Nell McAndrew article on extended breastfeeding

[treacletart]

here

if that is you, i really do want to know about the dale winton wedding thing...

well done again. it's not just about extended bfing for me, tbh, as am the world's worst bfer, but it's so lovely as someone who struggled with bfing to see it presented in such a plumb normal way. because the more people that see it like that, the fewer will be horrified if i bf again in future by the side of me switching away and yoinking the baby around in restaurants.

it's the drip-drip, and finally there's some good drip going on.

Nell, if you come back to this thread, you might be interested to read this I wrote it - I'd also be interested to hear what you think!

Agree re the drip-drip effect - it needs a few well-aimed stories to start changing public opinion. And Nell's was an excellent one

sorry, but [snort] at "the drip drip effect" - it's the perfect metaphor!

Actually there is far too much drip drip going on with my breastfeeding at the moment, I had forgotten what feeding a newborn is like and my sheets are ruined. Hey ho...

Nell, I hope you really are YorkshireRunner and I hope you stay around and enjoy MN because it's a lovely place, I doubt I would feel as ok about feeding my 2 yo as I do without its support. It's made me realise how many other women are out there quietly doing the same thing (and that goes for most of my parenting decisions actually, not just bf)

lol, tyv.

And assuming it wasn't actually Nell wot wrote up the piece, we should also out the MNer applaud the hack, no?

Who is this secret BF journo?

It was Caroline Jones. As far as I can tell most of her other pieces for the Mirror are about dieting

come on Caroline, out yerself, we know you must be lurking...

And great piece so thanks.

tyv, lol...know what ya mean...used to leak terrible and it only ever stopped once stopping to bf....hohum...still missing bf almost 4 years after stopping to feed ys...sigh

It really is me and yes it was Caroline Jones who wrote the piece for the Daily Mirror. I actually called her yesterday to thank her too. Caroline did a great job as she didn't try to change my words and kept it simple without exagerating anything. It was a joint effort! I am really glad I did the interview and really glad you liked it!
Being a mum isn't glamorous and it has lots of highs and lows but it is the best thing in the world. I think I am going to look at any suggestions for biting and tantrums now as they are the other hurdles we are trying to overcome at the moment!Testing times!

tantrums fine, ignore bad, praise good. also if dd1 is going bonkers i try to give her the head space to calm down by asking her if she's okay, if she's giving herself a bit of a fright. sometimes they get themselves so worked up they've completely forgotten what it's about, so giving thrm an 'out' is nice.

no answer on the all-important dale winton question, i see...

breastfeeding a toddler has short circuited many a tantrum in my dd1's day. it made parenting her so much easier that I am relatively clueless inexperienced about any other ways of coping with tantrums.

biting - the best advice I was given for a teething bite is to push the face into the breast so the baby can't breath properly and unlatches - that's a quick and easy way to get them to unlatch fast. Do NOT under any circumstances pull away as it makes the bite worse. Then wait a few minutes and resume the feed (if you can bear it!)

However as they get older I think it's usually more about getting a reaction and they need to understand there are consequences. I tell DS1 that he has hurt me, if I think it was an accidental nip then I resume the feed, but if I think it was deliberate or if there is a second offence then the feed ends - no third chances. He has quickly come to understand that any messing means losing the feed so he doesn't do it often!

Tantrums - DS1 is not a very tantrummy child fortunately but I am a great believer in just ignoring whenever possible. At home I will usually shut the door, say loudly "come and see me when you are ready to calm down" and go into another room. When he has calmed down there are no recriminations, just a cuddle. Out and about is more difficult and I usually end up wrestling him into his pushchair (fortunately he can't manage the clips yet) and driving off at speed...

But there are lots of other good threads about this if you search the archives.

biting- they have to unlatch and move the tongue out of the way of their lower teeth in order to bite. when they do that, a tiny muscle movement happens at the corner of the mouth. Watch feeds like a hawk and when the move happens, unlatch. for dd1 it was near the end of a feed.

ouch at the biting....my ms used to bite me, which made me give up in the end...I had plans on feeding him till 2 years old or longer, but he bit me every feed for a month (and it was hot and he drank loads) and no matter what I tried it didn't make a difference...so, I ended up giving up

This thread has inspired me to sort of the DVD Player...so, I can start doing my Exercise Dvd's again...been a bit lazy...

Tantrumming wasn't really a regular thing with my ds at all when he was at the classic tantrumming age, just now and again or when I tried cutting down his feeding!

When he did tantrum, I would pick him up, cuddle him and get him calm enough to latch on and feed. It worked every time, like magic. Afterwards, we would talk about his feelings. Along the lines of "that must be hard for you when mummy says no (or whatever)" and other such lines. It seemed to do the trick with my ds anyway....