd is the most content child I've ever met' and 'are you still feeding her?' arrgh

Did The Man invent hooter hiders, do we think?

Never thought about formulala or The Man (from Delmonte?)- I was too tight to buy bottles and too lazy to get up in the middle of the night to make up a bottle.

I have had three children and have only ever used half a tin of formula and half a dozen cartons, for my first baby when I was having problems breastfeeding.

That was before I read The Politics of Breastfeeding. After that I decided never to voluntarily buy formula again so exclusively breastfed my next two children.

Would like to add that if young people were made aware of the hideously manipulative and slimy marketing strategies of the big formula companies it would probably sway more of them to breastfeed than any amount of 'Breast is Best' style promotion of breastfeeding. I'm aghast at the tactics of Cow and Gate in particular, how they try to draw all mothers in (not just mums who intend to ff) by bribing them to join their 'mums clubs' so they can bombard them with marketing materials for infant formula. I really, really can't understand why the government doesn't put a stop to it.

I was doing it to prove the innate superiority of my biology over Cow & Gate's

stuff 'immunofortis' and fish oils, I do made-to-order antibodies...

$$$$$ £££££, tittybangbang.

It's particularly galling given the fact that factual information about infant formula is so hard to get, apparently. You're told that it contains some magic fish-derived oil, or something, but not more pertinent info. about its contents, etc.

Plus the fact that every week there's a thread on here asking how to make the stuff up: the companies aren't doing a good job of informing people how to use their product safely, it would seem.

On a lighter note, it's amusing to see that so many of us are such lazy creatures. Me especially - LMAO at whoever it was talked about wapping their boob out. As Homer Simpson so sagely put it, "It's funny because it's true."

I have used formula now and then when a bit sore or whatever, or when we've run out of expressed stuff, so it's a useful weapon in the mother's arsenal, but I think the advertising of it should be banned. If there's anything they should be selling under the counter in plain packets, its formula.

BTW I have identified another example of the hand of The Man. Selling bf 'solution kits' for £127 to mothers. Forgive me, I thought solution kits came free with each lactating female.

www.boots.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?categoryParentId=3678&storeId=10052&productId =54232&callingViewName=&categoryId=5634&langId=-1&catalogId=11051

were you not about when we smacked down the Phillips/Avent 'feeding consultant' or whatever she was called about that kit?

at that point it was sold as 'Breastfeedign Essentials' which was even funnier...

I missed that. I am glad you sorted them out.

"Smacked down"!!

Gawd love 'im - my DH came to bed the other night, after I'd turned in early, wittering about some evil advert he'd seen which (his words) "told bf-ing mothers to stop bf-ing and use formula instead for night-time peace".

"Poor babies", he lamented.

I sat bolt upright: "what!?" Even in his wildest fantasies, The Man surely couldn't have embarked upon an advertising campaign which directly encouraged bf-ers to give up. I pointed this out to DH.

No, he was insistent that this was what was said. I've no idea what he saw or which formula it was, but it emphasised 2 things to me:

1. DH is as batty as me about bf-ing

2. their ads really do set out to undermine bf-ing, despite their protestations to the contrary.

tittybangbang....sadly a lot of people truely believe that they are never being manipulated by any adcampaigns, and some such and no amount of saying that, it would not be a multibilliondollar business if it wasn't working will convice those....
(not just about bf, btw...)

Pen...I suppose he saw cow&gate where the bloke "solumly decrales" that he will not tell her that his mum thinks she holds the Baby wrong and that he will do his fair share of nightfeeds...of course, the tins say 6 month on...but the Baby in the add is just above newborn age...well...under 6 month...or looks it....co-incidence...I doubt it

Actually, wanting to avoid consumerism was the main trigger for my using washable nappies (along with saving money, an allergy to cutesy Disney characters, and the fact that I used to work in landfill reduction policy...)

I observed to a friend a while back that the size 1 nappies were given away free all the time, size 2 are pretty cheap, and then larger ones are hideously expensive.

He replied, "Isn't that the same strategy they use for selling crack?"

Strengthened my resolve not to buy any more!

I have to say sometimes I sometimes feel eco-bullied, which might be a reverse version of The Man. My kids have eczema and so on, which means reuseable nappies cause too many problems and we use disposable for medical reasons. But you would think I was culling baby seals for a living from the reaction of some people.

I also got a long lecture in my local Co-op when I asked for a plastic bag during an impromptu shopping trip, about how the manager had flown to Spain for his holidays and seen plastic bags dumped in the water, which meant they were evil, so I shouldn't be using them. I responded by saying that 1) his carbon footprint was probably pretty big after the flight, had he thought about that, 2) that I actually wanted to buy a brown paper bag (like in the US) but no food shop seemed to sell them and kept forcing plastic on me, and 3) all his blardy food was smothered in plastic anyway, perhaps I should leave that behind in his shop because I didn't want it filling up my black bin. My children were mortified and have banned me from going in there.

I know what you mean, BoffinMum. And it is INFURIATING that so much packaging is used to wrap veg & fruit, etc.

The plastic bag thing (irrespective of the hypocrisy of the co-op manager! ) is scary, though. Saw an article about it - there's a floating island of plastic in the Pacific. It's pretty horrible.

I do understand the plastic bag argument, I just wish people were personally more thoughtful about these things and didn't just spout eco-crap which actually did very little to save the planet.

But DH says people are too lazy to think properly and I am expecting too much from them.

LOL BoffinMum.

Lower your expectations. You'll be much happier.

My sister is greener than Kermit, and lives her life with real integrity.

She's miserable much of the time...

Boffin, most kids with skin/allergy issues get on better with washable nappies due to the lack of chemicals in cotton (especially when washed in an "eco" laundry product) and because disposables can over-dry the skin. Using polar fleece type liners stops nappy rash by holding wee away from the skin but not sucking the natural oils off and a bees wax/olive oil based barrier ointment will protect without triggering a flare-up. The only disposable nappy that didn't make the skin peel off DD2's arse were Moltex, Pampers et all made her as red as a tomato within a matter of hours on the odd occaision she happened to wear one. (eg if nursery ran out of washable for some reason)

My initial motive for using cloth nappies was economy and environment 50:50, but now I know about the chemicals etc that go into conventional disposables I am appalled, the industry only gets away with it because it is self-regulated. In my more radical moments I think they should be banned!!!

I don't bf to stick it to The Man but I do bf in public to stick it to him (though I do try to do it discreetly, partly because of not wanting to get my tits out in public too much, partly to demonstrate that it can be done discreetly). I still a bit fear being challenged though (only 14 weeks in)