Proud to have breast fed

[Keepdlingwhatyourgutsays]

I will start off by saying I don't care if you bf or ff. I see so many posts where women say they ff but none on bf. they get taken down or people straight away think it's a dig. Honestly what ever you chose to do you do.

However after so many negative and nasty comments when I was breastfeeding I can say I did it. I didn't give in to the people who were nasty I didn't let them bully me into stopping. I was a younger mum not young young but I was young and I was still very insecure about a lot of things and I did not feel supportive.
I do remember once the first time I breastfed on the bus I did that thing where I assumed everyone would be staring and one elder gentlemen was and he just grinned a very kind grin and that kept me going through some of the nasty comments.
If you are breast feeding and getting comments from family or friends please ignore it because looking back they were just insecure (not everyone but the ones I New) or they are just plain nasty. Anyone who makes a nasty comment about that isn't nice nor needed.
But remember wether you breastfeed or bottle it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks. Online people get so angry about it but it really doesn't matter guys

That's what the phrase means! It's a huge leap to assume that people mean breast is always best in every circumstance. That's obviously not true, no one would think that.

Isadora was talking about women who did choose, she wasn't saying that everyone who uses formula has chosen to. That's a misinterpretation of what she was describing.

Does the NHS say you'll be closer to your baby if you breastfeed?

@Assasinatedbeauty I know your intentions are good but I'm really trying to have a thread where breastfeeding mums can talk without people turning it into a debat.😀

Well done OP. It is something to be proud of.

has anyone ever donated breast milk to the hospital. I was gutted to read about it and it be to late to do so myself. That is a really good idea

@troodiedoo thank you. So should all the other people commenting

No, absolutely not @coffeecupofmilk. I really don't know where that's coming from. Anyone can misinterpret anything, and it's just my opinion anyway. Apologies if you think I was rude, that wasn't my intention.

Sorry op but I don't believe you actually thought you could start a thread like this without a debate happening.

Unfortunately it seems breast v formula is always going to be a debate people feel strongly about

Isadora it's interesting because I've had this exact conversation with a well known, rather puritanical "Pro BF" poster on MN before.

You're right that the NHS, the primary source of this kind of information for women in this country, is not good. And it's not backed up with real life support very well either. So no, more of what we already have is not an ideal solution, especially in order to reach certain communities.

Another point is the 99% figure or whatever it is, regarding the amount of babies under 6 months having received formula. This does absolutely not mean formula companies are "winning", as in winning mums over (although they sure as shit are profiting from them). The point is that there are many varied reasons why mums FF, and that includes physical difficulty, lack of resources to do so (how can you BF if you need to back to work after 6 weeks because you can't afford to live off maternity pay).

I personally believe that the biggest reason BF rates in this country are so low is because like most things women do it is undervalued as a society. To me, experiencing first hand the eye roll inducing "propaganda" around breast feeding from the NHS with very little else in either their or our culture supporting it, the only way to improve BF rates is to actually value the mothers, without patronising or belittling them, and offering actual support. But that's hard to do with the inferiority/superiority complexes fuelled by media and each other which can be seen absolutely everywhere, unfortunately.

Thanks AB that’s defintiely what I meant when saying choosing.

I deliberately did not open the other thread about regretting as my answer would have been one that just caused upset or disagreed with the poster. So I don’t really understand why people are coming here to do similar...

Well if we just ignore them 😀 It's a shame you can't talk about bf or support bf with out people trying to ruin it.

AB and 2007 I'm not being rude at all i understand why you would answer.

Good for you op!!! I'm on nearly 2 years with my 3rd, did 9 months with each of my 2 girls. We all have a right to be proud. Only been on mumsnet for a few weeks but I have seen so much negativity that I don't think I'll be hanging around much longer!

Assassinated I know what it means! I'm saying I've seen many cases of mothers judging others based on what their own personal interpretation of what circumstances count as breast not "being best".

I've seen women argue that a baby is in a better position receiving breast milk even if the struggle and exhaustion is giving the mother PND. I find stuff like that really insensitive and unfortunately even if it is the minority saying stuff like that, aimed at new mothers, then it's a very loud and persistent minority. I don't know why I am putting so much energy into this; perhaps it's because I've been through this before and I've seen the upset it causes so many mums. If 99% of mothers formula feed, you can be damn sure the majority of them have tried and been unsuccessful at breastfeeding, and so much stock is put into that small part of a baby's life. It's just sad to see people suffer and feel so guilty.

@zinger no we need good people like you here. We really do! Otherwise they'll be no support. It will just be the bullies who shouted loudest and ganged up and took over threads. All the good will be scared off and all people will read is one side. People will be to scared to make posts because they know People wil just right there own stuff even if it's irrelevant to what we are talking about and the thread.
Stay please. There are so many nice comments on this thread

@assassinated I can't find your first post. How was your journey

@silverdoe I do see what you mean and agree with much that you’re saying about support and valuing mothers and women as a whole.
However threads like this also support those who feel proud or have enjoyed or struggled to BF and want to discuss it. Being told we are being insensitive to others is not supporting these breast feeders.

If pregnant mums only read the “regret” post they’d see a skewed version of BF and this one offers a different perspective.

FWIW I have two friends who are NHS bg support workers and I know how much they do for the mums in their care (and how little they’re valued) and my teenage daughter has a Family Nurse Partnership nurse of her own who gives her regular one to one support and is encouraging her to breastfeed (as that is what she wants to do) so the NHS can and does try in some cases.

FOud it what yourve said is totally fair to all 😀

Part of the (0.5) . I didn't realise it was so low

Breast is not best; it's the biological norm. The whole "breast is best" slogan needs serious re-evaluation.

We need to remember that the choice and the ability to breastfeed are not just down to the individual. The impact of misinformation, negative/uninformed societal views, and lack of support really have a lot to answer for. We live in a society where formula feeding is the norm, where most women who begin breastfeeding end up stopping early on (often due to lack of support), and we've lost the skills and knowledge to breastfeed and view it as normal.

I think this is a lovely post and as a mother who couldn't manage to bf my twins I don't feel you're having a dig at all. You're rightly proud and you've been tactful with it. X

Good for you op, I think bf is great if you want to and can.
I'm actually proud to have not bf my baby. My DS was to small and weak to bf and as it turns out my breast milk was toxic due to medication. It was the best choice for me and DS.
Other mother's at groups who did bf used to judge me terribly but it really doesn't matter how you feed. They all end up more or less the same anyway.

@Vasalineontoast contributing to ruining the chance for breastfeeding mums to comfortably talk. There are other threads why chose to come on this one