Breastfeeding week

[breastfeedingweek]

There are really no words

Evidence is very clear breastfed babies on average have fewer respiratory infections.

www.unicef.org.uk/babyfriendly/news-and-research/baby-friendly-research/infant-health-research/infant-health-research-respiratory-illness/

@Fieldofgreycorn that doesn't give a bloke, on an NHS platform the right to state as fact, that their child has had less eczema and fewer colds, because he doesn't know that. If he had said it was important to us as studies show x, y and z then cool, but that's not what he is saying.

Uh oh, Lewis’s wife has turned up in the comments and she’s not happy.

The thing is, what she is saying isn't what he said, she said she chose to BF and he supported her; fab. It doesn't come across like that, and she also says he didn't say the eczema was related to BFing, even yeah he did. She's basically getting annoyed about people reading it as it's actually written, rather than her experience.

Ok so the way it’s written from his POV makes my blood boill

*boil, not boill... can’t even spell I’m that annoyed.

Wee scrote.

Which is why it would have been great to give both of them a voice.

Does anyone have a link to this? I've not been able to find it

Looks like those FB posts are [as PP have said] are aimed at men who are about to be fathers...to show them the advantages to the baby?

Many men are a bit anxious that their partners will ''lose their figure'' if they BF. or feel that their partner's /wives breasts are ''theirs'' and that they don't want to share with a baby.

Doesn't seem bad to me ? Those posts are aimed at partners.

P.s The posts would have been run past a panel, surely?.Probably not written/posted directly by the man/men in question, but edited, with input from others.

@SnuggyBuggy nhs greater Glasgow and Clyde Facebook page

Oh his wife isn't happy is she. She, understandably, sees it as a personal attack on her family I guess. I can only speak for myself of course, but that's certainly not my intention in commenting.

[quote expectingno2soon]@SnuggyBuggy nhs greater Glasgow and Clyde Facebook page [/quote]
Thanks, I'm pretty useless at facebook

It's all kicking off on Gavin's post as well. A father of two breastfed babies has stepped in now to state that dad's most definitely do have a breastfeeding journey, so there you go, that's us told. I wonder if other men are allowed to disagree with him because my husband doesn't feel he had a breastfeeding journey (despite frequently getting me drinks and snacks and washing the dishes).

Dh was supportive but i still did the breastfeeding!!

Adverts with dads should have their place but not to the extent that during breastfeeding week we don’t hear from women doing the actual work

I was trying to think of an analogy for dh and the only one i could come up with is Murray winning wimbledon and his supportive wife being interviewed and ‘praised’

And dh went further with the support than any other husband I’ve heard of

But it was still me!

Men always expect to be centered

Dads do not have a breastfeeding journey.
They might change their opinion about it, become more or less positive, or become more educated about it....but the only people in a breastfeeding relationship are the mother and infant.

I feel a bit sorry for Lewis' wife. She and Lewis are just normal people who have been asked to contribute their personal story from the dad's perspective. It's not their fault that the NHS trust has used it in the way they have. A. It should have been properly edited before it was posted; and B. It should never have been part of a series of male viewpoints with not a woman in sight.

But now she has to read a stream of criticism about her husband from complete strangers. I can understand why she is upset.

Lol you people are waaaaaay over-sensitive!

As a few posts have noted, this is just a bit of a cringe-inducing way of reaching out to men and showing that men can have a role to play encouraging their partner to breastfeed.

Haven’t you got better things to complain about?

Maybe the powers that be think they'll put new mothers off if they tell them the truth, but not telling them the truth is why so many women are so shocked how hard nursing is at first. Many never get over that tough stage and why would you believe someone telling you it gets better if they never even told you how hard it was to begin with?

Totally agree Charlie.

My experience first time round was agony, every feed (about 20 a day) for 6 weeks, blood, tears, awful. It then started to get better but I still remember the shooting pains through my breasts as my milk replenished. That lasted the whole ten months of breastfeeding.

Second time round the agony lasted 2 weeks. Then I got mastitis at 4 weeks, which made the early weeks feel like a walk in the park.

Do I still think it's easier/better than formula? Yes. But pretending it's all sunshine and rainbows is definitely counterproductive.

I agree no one warns you about endless cluster feeding and that it's normal. I can completely understand how some mistakenly think their babies must be starving.

I came away from my nhs breastfeeding class under the impression that I just had to put nose to nipple and that was all there was to it. It's no wonder people think they're doing something wrong when it isn't as easy as that! I did at least come away knowing that it's just colostrum for the first few days - I see a shocking number of posts on here and Facebook from women who switched to formula because they didn't have any milk for the first few days :(

@CustardyCreams

Lol you people are waaaaaay over-sensitive!

As a few posts have noted, this is just a bit of a cringe-inducing way of reaching out to men and showing that men can have a role to play encouraging their partner to breastfeed.

Haven’t you got better things to complain about?

You might be 'chill' with centering Dads during Breastfeeding Week, but we're not and we're entitled to talk about it. Funnily enough it's one of many ways that women are being marginalised about women's issues I complain about. I'm good at multitasking like that.