Journalist Zoe Williams is joining us for a webchat at MNHQ on Thursday 14 June at 1pm. Zoe's latest book, What Not to Expect When You're Expecting, is a refreshing antidote to the standard pregnancy and parenting books. It considers issues such as the overbearing public guidelines on what not to eat or drink and weighs up the relative merits of different childcare routines - 'It doesn't make any sodding difference.'
Zoe is best known as a Guardian columnist, where she once wrote: 'They are brilliant on Mumsnet. They know everything. If you wanted to know how soon you could breastfeed after taking an E, someone on Mumsnet could probably tell you.' She also writes for the New Statesman, The Spectator, NOW Magazine, London Cyclist and the London Evening Standard.
She lives in London with her partner and two children.
Join her on Thursday at 1pm or post a question to Zoe ahead of the webchat here.
WEBCHAT GUIDELINES: 1. One question per member plus one follow-up. 2. Keep your question brief. 3. Don't moan if your question doesn't get answered. 4. Do be civil/polite. 5. If one topic or question threatens to overwhelm the webchat, MNHQ will usually ask for people to stop repeating the same question or point.
MNHQ have commented on this thread
Mumsnet webchats
Zoe Williams - Live webchat, Thursday 14 June, 1-2 pm
RachelMumsnet · 12/06/2012 11:42
"you don't often get a chance to say that, because you're usually in a fight with someone who thinks formula is the syrup of the anti-christ"
Really? I mean, genuinely interested here, really ??
I run a BF support group so I guess that makes me pretty pro-BF, and mix with lots of very pro-BF people generally, and I have actually never met anyone who thinks or says that. IMO its a bit of a straw man, to accuse those with an interest in BF support of thinking that formula is poison/devil syrup/insert derogatory term here, because that simply isn't what the massive majority of us think.
You must meet some right rude twats 
This reply has been deleted
Message withdrawn at poster's request.
The Sisters Brothers is next on y reading list, now, thanks 
As an aside: How the hell do people lose weight while breastfeeding? I was totally mis sold on that front. I thought I was going to be skin and bone from having the very life sucked out of me and all the raging hormones and 'insert sciencey bit' stuff going on. Instead, I was stuck on the settee watching way too much 'Escape to the Country' and inhaling bourbons. I have never been fatter.
Bit like the 'It just falls off once you're running around after your toddler' bollocks. My oldest was a Usain Bolt in the making at 10 mths and I was still a fat bloater.
Going back to work. That does it.
@Queen0fFlamingEverything
Do you accept that breastmilk is the physiologically normal food for a baby?
It therefore has no 'benefits', overstated or otherwise. Its not an 'orthodoxy' to state that breastfeeding is the biological/physiological norm for a baby, nor is it a matter of opinion. Its just a fact [shrug]
As far as the feminism argument goes, I think it is pretty anti-woman for big business to be allowed to undermine our biological norms, and the future health of ourselves and our babies, in the name of profits. And as for Elisabeth Badinter, she bangs on about how awful it is for the poor father to be 'completely put aside' whilst his partner dedicates herself to breastfeeding - classic 'what about the menz' if ever I heard it
My partner, as an adult male, is perfectly able to recognise that the needs of an infant need to come first and that it is not forever.Well, I'm not really defending Badinter. I think she's a bit of a nutter, for reasons completely unrelated to breastfeeding. I was citing her as an example of a particular kind of thinking, that isn't often expressed.
Generally, though: sure, breastmilk is physiologically normal. I'm not saying they shouldn't drink it. I don't understand what you mean by "it's just a fact". That it's physiologically normal is a fact?
By these terms, it is more normal to eat nuts and seeds than it is to eat cheese. You know, as humans, we adapt the world as we find it so that it suits us better. I was simply asking, are the claims made for breastfeeding verifiable? And the answer is, no. But if your only claim is that it's a "norm", then sure. Nobody said breastfeeding was abnormal, least of all me.
Hi Zoe. I really enjoy your writing. Re the breastfeeding backlash article - if I had read that when I was breastfeeding I would have been 
but my breastfeeding days ended a couple of years ago now, I found myself thinking "yep, she has a point" (sorry I didn't think anything more intellectual and insightful!), and that is the point surely - if you are in the trenches, so to speak, and dealing with cracked nipples, weird underwear and a baby who wants to feed every 2 hours then you want to hear that it is best. If you are ff your baby you want to hear that it doesn't matter. Anyway, thanks for the article, it made me think.
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Hi Zoe
What aspect of Motherhood have you found most challenging?
For me, coming to it a bit later, it is the lack of me time, being able to do whatever I wanted whenever and (while I have two young ones at home) the ability to leave the house on a whim, not like its a military operation.
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