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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

Original poster

Breast vs. bottle (am I brave or insane?)

227 replies

emkana · 09/07/2005 21:49

article in Times today

What interests me, both in this article and in previous threads on the Mumsnet, is how there is a feeling that the "breastfeeding lobby" or "mafia" as I believe it has been called is regarded as so powerful and influential and as having such a large impact on new mothers everywhere to make their lives an utter misery. I just can't see it! I see formula etc. on sale everywhere, articles on how to bottlefeed in every baby magazine, which always always say that you shouldn't feel guilty for bottlefeeding, I see bottlefeeding on TV, I see bottlefeeding celebrities, bottlefeeding mothers at toddler groups...
Breastfeeding? I vaguely remember a poster on the maternity ward, but it wasn't particularly in your face. I might have been given a leaflet on breastfeeding by the midwife. That's it.

I just don't get it, I really don't.
I don't mean to upset anyone, by the way. I'm just genuinely interested in your experiences. Honestly.

OP posts:
misdee · 09/07/2005 23:12

oh yes, they do bite still stinging fronm where dd3 had a chomp earlier!

dinny · 09/07/2005 23:14

Misdee, ds had a massive chew earlier (teething, I think). Amazing how desensitized nipple are these days - I barely flinched

FlounceyFlossam · 09/07/2005 23:15

QOQ - because you spent time living in one country you feel qualified to speak for hundreds of others?

Original poster
emkana · 09/07/2005 23:15

QueenofQuotes, I'm wondering the same as hercules. If our support is so much better than theirs, how come our breastfeeding rates are so much lower?

OP posts:
misdee · 09/07/2005 23:15

dinny, dd3 has 2 teeth. they are very sharp. she sunk them into dh finger on tuesday as a parting goodbye, left a couple of marks!

dinny · 09/07/2005 23:17

bless, her present for her daddy!

until ds had spent a couple of weeks grinding his teeth together, the top ones were so sharp they literally sliced the base of my nipple. OUCH!

QueenOfQuotes · 09/07/2005 23:17

FF - all (except 2) of my female inlaws (it's a huge number too) all live over there - and several (just trying to remember exactly how many - think it was about 13 or 14) of my colleagues had babies while I was living over there - none of them got any support like we do here (or from friends/family)

hercules · 09/07/2005 23:18

so how did they manage?

Blondeinlondon · 09/07/2005 23:19

Not read the whole thread but when I was in the hospital following DS's birth the midwives were giving the other women on the ward a lot of hassle because they were bottlefeeding
Instead of spending time talking to the women and finding out their concerns and if they wanted to breastfed and offering help the midwives told them they were doing the wrong thing and had a go at them
It didn't seem like the best way to encourage breastfeeding

FlounceyFlossam · 09/07/2005 23:20

Sorry QOQ I meant other countries.

QueenOfQuotes · 09/07/2005 23:20

for the last time (seen as though my posts are obviously invisible) they simply had to "get on with it". If it didn't work out - they switched to bottle (well one used a wet nurse!) and not one of them ever talked about "guilt" or "Failure"

hercules · 09/07/2005 23:21

but that doesnt explain why rates are much higher than here for after a few weeks even. Surely the numbers would actually be far lower then here.

Original poster
emkana · 09/07/2005 23:21

Nevertheless a lot more women seem to be able/willing to "get on with it" there than here. Why do you think that is?

OP posts:
Original poster
emkana · 09/07/2005 23:22

snap hercules

OP posts:
QueenOfQuotes · 09/07/2005 23:22

FF - it;s the same in most African countries - just as in the UK we have lots of Europeans living here on a permanent/short term basis - in Zimbabwe there are lots of other Africans living there (or were then)

QueenOfQuotes · 09/07/2005 23:24

we could ask why are teen pregnancy rates so high here when we have so much in schools about contraception and the likes???

Probably couldn't come up with a simple "black and white" answer like "support is better here"...............

hercules · 09/07/2005 23:26

I dont understand your point.

misdee · 09/07/2005 23:27

[walks away]

QueenOfQuotes · 09/07/2005 23:27

of course you don't - because I'm the only person that's arguing against the general 'consensus' on here.......

Original poster
emkana · 09/07/2005 23:27

I think the point is that QofQ doesn't really know either.

OP posts:
hercules · 09/07/2005 23:28

I dont understand it as it's not very clear.

suzywong · 09/07/2005 23:30

Well?
Has it?

berolina · 09/07/2005 23:30

am bowing out now as ds is finishing feeding and i'm knackered (and an hour ahead of you uk peoplr)
night

MarsLady · 09/07/2005 23:30

QoQ, I don't think that you speak for ALL African women. Having been surrounded by them ALL of my life as well as women from the Caribbean, I can honestly say that you are not making much sense at all.

I think that the person who said that maybe the fact that people are surrounded by other bfers and that their "informal" support is there was right. No one told me how to bf, or how to bottlefeed. None of my family have ever had a problem with me bfing, nor with my sister bottle feeding.

I do think that you are making mountains out of molehills. I understand what emkana was saying in her original post.

It's time to stop trying to be right and "beating up" other women for the experiences that they have had.

QueenOfQuotes · 09/07/2005 23:31

oh so my SIL and all the women I met out there were lying were they?

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