Breastfeeding rates and advertising

"PattyMomVA" wrote in message
...
"Happy Hunter" wrote and I snipped:

Women also seem to want to be released from the "burden of feeding". My
SIL stopped at 6 months, cause she was "finished", had "done her bit" so
to say. Maybe people want to return to drinking or socialising, again
though, drinking can be done if women know to avoid feeding for x amount
of time or pump and dump. Maybe she'd got the impression that's how long
you breastfeed for. Maybe that's what HER mum did. Who knows.

Great points in your post, but this one stood out because it's really a
myth. You can have a drink when you're breastfeeding and not wait long or
pump and dump. Such a very little alcohol gets into your milk that it's
less than what would be in cough syrup. So if your baby is old enough to
get some OTC meds like that, don't worry about having a drink.


Yes, as it happens, I know that, but it seems to be a sensitive subject for
some. Also, as it happens I don't drink much (say once every 5 years), but
have mentioned to others that you can have a drink and still feed, and it
won't affect the baby, I get looked at as if I'm an alien. Maybe just
another reason to stop feeding and return to their *old* lives.

I'm curious..... Is this a new nickname for you? Who did you used to be?


I mostly lurked with some posts under my real name, Ailsa Tomany, this was
in 1998/99 with DD1. Don't think I posted with DD2 2001/2002 although I do
remember reading these groups then, just not very often.

"Happy Hunter" wrote and I snipped:

Great points in your post, but this one stood out because it's really a
myth. You can have a drink when you're breastfeeding and not wait long
or pump and dump. Such a very little alcohol gets into your milk that
it's less than what would be in cough syrup. So if your baby is old
enough to get some OTC meds like that, don't worry about having a drink.

Yes, as it happens, I know that, but it seems to be a sensitive subject
for some. Also, as it happens I don't drink much (say once every 5
years), but have mentioned to others that you can have a drink and still
feed, and it won't affect the baby, I get looked at as if I'm an alien.
Maybe just another reason to stop feeding and return to their *old* lives.

Yes, that's too bad. I wonder if moms get confused about what's "allowed"
in pregnancy versus what's okay to do while breastfeeding.... I wouldn't
consider drinking regularly to be okay in pregnancy.

I mostly lurked with some posts under my real name, Ailsa Tomany, this was
in 1998/99 with DD1. Don't think I posted with DD2 2001/2002 although I do
remember reading these groups then, just not very often.

Ah, okay. I noticed you wrote about things you'd read on mkb, but I didn't
recognize your nick. I've been here since about 1997, before my first was
born.

-Patty, mom of 1+2

wrote:

[snip]
it might put them off - I'd rather know that it is *normal* to have
problems *and that they CAN be overcome* rather than feel a failure for
not having the baby perfectly latched and feeding within a milisecond
of it's birth.

Oh, good god, yes. That's one thing I added to my file of "advice for
new moms". That it will most likely hurt in the beginning, that it's
not automatic, but that both baby and mom can learn together.
--
Cheri Stryker
mom to DS1 - almost 7!, and DS2 - 3 months

"Anne Rogers" wrote in message
...
Maybe it's just me, but weaning is about introducing solids, what you do
about the milk side of things is separate is it not ?

that's a very UK meaning of the word, if you look up weaning in a
dictionary it is about a mammal no longer having it's mothers milk, not
about when other foods are introduced. It's come up many times on here
when UK mothers have been confused by what others have said and non UK
mothers have been totally confused by our use of the word weaning.


But the two are one and the same really. Once solids are begun, breastfeeds
gradually become fewer until solids eventually make up all the calorie
requirements. The confusion is over how long weaning has to take - it might
be overnight, it might take 5 years.


--
Amy
Mum to Carlos born sleeping 20/11/02,
& Ana born screaming 30/06/04
http://www.freewebs.com/carlos2002/
http://www.babiesonline.com/babies/a/ana%5Fj%5F2004/
My blog: http://spaces.msn.com/members/querer-hijo-querer-hija/

So many interesting comments. It is true that many women initiate
breastfeeding, then something seems to happen soon after. I'm not sure
it is all about formula advertising; I think something else is
happening and then the availability of a safe, "almost as good", easily
available alternative becomes tempting. Maybe as someone else mentioned
many moms think it's all BF or all formula -- they don't know that if
they get their supply established they can do both if they feel they
need to.

Also I think sleeping and feeding seem to somehow be tied in people's
minds -- look how many parents think giving formula will make their
babies sleep longer.

I think one strategy to improve BF rates would be to convince *most*
women to ignore the "advice" of their mothers and MILs! (with
apologies to those with moms who are v. supportive/knowledgeable about
BF).

wrote in message
oups.com...
So many interesting comments. It is true that many women initiate
breastfeeding, then something seems to happen soon after. I'm not sure
it is all about formula advertising; I think something else is
happening and then the availability of a safe, "almost as good", easily
available alternative becomes tempting. Maybe as someone else mentioned
many moms think it's all BF or all formula -- they don't know that if
they get their supply established they can do both if they feel they
need to.

Also I think sleeping and feeding seem to somehow be tied in people's
minds -- look how many parents think giving formula will make their
babies sleep longer.

I think one strategy to improve BF rates would be to convince *most*
women to ignore the "advice" of their mothers and MILs! (with
apologies to those with moms who are v. supportive/knowledgeable about
BF).

And, if you go to breastfeeding advocacy websites, or even this group,
supplementing with formula is villified to the point that it's easy to feel
that if you give just one bottle, you've blown it entirely and might as well
give up now. I know I had that feeling frequently while trying to establish
my supply via pumping-that because I wasn't, at that point, exclusively
breastfeeding, I'd failed my child, instead of feeling good for the
breastmilk she was getting. It wasn't until my supply was established enough
that I could meet her needs by EPing alone that I started to feel that this
was possible at all. Honestly, if I'd had a pediatrician who hadn't been so
positive on breastfeeding and so encouraging on "whatever you can give her
will help", I probably would have given up-and it would have been as much or
more due to what I was hearing from the pro-breastfeeding group as from the
formula group. Because, by breastfeeding standards, I had failed already.

"Donna Metler" wrote in message
. ..
And, if you go to breastfeeding advocacy websites, or even this group,
supplementing with formula is villified to the point that it's easy to
feel
that if you give just one bottle, you've blown it entirely and might as
well
give up now. I know I had that feeling frequently while trying to
establish
my supply via pumping-that because I wasn't, at that point, exclusively
breastfeeding, I'd failed my child, instead of feeling good for the
breastmilk she was getting. It wasn't until my supply was established
enough
that I could meet her needs by EPing alone that I started to feel that
this
was possible at all. Honestly, if I'd had a pediatrician who hadn't been
so
positive on breastfeeding and so encouraging on "whatever you can give her
will help", I probably would have given up-and it would have been as much
or
more due to what I was hearing from the pro-breastfeeding group as from
the
formula group. Because, by breastfeeding standards, I had failed already.

Ditto. Someone once told me she considered me a hero for EPing, and I cried
the rest of the day, simply because I'd never gotten that from anywhere
else.

Jess