What a midwife told me today!!!

[sweetkitty]

Had my 12 weeks scan and booking in appt, got to the breastfeeding questions "are you planning to BF"? I said I haven't stopped DD 11 months. I said she is down to one feed a day and today for the first time she didn't wake for milk at 6 so I didn't offer as I'm weaning her off BFing (my choice) she said "Good getting to a year is fantastic but after a year there is no health benefit for the child but is more for the mother" Before I could start quoting WHO guidelines she said "I know they say 2 years minimum but thats for African countries not for places like here" I was shocked didn't say anything as DP would have been mortified.

Just wanted to have a rant on MN about it!

oh! what a thing to say!!!!!! shes very wrong, you carry on! I had a hv like that

i would have put her in her place.... that is very wrong imo!

i don't think you can be too harsh.
it's sad that so many health proefssionals are misinformed.
not her fault necesasrily

I had always decided on feeding for a year even before I got pregnant so it's fine for me but I didn't like her attitude.

She also said that it would be too much for my body to BF DD and be pregnant!! Is it just me but all the midwives I met (apologies to any midwives) treat you as if you have never read anything on pregnancy or childbirth or have your won opinions I feel like they treat you like a 16 year old sometimes.

There is a lot of misinformation out there, not helped if the professionals aren?t up to speed on the facts. Whilst i am sure she wasn?t deliberately getting it wrong or trying to mislead you, I hate it when the people you trust with important info like this don?t make it a priority to know and stick to the basic facts.
Not deliberately her fault in the sense that she wasn?t trying to misinform you, but she must take responsibility and accept fault as a professional for giving incorrect information. As a teacher I had to make sure that all my information and lesson content was accurate and up to date and expect other professionals to do the same, especially on important issues like this fgs

FFS!!!!! The NHS is, on the whole, SO crappy at supporting breastfeeding. I was told "they bite" and looked at as if a huge pervert who was forcing her son to suck her boobs when I told the hospital GP that DS was still feeding at a year He told me there was no benefit after 6 months - said I could feed to 6 months "if I really wanted". WANKER!!!

Ahem. Something I feel a trifle strongly about, SK

SK, that's crap that your body can't cope with it - DS is nearly 15mo, feeds once or twice a day and I'm LESS tired than I was when pg with him! At least you sit down to bfeed

that is outrageous hunkermunker. What a dollop brain - hope you gave him a suitably withering look it not a full on (and well deserved) verbal tirade

The average age for women to stop breast feeding, internationally, is seven.
But wait ... Maybe she wanted to free you from what she perceived to be the bind of 'extended' BFing, and many women would be grateful I suppose.

I carried on feeding dd1 throughout pregnancy with ds1 and tandem fed them for months after his birth. It helped DD adjust to the new arrival.

Basketcase, this was my response As you might expect, I posted on MN about it

they -out of date midwives/HV/drs/whoever- also manage to make YOU (the informed one who hasnt stopped reading and learning) sounds stupid or 'abit quirky' when you have different or new ideas to them. I hate it. A HV once told me I was still bfing dd at 19mths because i didnt want her to grow up!!!!!!!!!

I think that HVs and midwives who spout things like this should be shot. I'll do it.

I met a GP over Xmas, who'd had an HV working for him who'd been telling mums that if you breastfeed past 6 months, your child will not learn to talk!!

Of course, Shakespeare went around saying "buh buh buh". This sort of thing just makes me want to spit.

(The GP had had the HV sacked I think. And I do know an HV-manager in my social circle these days, who's very right-on.)

NQC Some people are just SO ignorant!

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