Breastfeeding debate type thingy on gmtv now...

[wellbalanced]

....

well, she says Ann (whoever she is) did

"in the book she says that a child who has been breast fed to their hearts content has a basic sunny aspect to their nature and is amazingly self confident and outgoing"

She didn't say that in the interview though dueling fanjo. All the audience knew was that CBC was talking about extended BF.

Have you watched the interview?

No - Have to say I haven't. and I am not trying to defend GMTV, I just think it's unfair to ignore that part of her blog and concentrate on the rest of it.

I know that there is strong feeling on Mumsnet about extended breastfeeding, but I do think it's easy to go too far the other way and make people who don't do extended breastfeeding feel like they are not doing the best for their children.

I wouldn't normally post on these threads as I have not experienced breastfeeding yet myself. Apologies if I offended.

here you go

have a watch. I'm sure no-ones offended, just that CBCs blog reasons don't bear much relation to what was actually said IYSWIM. All this stuff about happiness was not mentioned on the show in the way that CBC puts on her blog.

Hi MNrs

Having read your lively posts, and as the author of Breastfeeding Older Children (BOC), thought I'd better join and fill you in on a few things!

Background: I bfd my daughter until she self-weaned at the age of six and a half. Decided to write BOC to support long-terming mothers and to educate the woefully ignorant science-based health professionals who issue weaning instructions to mothers without any evidence, just personal/received opinion and prejudice. There has only been one small study in the west on long-terming children (to compare nutritional status with non-bfd peers - they matched) and no psychosocial adjustment studies at all on children breastfed for longer than ONE year. In BOC, and elsewhere whenever I have the opportunity, I call With Confidence for a largescale psychosocial adjustment study to be conducted on long-term bfdg children!

BOC represents 2000+ mothers (and only the tip of the iceberg), from 48 different countries, who took part in my survey and commented on many aspects of sustained bfdg. This is substantial and significant anecdotal evidence v no scientific evidence whatsoever!

LK Today. I finally agreed to take part provided the programme would not be just about one mother but would highlight the numbers of women BOC represents and the ignorance of health professionals (by the way I wanted a debate with Dr H).

The pre-arranged format was: vox pop, then me, then Nik (who I roped in), then CBC, THEN me/open session. If I had known I would only get one opportunity to speak I would have said a great deal more! LK however is anti long-terming and made sure I didn't get another opportunity. Nik is lovely and was great, wonderfully normal and matter of fact about ongoing bfdg, but she - and in retrospect she knows - was played by LK. The producer later expressed surprise at the change of format.

Upshot was the programme wasn't so different from any disappointing others. Except CBC, rattled at being challenged (and with an eye to her client list and £s), came out with an ill thought-out remark and landed herself right in it! - and it is now all over the national and regional press, as well as online news services, and spreading internationally. That comment will haunt her for a very long time to come...

Best of all, sustained bfdg is now well and truly in the public eye!

Hi Ann, nice to have you here It is a pity you weren't able to speak more at the interview, although you're right, that did give CBC enough rope to hang herself, I hope.
Your idea of "a largescale psychosocial adjustment study to be conducted on long-term bfdg children" would be lovely but would the numbers in this country (I'm assuming you're from the UK and that's the 2000 figure you refer to?) be large enough to make any results significant?

Ann Sinnott - welcome to mumsnet - I read your post while bfing 15 month old ds and hearing about your book certainly inspires me to continue bfing for as long as ds and I want to!

Just as well I don't get GMTV here, I'd have been really annoyed watching it.

OMG

Just reading CBC blog - what a load of utter nonsense. She actually thinks she is a breastfeeding expert doesn't she!

Every post she has made is littered with incorrect twaddle.

Esp love the comment in her biography

'I do not publish my contact details anywhere as I prefer my clients to seek me out because they have heard directly from their friends etc. that my advice and techniques really do work. I also get very booked up and do not need to tout for more clients'

Yeah right! She doesn't publish them because she knows that she would far more calls and emails condemning her 'advice' than she would asking for it!

Also PMSL at Yorkshire being afar!

'Most of my clients also live in London but some travel from afar (eg.Yorkshire) when they have been unable to find suitable help locally'

Ann Sinnott -

Thank you so much for your valiant efforts. And for indirectly giving a very daft woman enough rope to hang herself.

Green Monkies -

I love Morgan Gallagher. That made me choke on my breakfast.

Wow, AnnSinnott

I love your book, wonderfully written, easy to read and very helpful to me at the moment.

I was panicking about what to do as my oldest child (DD 3.6 years old) shows no sign of weaning. I also nurse my DS (1.8 year old) and am 4 months pregnant with DC3.

I didn't think I was up to nursing three and DD was getting close to the oft quoted limit for self weaning of 4 years old and shows no signs of being ready, so what would I do this summer when the new baby was here.

Your book and the women's experiences in it, have shown me that DD non-desire to wean is normal. I known I will be alright whatever happens and if that means nursing three for a while, then so be it. DH jokes that he will be installing a ticket machine to sort out the queues, LOL

Seriously your book has given me a lot of support when the majority of people (especially health professionals) in this country, feel a nursing child over 6 months is odd

Thank you

Hello Ann!

I've just sent another mail to ofcom (hmm,should it be someone else I wonder, as it's print) about the civilised country thing.

I think I thought Claire BC and Claire Verity were the same person. They might as well be in my head.

LK disappointed me greatly in this, too. No huge fan, but when GM was on there, I did think she was relatively sane compared to DrDancingOnIce.

Hello ann! Lovely to see you here. I think you will find a more receptive audience here than on LK! The book sounds great - and it's really needed i thnk. Reading babieseverywhere's post, I realised that I couldn't think of anywhere she could go for advice about her situation - the vast majority of HCPs would probably advise to wean the eldest child, and probably the toddler as well . So there is a real need for this information. And with CBCs random comments, you will be getting plenty of publicity as well, all good!

Waves to Ann. Welcome, you should do a webchat.

WatchesAsACertainPersonDigsHerselfInABiggerWholeThroughHerBlogBetSheWishesSheHadn'tSaidT hatNowTiggaxx

I didn't see this yesterday but my DH did and told me about it last night (I breastfeed my 8 month old, and intend to carry on for a lot longer). I am pleased to say that he was highly incensed about CBC and shocked at the views expressed in the vox pop. He told me that he belives it is no-one's business but ours how long I bf for and he is happy for me to stop when I want or carry on as long as I like...4 years or beyond if that's what I want

What a dear DH he is!

PS Ann, great post and i will be buying your book

I'm sure this has come up before, but is CBC even allowed to describe herself as a MW? My dad has been a GP for 30 years, but now he's no longer working, registered or insured, he is also no longer a doctor.

Couldn't get Morgan's blog to load earlier, assume it's being bombarded by MNers anxious to read

thedudesmummy, DH wants me to stop when DS is aout 18 months - shame he's now almost 3

yes, she is Dita. And even more ridiculously anyone is ale to describe themselves as a breastfeeding counsellor, even if they're stupid enough to think bm is similar to coca cola.

Thanking you all kindly for the welcome , apologies for not having had the chance to come back and say thanks sooner!!

Wow AnnSinnott... I have read a few things about your book and have been thinking about buying it... I def will now!! I am currently enjoying BF my 12 month old, which I'm hugely open about (cos I quite frankly don't care what others think and am proud to still be feeding him, and will continue to feed him until he weans himself). I was discussing BF with a work colleague (who BF her 2 month prem baby until he was 9 months) yesterday, and when I challenged some of the stuff she said (like breastmilk taking 3 hours to digest, and if baby cries before 3 hours you should leave to cry), I was called 'fanatical' about breastfeeding!!! It's nice to be in a place where long term BF isn't seen as 'fanatical' (my apologies if that's not an English word - I'm English and live in France, and seem to have lost many brain cells with the placentas of my 3 children and can't remember which words exist in English, and which I've invented, lol!)

Thought I'd post this too...
www.independent.co.uk/news/media/tv-radio/complaints-over-gmtv-breastfeeding-debate-comments-1883168 .html

Um... sorry for the waffle, lol!

Cheers Stealth. Breastfeeding counsellor sounds a bit more nebulous to me, but it seems bizarre you can call yourself a midwife when you're not. I used to get a child fare on buses 20 years ago, so presumably by CBC's logic I still qualify

Emizap you have my sympathy - my continuing nappy brain is extraordinary Fanatical is a real word and MN has completely changed my views on extended bfing (DD might have helepd too ).

Great comments on that Independent article. It has inspired me to complain to Ofcom

I was just thinking about this actually... I have a 5 and a 3yr old too, and I can't imagine BF either of them... but I stopped early on with them (3 months & almost 6 months), so of course I can't imagine feeding them now... with my youngest, I've never stopped (he was fed exclusively until 1 week before he was 10 months old, never had a bottle or anything other than mummy milkies, including cows milk), so whilst I've no idea whether I'll still be feeding him at age 3, at least if we do get that far, it won't seem odd... why would it seem odd to carry on doing what you've always done?

The best bit is, although my other 2 were bottle fed once I stopped BF them, both of them see it as completely normal to see a baby BF, my DD BF's her dolls... although my 5 yr old, who knows that sometimes DS2 bites me, thinks that it's not nice of my youngest to bite my 'lungs'... hilarious!

Glad to hear I'm not alone in the baby brain stakes... I only returned to work a week ago and I'm having to carry notes around with me everywhere so I don't forget what I'm supposed to be doing, or massages to be passed on

Anyhoo... as for the OP, here's hope that OFCOM find that the GMTV rubbish "materially misled the audience", and blasts the program for inviting someone spouting such crap!

DD is 16 months and I feel anxious about feeding her in public now () but I look at her and just see a baby, not a toddler I shouldn't be feeding! I know DH felt a bit odd about extended bfing when she was 9 months, but found the point that you don't start feeding a toddler, you just keep doing what you were doing, quite persuasive - haven't asked recently!

Loving the idea of massages being passed on at work

Darn... I'd hoped noone would notice the typo, lmao... unfortunately for my boss (fortunately for me) my job as a secretary doesn't include massages, lol!

My Dh and I have had 'discussions' about me continuing BF (you know, the blokey 'what about sex' and 'when am I getting my boobs back' thing), and my youngest had health problems that DH thought a bottle of formula would solve (advice from GP), but later agreed that I was right to refuse. He's now stopped called me obsessed, and is actually quite supportive... well, he is constantly signing milk at LO when something's up - a fall, bump, random whinge, night wake (of which there are many, d'oh!), at hungry-baby-but-not-got-time-to-make-a-proper-meal-before-he-starts-kicking-off moments... I swear he offers LO milk more often than I do

I'm not fussed about feeding in public TBH... and I must have 'that look' about me when I'm feeding him, cos noone has ever dared comment ... I'd heard that attitudes to BF in France were bad compared to other countries, but I've never had any comments... maybe I just look like the kind of person who'd give what for, lol