GMTV about to present findings of their breast vs bottle survey..... 8.55

[Jackstini]

Article here... www.gm.tv/index.cfm?articleid=33217

georgi if you have a chance can you post link for complaint- thanks (popping out but back later)

wannaBe there is loads of support for women who have had issues BFing on here. I have never seen anyone flamed for not being able to.

And saying that formula is "closer than ever" to breastmilk makes me go . Not only does it give the idea that formula is just as good as BM (and this is not formula bashing, it's the truth) and therefore undermines BFing, it is made from cows milk, intended for cows. Unless cows are evolving such they are getting genetically closer to humans cow's milk will never even come close. (note, I'm not dissing it as a suitable alternative)

and the extended BFing thing...until cows were domesticated babies had their mother's milk until they self weaned; so where he gets the idea that they don't need it I'm not sure. Cows milk is not natural food for humans, breast milk is!

he makes me soooo bloody angry, so I'll join in the chorus....TWUNT TWUNT TWUNT!

How to complain about a doctor.

How to contact GMTV to complain (ironically looking up GMTV and how to complain leads to all their advice on complaining about other services)

www.gm.tv/index.cfm?articleid=678

lackadaisycal - I've seen a fair bit of people struggling to breastfeed and trying to accept they they'll have to give up, and being told they 'just' need to try harder and get more help. The posters may mean well but I was in floods of tears back in November thanks to certain posters here.

I do find it very interesting that GMTV have put the LLL, NCT and WHO advice underneath Dr Hilary's statements. I suspect a load of complaints about the program at the time may have meant that they had to provide a more balanced viewpoint.

I just don't get what Lorraine Kelly/GMTV's issue with bf-ing is. I know that a large proportion of their viewers are going to be SAHM's, but really - do people care that much?

Also, I think that whatever you do as a mother (esp a first time mother) is going to be up for criticism. Following on from LEM's comments that she felt guilty about switching to ff at 6 months - I got a whoooole lotta hassle for continuing to bf my ds past 6 months! Not just from family and friends, but from complete strangers whilst out and about in public. I think that we just have to face up to the fact that whatever we do, it's probably the "wrong" thing!

'... more for the mother's comfort than the baby's...'

Am sure DS (11 months) would disagree, but I'll pass it on...

Georgiemama Thing is, Dr Hillary is being a journalist, and not acting as a doctor when he spouts such rubblish. For instance, don't think it's possible to have a duty of care generally to 'the viewers of GMTV...'

I don't know

But what a tosser.

notcitrus. I'm sure they meant well, but perhaps it came across as more judgmental than it was intended? If anyone is giving someone a hard time for switching to FF they are usually jumped on pretty swiftly.

I would always advise people to try and get more help if they were really upset about the fact that they were on the verge of giving up. Good, personal, one to one help can be the difference between success and failure, and some women just don't realise that that sort of help is out there (I didn't when I gave up at 5.5 weeks with my DS1)

I do still at HJ though -- when MNer GreenMonkies was being interviewed about extended bf on GMTV last year he had that article up beforehand about how it was bizarre, unnatural and unnecessary, and frankly women who did it were probably just using it as an excuse not to have sex with their husbands () and so forth, but on the sofa with GreenMonkies he was all "Well, of course, if it works for you then that's fine, but some people might say..." leaving viewing MNetters thinking "yes, some people being you, in print for the whole world to see, but you don't have the nerve to say it to her face, do you?"

Git.

I haven't seen this piece, although I have heard the dr in question talking negatively about 'extended' bf before.

Surely this GMC duty:

Protect and promote the health of patients and the public

In conjunction with all the evidence on the benefits of continued breastfeeding, such as the stuff referenced here, relevant WHO statements and key recommendations from our UK NICE guidance on maternal and infant nutrition, I would think one could make a case that he's failing to protect the health of the public by discouraging continued breastfeeding on national TV?

NICE essentially says all health professionals should support bf for as long as is desired. WHO says minimum 2 years. The research evidence on the benefits of continuing is there, and I've yet to see any evidence of harm by continued bf. In fact (according to kellymom

"The American Academy of Family Physicians recommends that breastfeeding continue throughout the first year of life and that "Breastfeeding beyond the first year offers considerable benefits to both mother and child, and should continue as long as mutually desired." They also note that "If the child is younger than two years of age, the child is at increased risk of illness if weaned." (AAFP 2001)

and

"The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that "Breastfeeding should be continued for at least the first year of life and beyond for as long as mutually desired by mother and child... Increased duration of breastfeeding confers significant health and developmental benefits for the child and the mother... There is no upper limit to the duration of breastfeeding and no evidence of psychologic or developmental harm from breastfeeding into the third year of life or longer." (AAP 2005)

Just a thought...

Did anyone else see the original GMTV online survey?

Here

In my opinion, some of the questions are leading .

perhaps we should do our own MN survey!

I would think that journalist or not, when he speaks on TV he does so as "Dr Hilary Jones". He is a doctor. This gives him an implied authority on health matters. Why else would anyone pay any attention to him?

Thanks for that Grendle. I am going to do complaint tonight, and copy it to him at GMTV.

ILove...but he is speaking as a Doctor not a Journalist, though.....this is obviously his professional opinion, and if anything, it makes it worse that he spouts his rubbish through such media...
Tbh, Doctors really , generally, don't seem to know much about breastfeeding anyway,and they are by no means experts on that field, whatsoever....they however, should know more about it, if they deal with breastfeeding mums, as it states in their GMP'protocol...but hohum...

I agree that it's bad enough when individual doctors spout rubbish to individual patients (and I think patients should be encouraged to complain if the advice they receive contradicts known best practice), but Drs speaking on the national media have an even greater responsibility to know their stuff.

The stuff he says here is factually wrong (see my post above) and frankly inexcusable.

oh my goodness how dare someone (let alone a doctor say) its not a bad thing to bottle feed your baby

seems like a perfectly balanced rational article to me

It just seems to me that mn has a real bias against bottle feeding mums and the minute someone comes out in their defence they get called names

What gets me is his comment that at 12 months old the "bonding process is over" . Are we not to cuddle or otherwise comfort our children after a year old as they obviously don't need to bond with us anymore.

silly silly man.

Actually frasersmummy our issue is that this man, a doctor, is going on national television spouting his ignorant opinions about "extended" (or natural term) breastfeeding being "bizarre" and of no benefit to the baby. In contravention of the guidelines of NICE and WHO.

OK, so as long as he was acting in his professional capacity and he gives non scientific advice, could he be brought before the GMC for misconduct?

to quote that website

Dr Hilary says...

Dr Hilary Jones believes that breastfeeding should not be extended. He said: "After the age of one breast feeding is bizarre, unusual and not necessary. After a year the mother gets more out of breastfeeding than the child does. This act is more for the mother's comfort than the baby's. The bonding process is over and nutritionally the baby no longer needs the milk."

Dr Hilary added: "Women breastfeed their children for longer for a variety of reasons. It can be to avoid renewing sexual relations with their partners, it's easier for some mothers to just give in to the child while other mothers prefer to pretend their grown up child is still a baby."

Extended breastfeeding can generate problems for the child, Dr Hilary added. "If the child's friends find out they may get picked on and it can delay the youngster from developing his or her independence. And as children get a little older, they are forming sexual feelings so it's very bizarre to be then placing a child to the breast."

Dr Hilary would dissuade mothers from breastfeeding for an extended period of time and with regards to Jenny and her children he thinks the older child may still be requesting the breast because she sees the younger child as a rival. However, says Dr Hilary, it's up to the mother to stop this behaviour.

The World Health Organisation says...

The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends that infants should receive complementary foods with continued breastfeeding up to two years of age or beyond.

If he thinks a one year old child is forming sexual behaviour he has serious issues, and if he thinks he can post advice contrary to that of the WHO alongside it then ... >

the bonding process is over

WTF. what if you are adopting an older baby - too late to bond?!

ok then I misunderstood the argument .... sorry

wanders back to whence she came

Message withdrawn

Sorry frasermummy didn't mean to be snappy. I don't want a fight with FFing mothers, I really don't.

no offence taken.. I misunderstood the argument...

I dont know anything about extended bf so will wander off

but before I go I will agree that saying the bonding process is over by a year is completely ridiculous...

lacksadaisical - that response of 'get more help' is exactly what I'm talking about! If you've already accessed all the help that's available, the last thing you need is to be told to get more. Offering best wishes and hopes that more support will be available to people in the future would I think go down much better.

I live in London, so I expected help to be around. And some is there, but only on certain days of the week at set times, shutting for halfterm (not that they tell you when that is). None of the NCT, LLL, BFN could send anyone to my house, most of the adviser numbers I was given were out of action, I did get to take 2 buses to an adviser a few days later. There's a 4-week wait to see a lactation consultant. HVs told me they'd never heard of a breastfeeding clinic. The Baby Cafe that saved my bacon is up to 2 hours away by public transport. Coming home from a shut Monday clinic, having struggled through the weekend, and then being told 'get help' is like a punch in the face.

OK, I didn't contact a private lactation consultant, because I needed my cash to get a roof over my head. But seeing as one of the 3 recommended consultants on the NCT's list, and the one closest to me, is Clare Byam-Cook, I doubt mentioning that on MN would have gone down well either!

It's slowly getting better - there's two weekly baby groups with a midwife-bfc there and a new breastfeeding clinic all now local to me, but they've only opened in the last couple months.