Anyone currently reading Politics Of Breastfeeding?

[hunkermunker]

I'd like to talk about bits of it with people who are reading it/have read it/are interested in reading it/aren't currently interested in reading it, but will be once they've read the thread. And likely some other people too, but I haven't thought of their categories yet.

Thanks for all the recommendations! :-)

Wasn't too bothered before about the sling to look into it but now quite keen to find something else that works not the HH! Baby bjorn is what I was given for baby number one and OK for carrying (though I've also heard it's not the best for that either as the weight shouldn't all be on the pelvis) but not at all designed for feeding.

So glad this thread is still going.
banoffi lol at your mil offering to pay for a cleaner - how cool and heartening to hear!

Parenting is not the same as housekeeping and I wonder is sheer exhaustion is a reason for giving up bfing.
My sis was advised by her obstetrician to mix ff and bf when she was tired.
I've seen the tea towel covers over here!

As to modesty covers I think i will have to use some type of shawl I actually have anxiety about how some of girl friends will react and can't imagine bf in front of them, in the past I have heard them comment negatively about bfing.

pinkfizzle - you could try what I did and wear a vest under a top so you can pull your top down and the vest up (or vest down and top up, whatever works best!) creating a neat hole for your nipple. Your friends might not even notice you are feeding and if they do, well, they'll have to just put up. Why are they so negative? It's not really any of their business is it?

The book is fantastic, I'm about a third of the way through it now. But, like many of you, I am getting angrier as I read.

Thanks very much for the tip Kingrolo and you are 100% right - it isn't any of their business, I just could recall that they gave one of their friends a hard time when she was breastfeeding. X

I met Gabrielle Palmer a couple of weeks ago. She was lovely
The book is really fantastic, so thought provoking, though it has made me really angry at the baby milk companies.
With regards to what WE can do - Gabrielle Palmer said that normalising breastfeeding and writing to MPs or anyone in a position who might be interested and able to do something about some of the promotion would be a good place to start.

how cool to meet the author, maybe she should be an online guest on mumsnet?

She'd be great for a live webchat, wouldn't she?

hunkermunker and pinkfizzle We tried to get Gabrielle on a webchat, but apparently Mumsnet charge for that. Any other ideas who else might host it?

And you may be interested that we have Saggy Boobs and Other Breastfeeding Myths by Val Finigan and Lou Gardiner out now. The Facebook group is here and the Pinter & Martin page for it here.

Enough PR disguised as social networking now, I feel like I will be thrown out soon...

Martin

Pinter & Martin, I am going to email you about something else - in the meantime, I will ask Mumsnet about the webchat, for sure!

I'd like to talk some more about this - anyone else?

The "Markets Are Not Created By God" chapter - about UNICEF and WHO arsing up bf and creating markets for infant formula, in particular.

i believe gabrielle did a webchat or at least a q&a session on iwantmymum.com recently.

you m giht have to pay subscription to view though

pinterandmartin - if you are still watching this thread:

Which foreign languages are there plans to translate the book into?

Before I became a SAHM, I used to be a professional translator. I plan to translate some passages for my SIL and some friends (my SIL can understand very basic English but flounders with anything too complicated, this book would be beyond her). In my professional capacity I generally translated into English rather than the other way round, but I want to do something! I feel so helpless about the whole situation, and at least this is something I can do.

I shall take my translated passages along to the antenatal classes too (I am currently pregnant).

Any suggestions as to the most important/ best parts to translate? (I can't do the entire book!)

APM, how wonderful!

hunkermunker - I just wish I could translate into a "larger" language, if you see what I mean. I can only reach speakers of Greek. Something like Spanish or French would reach far more people, but I am afraid my Spanish is very rudimentary!

It would be worth contacting P&M by email, I reckon.

good idea - I'll have a look later on through the thread to find their email. (I'm a bit distracted by my 2 children at the mo)

pinterandmartin I would also like to contact you, have an idea re Webchat. Could you PM me?

Pinter & Martin contact details are here.

Thanks hunkermunker, very lazy of me not to have just googled and found that!

Hunker - it is quite shocking, isn't it. These huge international groups are put in charge of policing the world's health and telling everyone the "right" way to do everything.....but of course what is right is subjective. Shame on the people who airdropped powdered milk to "help" stressed mothers in disaster areas. Disgusting.

Very thought provoking book,very shocking in places. As a 2 pump owning mum with a fulltime job, I ended up feeling quite defensive about the part about expressing though. Pah, so much for feeling quite smug about exlusively BF my DS for 6 months and plans to continue pumping every working day until his 1st birthday...

Which lead me to thinking, are we all breastfeeders on this thread, smug or otherwise? Can this book actually change minds?

I finished it in a matter of days (amazing what you can find the time to do even though you have a 4 month old when you really are engrossed in something!)and have quickly passed it on to a friend. A brilliant book, huge amount of knowledge in it, both political and historical, and actually quite a practical help with BF given the biological explanations of how BF works.

And of course I am utterly incensed to read about how the likes of Nestle still market their products. When I was a student in the early 1990s, everyone boycotted Nestle because of their tactics in the developing world (it was socially unacceptable to offer someone a fruit pastille and Findus Crispy pancakes were an ethical dilemma for penniless students who couldn't cook!)but I had heard that they had addressed this and it was no longer an issue. Also very, very frightening to read about what is actually in artificial milk (including the fact that it's not even sterile in powder form)and how the companies can please themselves about what they put in it.