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Originally Posted by Cat Thing is that 2percent statistic prob is just about physically capable of producing milk and doesnt take into consideration other factors, like tounge tied babies, or women who cant produce enough on demand, or premmies not being able to suck hard enough etc. |
To a point yes that is right but the frustrating thing is that as there is so little support out there a lot of babies or mothers who believe that they can't breastfeed as they are not producing enough, or have children that are tongue tied, mother of preemies etc are stopping when they could have fed successfully. We have been brought up to believe that babies should be fed every 3-4 hours and that they should sleep through all night by the age of - months when with breastfeeding this is not normally the case. Breastfed children do feed very frequently - Seren was feeding for 40 mins each boob then an hour later wanted to feed more when she was little. IOt is their way of getting your milk up. With tongue tie it can be done, there are ways of latching baby on but mums need support from people who know what they are doing. HV's and midwives get 21/2 hours of training on breastfeeding and unless they have breastfed in the past they usually don't know what they are talking about - you see it all the time with posts saying my HV told me to top them up on formula as I wasn't producing enough, not gaining weight enough etc etc. My personal thought is that the government needs to spend more money on getting the support for breastfeeding mums, the amount that is spent per baby on formula advertising is huge whereas for breastfeeding its a pittance. If the governement wants higher breastfeeding rates then they need to put their money where their mouth is.
just wanted to also say a few more things
breastfeeding does not change your breast shape - it is pregnancy that does this. A good fitting maternity then nursing bra will help support your boobs adequately (and there are some fab bras out there now)
if the mothers diet is not perfect the baby will not lose out as the body puts all the nutrients baby's way - like it does in pregnancy.
the class thing I will agree with to an extent Minxy, I am working class and I didn't know anyone who was breastfed. It wasn't til Seren was a few months old that I found out I had been breastfed (a family friend told me) but obvioulsy as I don't have my mum I thought bottle feeding was the norm. I do think though that the barriers are breaking down - I guess partly due to the advertisement and the availability of the benefits of breastfeeding. I have seen more young mums breastfeed, and the people who I am in touch with through breastfeeding counselling are younger and more working class.
I also hate the word breastapo, I have had that label given to me a couple of times. Yes there are a minority of mothers who are out there who are very belittling to formula feeding but the vast majority of btreastfeeding mothers are not like that. I am very passionate about breastfeeding, and it is something I believe in but I have never judged anyone, to be honest I don't really care how you feed your baby - sorry to be rude. All my friends formula feed, yet I have never judged them. A lot of the breastapo feeling comes from the frustration that I described above.
Wobbles - temptaion got the better of me :wink:
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