Breastfeeding

[PamBeesly]

I am a feminist and I breastfeed, I have heard that breastfeeding isn't feminist and I can't quite understand it, I love feeding my son and its my body. I don't bow to pressure from anyone to feed him any particular way. Can anyone enlighten me as to why its not feminist, I'd love to know so I can see it from a different viewpoint. Thanks in advance :)

The feminist issue for me is, as other posters have said, about the pressure women are placed under (or perceive they're placed under) and the judgements that then ensue when they choose to do or not do something with their body.

I BF and loved it but couldn't give two hoots whether my friends or anyone else does or doesn't.

I think my feminist position is that women should have 100% bodily autonomy - so should be able to choose without judgement from anyone whether to BF or not. Ditto whether to have an ELCS or natural waterbirth at home. Ditto whether to continue a pregnancy or not, get a tattoo or not, diet or not, take hormonal contraception or not, have sex or not.

Thanks for all the insights, the French attitude sucks in my opinion, why would breasts be for the husband? They are for the owner of them and their primary purpose is to nourish, if a woman decided not to BF then thats fine too, since it is her body. This aspect French 'feminism' is very odd indeed, thanks for all the links too

I would extrapolate that and say therefore that breastfeeding must be feminist - because you're using them for their primary intention and not for men's titillation.

what a horrid view.

Of course it's feminist - like Horrible says - it's autonomy.

Genuine question....bf is said to be the best choice for a number of reasons (inc dc less like,ly to be ill, become obese, etc, etc). Also the people most likely to bf are middle class, older, educated women. I was wondering how many of bf benefits might actually be to do with the fact that it's the type of parent. In general I would guess middle class, older, educated parents tend to bring up children who are less likely to become obese, who do well in school, etc, etc.

Apologies if i haven't worded that very well but do any of the bf is best data take the demographic doing the bf into account?

A quick shout out for the excellent book, The Politics of Breastfeeding - OP you might well find it a good read.

As far as I know Dee, bfing research does control for socio economic status.

dawn I think that in the studies they have done they adjust for things like that.

I did read something recently that a study had said something adverse about BF and it was sort of hushed up

it's the fail, naturally

Thanks for replying CailinDana. I can see how some health benefits are passed on by bf but i did wonder if all the benefits were down to bf as i know socio-economic status does make a big difference too.

Thanks Sardine. Interesting article but I do always reserve judgement on things that appear in the fail.

I suppose my view is that people should be given unbiased information that is appropriate to their situation, and then allowed to make their own minds up.

I think that when it comes to pregnancy, birth and looking after babies and children this principle seems to go out of the window.

I felt really uncomfortable with the antenatal BF talks and things that we had. It was too much.

Well the whole article is just crap tbh. It has nothing to do with breastmilk being an issue. It again, has to do with how people breastfeed and the ways in which bfing is different to formula feeding. It is showing the gaps in advice, knowledge and support given to women breastfeeding.

Footprints, please send round your DH in his pinny. I have washing up...

abigail it is not "crap" if it is the case that babies are ending up in hosp through dehydration.

These things need to be investigated to determine how to improve things, rather than being ignored as they do not fit in with the current message.

No I didn't mean that. I meant the tack that the DM took was to blame breastfeeding. It isn't bfing that is the issue, it is how it is done. I don't doubt at all that dehydration is a real issue.

And I agree with your 2nd paragraph too.

BF is very feminist it means DH has to cook if he wants to eat and wash if he wants a clean shirt.
If you are wise you ensure he maintains these good habits, long after the child needs BFing

This is the second feminist issue I've seen on the internet recently where people have said in passing that children of older parents have better health outcomes.

Is that actually true, when education, social class and so on is factored in?

Oh gotcha

Yes it is reported with a slant but I don't imagine they made the study up!

startail - DH has to do everything in the house while I'm BFing.

I suppose I found on my antenatal BF classes that they were very unwilling to mention that there could be any problems or pain or anything at all.

I felt that people were being given half the story and set up to fail in a way. The idea apparently is not to "put women off" but I think this under-estimates women and a better message would be to say what the more common probs are, what to do if they happen, where to get support etc.

Definitely wasn't doubting the study, SQ. It highlights tragic and avoidable deaths and should be taken seriously. I am just coming from an angle where most of the HCPs I encountered had very little knowledge and the advice wasn't that great. I would like to see way more support and knowledge at that level to avoid tragedies like these.

thanks for the book tip nap

Agree with your last post too, SQ. For example I was told all babies could and would breastfeed (apart from physical disabilities or premmies). Then DS1 came along and immediately refused. Screaming all the time, absolutely totally not interested. 2 weeks I had of this. And no further forward. Ended up going to the bottle just to get out of hospital and expressed for 7 months. Nothing in the antenatal classes or the experience of anyone else I knew prepared me for that.

There was also a lack of knowledge as to what to do about it. At no time was a bf counsellor suggested nor NCT or LLL. It wasn't til I came on MN about 6 months later that I even knew bf counsellors existed (and that DS1 probably would have breastfed if I had just kept trying).