************ Durham 2010 part 2

[StealthPolarBear]

indith had the 1001st post asking SLF how today went.

Hope you are home by now! think the traffic was awful. Hope it went well

Haha nooo not yet!

Trying to decide what to do with my own life before I bring another life into the world haha

Well on the bf subject, since T was born I've pretty much stopped seeing my boobs as anything except a food source (altho that may change again once I've settled on a size and invested in nice maternity bras...;) ). This has helped me be more comfortable in public.

I've now fed her...

• in CC
• at the botanics
• Slug and Lettuce
• B&Q
• Chesneys (local cafe to me)
• BHS restaurant
• on a bench by the river
• on the number 20 bus!
• while walking along the street to find a seat because she was THAT hungry!

in all these places I've only seen 1 other bf mum besides yourselvs, but no one has batted an eyelid and plenty of people have smiled indulgently in my direction. I've been very pleased by the lack of fuss. So yay for Durham!

Leggy, you've been brilliant at feeding in public so soon after having T. I didn't feed in a public place (did feed in public, but in people's houses etc) for a month after having DD1.

I agree about the nursing cover, Indith. I know people who used them too and it helped. Anything that helps is good IMO.

Oh I can recommend the kids' books area in Waterstones as a feeding space. There's a little yellow plastic chair (sometimes two) next to the fish tank, and it's surprisingly comfy. Plus you can browse the kids cookbooks while you feed....

Waterstones is a really good idea Chocoholica, can't believe I never thought of that. Only place I've ever had people actively move away from me when I started feeding is North Road Argos (movee in question was mum with ~2yo in buggy swigging what looked like coke from a baby bottle so I didn't take her criticism to heart :o

I fed through an eye test in Specsavers (again North Road) which was difficult only because the room was so dark that latching the then-tiny C was difficult.

Agree that Durham's pretty good for breastfeeding. I was a bit at the Metro Centre M&S staff when not one of the 4 people I asked could confirm whether there was an infant feeding room (there is, though it's a bit grim).

Re: formula implying more science and sophistication than it merits, I'm all for the idea of one standard for breastmilk substitute advertising where all the company can do is list the ingredients and explain how, if at all, it differs from other brands. In a plain white box - a bit like the tesco value range? - with no new mother clubs, no free cuddly bears or hypocritical 'breastmilk advisory' helplines.

BTW, I don't know if anyone saw on another thread that I requested that Cow and Gate make a public apology for the follow-on milk iron ad that was pulled last week. Cow and Gate got back to me on Friday blandly saying that their science advisor will be in touch with me next week. So I might need the help of you all if they attempt to 'blind me with science' - if anyone wants me to post the initial complaint I sent C&G I will. There's greater collective breastmilk knowledge here than I possess.

'mum with ~2yo in buggy swigging what looked like coke from a baby bottle so I didn't take her criticism to heart'

I bet you had your judgeypants on to

Leggy - that is fab! Took me a couple of weeks to build up confident, I did feed DS in St Nic's in the Marketplace a couple of times. One of the curates (who moved on to be a vicar in her own church in Blackpool) loved watching D feed - she had 2 grown up children and breastfed both of them. She used to stroke DS's head while he was feeding, and she always gave me a special prayer at the communion rail

The two of us featured in a Mystery Worshipper review of St Nic's, on Xmas day, 2 days before D was born - the Mystery Worshipper mentioned that my lovely curate prayed over me again at the communion rail as I was 2 days overdue :)

O good grief Kara, I feel like I rarely take my judgeypants off now. I often (genuinely!) feel glad that mumsnet can't see into my brain as I'd be kicked off in no time. I'm trying to find out if I can do bf peer supporter training (current response seems to be that there's no money for the training any more) but I worry that I'm too judgey to be any good. I'm good at keeping my mouth firmly shut but fear my eyebrows give me away.

I'm a regular at St Margarets on Crossgate and can also confirm that they're very bf friendly (one does, however, get surrounded by hoardes of ladies happily reminiscing about their own nursing days, so delays are inevitable). But shall have to try at the St Nic's cafe also.

O good grief Kara, I feel like I rarely take my judgeypants off now. I often (genuinely!) feel glad that mumsnet can't see into my brain as I'd be kicked off in no time. I'm trying to find out if I can do bf peer supporter training (current response seems to be that there's no money for the training any more) but I worry that I'm too judgey to be any good. I'm good at keeping my mouth firmly shut but fear my eyebrows give me away.

I'm a regular at St Margarets on Crossgate and can also confirm that they're very bf friendly (one does, however, get surrounded by hoardes of ladies happily reminiscing about their own nursing days, so delays are inevitable). But shall have to try at the St Nic's cafe also.

Agh, double post. Time I went to bed

Anyone got any useful infor here?

Ahh we went for a meal at the slug when DD was 4 days old (we were registering her birth) that brings back happy memories :o She slept in the sling or fed and we had a relaxed meal - not had one since!

She is walking now!

FN, yes post your complaint, not sure which one you mean - is the the "do I look like..." one?

I haven't seen that ad, Frozen, but have read your letter and will be intrigued by the reply you receive.

I am wound up enough by the irritating Aptamil one with its pseudo promotion of bf small babies until time passes and they need Aptamil. What IS it with Aptamil? The crap HV I had with DD1 came for the 6 month check and was surprised I was still bf her, and said it was 'okay' to bf up to a year but after that it was more about the mum than the baby (?) and the best thing was to swap to formula at one year, most suitable being Aptamil which was 'the best formula'. I have noticed, anecdotally, that friends who stopped bf tend to refer to Aptamil as somehow different from (better than) other formula milks, but can't see any reason behind this other than that Aptamil markets itself like that.

Rant over.

Taking babies out for meals/coffees etc is soooo nice. I should have appreciated it more when I had DD1. Now it's all about shovelling it down before toddler gets bored/drops a plate/crayons on the chair....

Choca - yeah I hate the whole "when you're ready to move on from bfing" [anger]

That really pisses me off. A friend of mnie weaned her son of bfing onto formular when he was 6mths old, a couple of days of him screaming for mummies milk and a lot of discomfort for her - and she only did it because she really believed you only bf for 6mo.
She was very good at it as well. Still she managed a lot longer than many women in our area!

When you're ready to move on bfing they can have bloody cows milk ffs

(obviously I mean if you BF for a year or more!)

But cows milk doesn't wrap them in a warm fuzzy glow of protection, see...

Ah that's true :/ poor kids, missing out :(

I'm ashamed to say we somewhat bought into the follow-on milk thing with DD1 - HIPP organic do a thickened 'goodnight' milk and she had a cup of that before bed for a while from about 11 to 13 months. The thickness of it definitely helped her reflux when she was lying down at night (less screaming and throwing up in the cot!) but I wish I'd pressed the doctor harder to prescribe an additional thickener for my bm and tried that first.

This time 'round I've decreed that none of my money goes to the formula companies at all, so no jarred baby food or rusks etc. I have to admit to a weakness for Ella's organic fruit smoothies for DD1, but I don't think Ellas make formula at all.

Juney by the time you have your own dcs you'll have been hanging around MN and us lot for way too long that you will be a complete lentil weaving, long term bf, baby wearing, co-sleeping hippy

Follow on milk is such a huge con, it makes me want to go on a mad rampage tearing down supermarket shelves. I've never done jars of food apart from when camping with ds at 6 months, organix rusks are good though to take out as snacks. Dd has had formula though (I'll get my coat, close the door on the way out etc.) we struggled a lot with feeding, largely due to oversupply so when I had to leave her for Rainbows and for a full day trainig I did she had formula since expressing meant back to square one on the feeding issues.

Sorry to do a fly-by post, but the details of my correspondence with Cow and Gate are HERE if anyone would be willing to give their input :)

How is everyone doing?
Do we have any more meet ups planned yet?

NO nothing as far as I am aware.

I did suggest maybe organising a night out in October.

And I think someone mentioned a Xmas meetup?

oooh it's all gone quiet
FrozenNorth was it you I was discussing LLL meetings with - I honestly can't remember. The next one is in Washington on Saturday - fancy it? Or anyone else of course?

Ooh, I'd love to come. Would they be okay with me bringing toddler as well as baby? DH is at a wedding (envious emoticon) to which children were not invited. What time is the meeting? I'd need to ask you for directions, but definitely yes. Thank you :)

Hellooooooo

Nothing in the pipeline. We must get organising Christmas though. I'm guessing 4th or 11th December? Where shall we go?

We should do something before then though.