Mumsnet undermining breastfeeding again.

[Redebs]

Just read the Mumsnet article on caring for newborn babies. It's sponsored by a bottle manufacturer.

Much of it is misinformation that will seriously interfere with mothers' success with breastfeeding. For example trying to get a feeding routine for a two month old baby. This is totally against normal practice for on demand breastfeeding.

Anyone aiming for regular naps will be seriously frustrated and will think there is something wrong with them and their baby. Night feeding is treated as if it's a massive burden that should be shared by using a bottle.The massively negative impact of inaccurate information and expectations is aimed at discouraging breastfeeding.

There's a 'helpful' link to another article on 'combination feeding' aka introducing formula, along with references to a whole lot of bottle feeding products you should buy.

The WHO condemns companies that use misinformation and pressure on mothers not to breastfeed. While it may be subtly disguised, that is exactly what articles like this are doing.

And for money.

Totally agree with you OP.

Nope. No interest whatsoever

just thought it was a teeny bit relevant to this thread 😂

😬

Like the ‘on my knees with exhaustion’ one where the poster never came back. To Twizbe’s credit, I don’t think she’ll now vanish, she’s very very persistent on breastfeeding threads.

I think it's incredibly unlikely that Merry is continuing to feed a 3yo because she feels guilt tripped into doing so. It's pretty damn rare in the UK for anybody to extended BF, there's absolutely no expectation to do it. I reckon anybody feeding a 3yo is going to be resolute and happy in their choice.

Aside from the one where’s she’s referring to combi feeding her first child

she keeps that rather quiet on threads such as this!

I very very much doubt that she’s “happy” given she’s not sleep more than 2 hours a time in 3 years!

Organic vs non organic produce is just not an equivalent debate and the reasons why deserves it own thread.

Why isn’t it?

From this thread .... I've also talked about combi feeding my eldest on other threads including those asking for information about it. Sometimes I mention that I didn't like doing it, depends on the thread.

I'm happy to share the reasons why I combi fed and why I didn't like it. Not relevant to this thread really but if you want to know...

Jesus wept. Apparently this thread is full of posts shaming formula feeding and absolutely nothing about shaming breastfeeding, but look at this last page – not just shaming but singling out a poster and suggesting she shouldn’t be in charge of a child or a car because she’s breastfeeding? Time for @MNHQ to step in, please.

@Moonicorn
Because there isn’t any real evidence that eating organic fruit and veges is better for you healthwise compared to eating equivalent non-organic produce. It’s a common misconception.

@Twizbe

i would be fascinated to know how you’d respond if your DD or DIL decided not to breastfeed.

didn’t even want to give it a go.

Twizbe's getting a vicious, ad hominem kicking on here. She makes valid points. If I were a FF mother I would be pissed off if someone claiming to 'support' me thought that consisted in sitting on the sofa feeding my baby while I got on with the housework. Nope - 'support' might be doing the housework so I could feed, or rest in the day to make those night wakings less awful.

Letstaketotheskies makes a lot of sense too. I have first-hand experience of the blaming of bf for everything that goes 'wrong' (in my case, perfectly healthy babies daring to not adhere to the 50th centile). I was bloody-minded and ended up feeding all mine for between 3 and 4.5 years each. That was what I wanted. And it really got up some people's noses.
It's easy and cheap to say bf is 'best'. What's not easy or cheap is to follow through on not undermining it once it's in progress, creating decent societal conditions for it to flourish, while not alienating mothers who feed differently. It should be pretty obvious, though, that asking a bottle manufacturer to talk about bf is akin to inviting Jeff Bezos to lecture on the benefits of small local shops.

Studies do suggest a somewhat lower odds ratio of childhood leukaemia when a child was bf vs when they were not. And a modest reduction in the risk of breast cancer. I don't see that it's helpful to not talk about scientific findings. Those risk reductions weren't why I bf, but they were important to me, for reasons of my own.

Reported

I was going by what Merry said herself in one of her posts. She said something along the lines of it being ‘better for him’. This is very unlikely at age 3, given her circumstances, and suggests a skewed perception of the benefits.

i would also not agree with you that somebody bfing a 3year old is automatically happy in their choice. They may be. But also, we do things for all sorts of reasons, including guilt and shame, and sometimes this is inappropriate. I can’t speak for her, of course. Neither can you.

I wouldn't care. I honestly wouldn't. My son used to pretend to breast feed his teddies, my daughter pretends to feed her babies with a bottle but then she doesn't remember me feeding her whereas that's what my son saw me doing.

My daughter is 4 and is around breastfeeding a lot. She knows grown up women have breasts (we use that word) she knows their function is to make milk for babies (I've left out them being secondary sexual features for now, perhaps I'll get flamed for that) she chooses to feed her dolls with a bottle ... her doll.

So how come you “care” so much on this thread?

I've stated many times I don't care what choice women make.

I care about advertising hidden as fact.

But that doesn't support your purpose in attacking me. I didn't give you the response you wanted to that question did I?

Because you think women are too dumb to interpret advertising and will just throw themselves at whatever Nestle says, whereas you have superior knowledge and need to ‘guide’ them. Yes, we know.

Did I say that? Nope.

Companies spend billions on advertising because it works. The science behind it is quite fascinating. Non of us are totally immune to it. It has nothing to do with intelligence of the consumer.

If it’s all about ‘unethical advertising’ why don’t you care about the far more pressing issue of the advertising of junk food to children? Which is everywhere.

Why only breastfeeding? When of course formula advertising for newborns is already illegal?

I chose to Ff my 2nd child as I wanted to. Felt after bf the first for far too many months it was so over rated. No adverts convinced me. I’d had 1St hand experience of bf with the 1st and it was so utterly pointless getting extra sore, extra tired, extra inconvenienced for. Formula was brilliant and so glad I did so. Would recommend formula to everyone from my experience. Any brand will do I’m not bias to any:) craving nestle chocolate now 😂