BFing "inconvenient for the mother, time-consuming, bad for breast shape, at odds with a night's sleep and never done by fathers"

[Ewe]

Evening Standard article.

I mixed fed my DD and as such am rarely bothered by bf/ff debates as I don't tend to fall on either side of fence but this comment article really irritate me!

What a weird article.

What negatives about bfing?

You can express and whoever wants to feed the baby can.

My breasts haven't changed at all really. They're still gorgeous and perky even after five years of bfing .

LOL @ chip pan being proof of working class status

I will say that some people find FF "easier/better" than BF which it is fair enough. I just feel sorry that they cannot enjoy the time we have with our DCs.

That moment when we are both of us alone (maybe) and looking at each other before latching on. That moment when your child just separates enough from your breast to look at you and smile and then latch on again. That moment when you are out and about and suddenly your child needs a feed and you can go to a cafe, have a cake, a little rest and just feed her/him. That moment when you have the perfect excuse to skip preparing dinner because you have to feed your child before putting her/him to bed. That moment when you feel you are the most special person on earth for your child because you can feed her/him. That moment when you can see how much your child is growing and it is all thanks to your milk, mummys milk!!!!.

I think I could carry on listing all the good things that BF has (opposite to list all the inconvinience that BF could have and may have) but I will end with a comment a friend of mine told me not too long ago. She has a DS just a couple of months older than my DD. Before her DS was born she had already decided that she wouldn't BF him, you couldn't change her mind but she did confess to me the first time she saw me BF my DD that she should have had a go on BF her DS. She said she was a little gelous when she saw us on the sofa cuddling each other and enjoying it. She wouldn't have that moment, maybe similar but not the same (this is coming from a mother who FF). At that point is when I realised again how nice BF is.

my children do have a big advantage over her children, and its got not to do with the fact that i bf- much more to do with the fact that i am not a twat with a huge chip on my shoulder...

Just a thought, if anyone's dp feels left out cos they can't breastfeed, you can always get them to deal with the other end of the digestive process and change the nappies . DH used to get up and change my 2 when they were eeny and still needed changing after night feeds, on the grounds that I'd done my bit. Don't think he realised that I'd 'done my bit' whilst half asleep...

I mixed fed and I found formula more convenient than b/feeding in that I could actually take my dog for a walk or go to Sainsburys for half an hour without having to get undressed halfway round (DD was a constant feeder).

BUT - she only had 1/2 bottles a day so I didn't have the constant bottle washing and I also only ever b/fed at night. I don't think I could have coped with getting up and making formula in the middle of the night - I loved being able to feed DD in my sleep.

She sounds really defensive at not being able to BF her two children. Shitty article though.

I couldn't BF DD1, and felt horrendously guilty for so long afterwards. FF was convenient, I had a weekend away, DH could do night feeds etc.

She sounds a bit like me during this very sad phase of my life except I wasn't a bitch.

I have a theory about this, it is;

Bottlefeeding is easier if you have a willing DP/Mother/nanny/etc around (24/7 ideally, but just in the evenings helps too!)

But if you are doing the majority of babycare yourself, as most women are,(?) breastfeeding is easier.

Anyone agree?

Would have to agree that BF is so much easier - went out to lunch with colleagues and as some of them were male (and my staff) I decided not to whip out boob and took a bottle of expressed milk. What a faff sorting it all out, i spilt hot water all over my hand, most of it went down DS's front and he had horrendous wind afterwards.
I love BF despite mastisits, constant blocked ducts, sore nips etc and yes I am middle class (dont have a chip pan but only cos i hate the smell) but I do it because it is best for baby and what my boobs were designed for.
Plus my DH almost believed me when I said you can't have sex whilst breastfeeding. Pah he soon figured that one out tho.

bertie - i think bottle feeding is easier if you have pressure from family to bottlefeed

breastfeeding is harder initially, but worth the effort!

stupid article written by (IMO) someone who regrets not being able to bf by the looks of things. so rather than be content with her lot, she snipes at those she's jealous of.

Gosh that was twatty!

Crikey, being pregnant is pretty darned inconvenient too. Giving birth is extremely inconvenient!

And I can think of many many other things never done by fathers!

I think she comes across as a little bitter about not being able to bf her own children and now is saying neh neh ne neh neh to .. actually no-one as probably the only one who cares about this is her.
I am 100% pro breastfeeding for those who can do it but don't think there is any harm in discussing data which opposes the commonly held beliefs. I certainly don't think this snidey little article has done the cause any harm.

Oh breast shape- how could I forget that that was what motherhood was all about?

breast shape?! `my breast have never looked better than while I was feeding. So what if they need a bit of propping up once the milk goes? I'm not convinced they'd be much different after the engorgement caused by stopping/not breastfeeding.

It's the 'breastfeeding may well be good for the infant' that gets me, honestly bamboozled by that one.... Not too sure what to say except sure the natural way of feeding a baby that requires no artificial substituted doesn't need to prove whether or not it is good for the baby. It's kind of like saying drinking water may well be good for your fluid intake... weirdo...

There is scope for an interesting article on the strength of academic research for the benefits of breastfeeding. Some areas are much stronger than others (as tiktok and others have commented on here a number of times).

This wasn't that article. Lazy, badly researched and cliched. Melanie clearly has serious ishoooos. Just look at that language - "savage lunge at the breast", etc.

Two things made me laugh quite literally out loud though (on the tube no less):

1. Snobbish mention that she used Aptamil. Had to get that in there did you Melanie?

1. "One woman outpost of the dairy industry". You do know dairy's cows don't you Melanie? Human milk does not equal diary. YOU were the outpost of the dairy industry with formula.

Melanie's article was unbelievably bad - still I suppose you could say at least she disclosed her interest in the topic from the start! Pretty clear what was driving her emotion-fuelled, fact-free rantings.

Ribena, good point - although I wouldn't trust any of the newspapers to publish this article, given they have proved themselves completely incapable of understanding the science of breastfeeding (or science in general, it has to be said).

Very good statement from Unicef on this point though:

"The body of evidence for the benefits of breastfeeding is very large and comes from a wide range of studies into many different illnesses, carried out by numerous researchers in many different universities. Systematic reviews of the literature have also been carried out and are especially useful, as they are able to eliminate weak studies and combine the findings of all the high-quality papers in order to demonstrate with the greatest reliability whether a protective effect truly exists. It is important to note that there is variability in the quality and depth of evidence in relation to some illnesses which is why the authors of these reviews tend to call for further research to clarify the finding. It remains the case, however, that the evidence for the advantages of breastfeeding is strong."

See www.babyfriendly.org.uk/items/item_detail.asp?item=620 for more and links to some very high quality comparative studies (which combine the results of lots of studies to get more accurate findings).

mess - great link, thanks for posting that!

Silly article, with loads of stuff left out.

the original one, obviously!

Evening Standard and Daily Wail use to belong to the same company, a part of the ES has now been sold but they are still in the same building on Ken High Street and def have the same mindset. Silly article, silly journalist, she is just embarassing herself. Not worth getting upset over it, they will never change.

pmsl at the chip pan
oooh chips...

I briefly bf and maily ff and i tell you its the most expensive, time consuming, inconvenient thing ever, I would have loved to have contiuned bf but i had problems with it, i do not want to go into it as it would bore the living daylights out of everyone as i am sure that they have heard it all before.

oh and as soon as i started to bf i had the body (i am not lying) that i had when i was 16 all my size 14 were far too big, I must have lost about 1.5 stone after labour , soon as i stopped fat came back again and i started scoffing on cakes aswell oh dear.

'Poor Jordan dared to say formula was convenient' in OK mag. If I recollect correctly, and I do, she was very anti-bf, going so far as to say that her breasts were for her erstwhile husband, the put-upon Peter A, not for feeding