i get this all the time, im sure its because it annoys them that they cannot have him while i bf him, they always look really suprised when they ask if im still feeding him and i say yes

bunny - If anyone gives you any grief about bfdg, just remember you wuold STILL be geting grief (off different people) if you were feeding formula.

Sad truth is, it doesn't matter WHAT you do, someone, somewhere will criticise your parenting. There is only one right way, and it is the way they did it. Some people are just like that. Some people are well meaning and actually TRYING to be helpful. You can;t parent your children according to what other people think, so just do what YOU know is right for your kiddo... that's all anyone can do.

If you have done research and you have made informed choices, you can be confident about what you are doing. If you are confident about it, you'll get less grief.... and any grief you DO get will be more likely to roll off you!

I was shocked by this aswell.
BFing is praised, but that only seems applicable/acceptable for 6 months, and they need 'tastes' from 3 months!???

My MIL asked me last week if I'd given H 'a crust of toast yet'
(I did kinda shreak )
My mum has come up to speed on it all. Thank dog.

What helped me was when I sat and thought it through.
No cows milk until 12 months.
I hadn't made the connection to it being formula if you stopped BFing
Like hell am I busting my butt now with growth spurts etc to give formula later on.
As a result I've decided to take full mat leave - cos I have no interest in educating everyone (/man) at work about why I'm having to express.
Even for weaning onto food at 6 months you still need milk.
Full milk feeds to begin with anyway and EBM for cereals if you use them.

If someone persists I just tell them I'm happier listening to/trusting the department of health / world health org than their personal opinion.

I'm also tired of getting crap from people who FF (who talk of all this pressure to BF) about how my body's ruined... how I have no life... argh too much to hijack the thread with

I'm with you girls, it totally wrecks my head.

Baby rice and formula are apparently the miracle solutions to any parenting problem you can think of.

Baby still waking at night - give him a formula bottle before bed.
Still feeding every two and a half hours - clearly needs baby rice.
And then they tell me that their babies loved baby rice when they started them on it at three months, as though I'm actually being cruel by withholding this delicious substance.

I'm with you Seraphim - for me the opinion of the WHO which is backed up by numerous large-scale research studies carries just a little bit more weight than whether somebody else's baby apparently loved baby rice at three months!

Even if baby rice/formula would make Thomas sleep better (which I think is questionable anyway), personally I will happily put up with the inconvenience of feeding him a couple of times a night in order to receive the well-documented health benefits for my baby.

Rant over!!

Yeah, completely illogical because your breastmilk taste sdifferent depending on what you have been eating.... Babies need "tastes" from birth, and bmlk gives them that. People are weird!

I'm with you girls!

I'm really fortunate as I've hardly been asked when I plan on stopping nursing... and it's our 1 year milestone tomorrow!

Wish people would mind their own business and respect the parenting choices of others. As long as your baby is healthy, happy and safe, why should it matter?

xx

I dont even let people know we co-sleep....I cant be bothered with the hassle! Never mind that he sleeps a good solid 4 hours every single night (and as long as six hours) he never cries when hes put down, he sleeps in his crib downstairs in the day perfectly happily and I co-slept with my last one and he has been in his own bed in his own room from 18 months and is the PERFECT sleeper....all this "oh you will NEVER get that baby out of your room" business irritates the hell out of me especially seeing as Ive done it before and it worked brilliantly! In one breath they say how good my 5yr old is and how settled and content Theo is and the next its "You are going to breastfeed for over a YEAR...ooo thats....brave...." or "well he will need formula eventually" or "hes a big lad, he will need baby rice before hes 3 months old"
Im not sure why there is belief that formula and/or food will solve all issues with babies? My 5yr old never had formula or bottles and he didnt wean til past 7 months AND he co-slept AND I wore him all the time AND I never left him to cry AND I never used a dummy.....goodness whod have thought it was possible to have a normal 5yr old after all that?!

I am completely for people having their own choices with everything be it BF or FF, dummies or no dummies, co-sleeping or not but why some people take it upon themselves to criticise every choice regardless of what it is is beyond me. My children are happy so whats the problem....

The co-sleeping reactions is interesting.

I'm wondering if its the same as my 'vegetarian experience' (I don't call myself a vegetarian, but essentially I am - I didn't get the unnecessary scrutiny of my iron levels in pregnancy etc)

I have the feeling co-sleeping is HIGHLY common, but lots of people wouldn't consider themselves 'co-sleepers'.

I've just been talking about this with hubby... and whilst I'm happy to live and let live - I have serious concerns about how these issues affect all of us on a wider scale... see above about not wanting to deal with expressing at work whilst following DoH / WHO recommendations. Taking a career break is only the tip of the iceberg.

We always used to put DS to sleep in a crib next to the bed. He'd sleep for 4-6 hours and then wake for a feed. I'd pull him into bed with us and, as often as not, he'd end up staying there till morning. I think this happens A LOT with MOST parents but they would never admit to it! But it is, basically... co-sleeping. I do think it's a bit dangerous, and far better to PLAN to co-sleep from the get go, and arrange your bed so that it is safe for LO to sleep in it with you.

Maybe I'm just a cynical, paranoid, granola munching, tree hugging hippie.... but I think large corporations have got people convinced that their babies NEED cots and baby mattresses, formula, bottles, jarred/pureed food, baby rice.... and that is where some of the negative attitudes in society are stemming from.

Reading this just makes me realise what I have in store for me (particularly with my DH's well-intentioned Nan who started DH on formula at 1-2 weeks old because his mum was ill [um, he could've benefited from that immunity if you'd left him to breastfeed] and gave him some Dioralyte then because he'd been "without BF for so long" [WTF?!]). I intend to BF as long as the baby wants it.

On a positive note (although I wouldn't move back there), I loved the attitude of my dad the other day, a typical man from the Deep South.
Dad: "So, how are you going to feed the bean? Are you gonna give him ninny?"
Me: "Of course. That's what it's there for, right?"
Dad: "Exactly. Good girl."
On my dad's side of my family (he has five sisters), my grandmother, aunts and cousins all openly breastfed with no shame associated with it. Many of them long-term breastfed. And when my father was young, my great-aunts, grandmother and great-grandmother would breastfeed each others' children (this was in the 40s and 50s). I love that I come from that.