DS was watching something on CBeebies the other day, (I can't remember what it was, TBH) and they were talking about farm animals, and said "Cows eat grass, and turn it into milk!" - is it any wonder that women find it difficult to breastfeed, when this is what we learn about milk production (albeit in a different mammal, but really, it's not that different in reality) during childhood?
And before you write it off as a silly comment in a TV programme - it made me think, and I distinctly remember my form tutor in year 8 telling someone off for calling another girl a cow, saying "I don't know why people think 'cow' is an insult anyway. Cows are very intelligent. They stand around in a field all day and turn grass into milk. Can you do that?" and I remember finding this very insightful at the time despite knowing that mammals feed their young, presumably I knew that they did so with milk, and having been breastfed myself and seen my mum breastfeed my younger sister.
In fact I remember being quite surprised to learn in my teens that cows don't produce milk all the time, and that they are fairly constantly pregnant and have the calves taken off them soon after the birth so that they can be milked. Again, I'm not sure why since I knew that cats, pigs, sheep etc produced milk to feed their young and not at other times. And I am/was not thick, honest
Is it any wonder that we have so many myths floating around about "having to drink milk to make milk" and the like?