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Scottish mom's feeling "forced" to nurse - Page 2  

post #21 of 37
2/10/05 at 1:43pm
Ultimately, those women who are thinking of the health of their child will choose to breastfeed (or try as hard as they can).

If someone can be swayed by the "nazi-ish" advocates (that term is so offensive, on so many levels), they probably weren't going to breastfeed anyway.

When I learned I was pregnant (I was SO clueless) I thought about breastfeeding and formula feeding and I went to the Internet and googled :

"advantages of breastfeeding"

It took me about 2 minutes to decide to breastfeed, even though I was not looking forward to it at all.

It took me another few days to figure out that since I'd had breast reduction surgery, it would be quite a challenge (we won't go there, lol).

So IMO, if someone makes the choice to breastfeed because they don't like how it's being advocated, they probably wouldn't have done it anyway.

Just my humble opinion.
post #22 of 37
2/10/05 at 2:15pm
Annette, you said it beautifully!!!
post #23 of 37
2/10/05 at 2:49pm
People don't want to take responsibility for their own actions/feelings/opinions. It's the way it is in our culture. We are very much into the blame game. I mean, look at the number of lawsuits and insurance claims we have. Nothing is ever OUR fault! FF moms (and I mean the ones who do so by choice) aren't the bad guys. It's OUR fault that they feel guilty! How dare we speak on behalf of the babies?? How dare we promote the food that nature intended babies to eat?? How dare we speak the truth??? Bah! Cry me a river.
post #24 of 37
2/10/05 at 3:10pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by annettemarie
I feel bullied into putting my kids in carseats!
I feel bullied when I see a "friends don't let friends drive drunk" commercial. Why is it my responsibility?
I feel bullied when I see those pictures of an unborn baby smoking a cigarette- why should I have to quit smoking just because I'm pregnant?

Wah.



FTR- I don't smoke, my kids are in car seats, and I wouldn't let anyone drive drunk if I could help it. BUT we use guilt all the time, when appropriate. This notion that it shouldn't apply only in this particular area of child rearing is, IMHO, a load of crap.
Annette


post #25 of 37
2/10/05 at 9:21pm
annette, i was expecting flames too.

lisa, i wasn't 'bah'ing to your OP, sorry i didn't give it more thought. i had an answer formulated then read the damned article & had smoke coming out of my ears.

thank you, thank, you, thank you fellow mdc'ers for NOT biting my head off for getting irritated with the article. (has anybody here heard any stats about the health in general of scots? formula and fried mars bars do not a vital culture make. no offense to any scots; i know if you are HERE, you are likely feeding yourselves & your families a little better than the average. anyways, i'm here in the south full of descendants of ulster scots and our moon pies & cocola, i can talk.)

i cannot believe we actually got an uncontested vent! something was actually so obnoxious no one came in to tell us how mean we were! (of COURSE we feel bad for mothers who don't know any better, blame formula companies, don't say cruel things to moms we see ffing- notwithstanding the dumbass comments one person made to azed- but wasn't it nice to just see something so awful, say 'arggghhhh!' and not go down in flames?)

suse
post #26 of 37
2/11/05 at 2:53pm
Thread Starter 
Suseyblue and Annette - I know, I was thinking this was going to go down in flames too.

No stats, but I lived in Scotland for a year and my inlaws are British (London) (which is why I saw the article to begin with) I would say that health wise there didn't seem to be much difference between Scots/British in general/Americans...but I lived on an island with a lot of activity and organic gardening was common. There was a very natural approach to life there and breastfeeding was expected. I guess that's why I was shocked that there would be such resistance to a pro-breastfeeding message there.
post #27 of 37
2/11/05 at 4:37pm
the scots cookbooks i have seen have come from a more rural or posh environment and have been much more organic, slow-food oriented than say, the actual scottish urban folks i have met. i think it is a class thing (of course, as it also is here. we also have deep-fried candy bars here at the carnival. and sometimes i save up a couple hundred bucks & go uptown to wild oats for groceries.)

i'm guessing the scots who regularly dine on wild-caught salmon & fresh venison would probably be more open to a bfing message than the pepsi-swigging emigrants i knew here. it sucks, don't it, that people whose babies desperately need a proper start in life are least likely to get it.

i wish non-gmo, organic, heritage varieties of fruits and vegetables were as easy to find and inexpensive as godforsaken twinkies (if i didn't have a vehicle & 10 extra bucks for gas, even that occasional wild oats run would be an impossibility, rather than an extravagance.) but that's another rant, for another forum (altho' boiled down, the case for bfing IS about nutrition, isn't it?)

suse
post #28 of 37
2/11/05 at 5:53pm
Quote:
i cannot believe we actually got an uncontested vent! something was actually so obnoxious no one came in to tell us how mean we were! (of COURSE we feel bad for mothers who don't know any better, blame formula companies, don't say cruel things to moms we see ffing- notwithstanding the dumbass comments one person made to azed- but wasn't it nice to just see something so awful, say 'arggghhhh!' and not go down in flames?)
post #29 of 37
2/11/05 at 6:22pm
post #30 of 37
2/11/05 at 6:27pm
I think you've put things quite well Annette, and Suseyblue.
post #31 of 37
2/11/05 at 9:18pm
I think one of the simplest ways is to make the pregnant parents take a 'taking care of baby' class. In it they can be taught diapering, what to expect from their newborn and breastfeeding. That way they have a groundwork and aren't just having information shoved at them when they're feeling overwhelmed by all the newness.
post #32 of 37
2/12/05 at 11:44am
Quote:
Originally Posted by suseyblue
i'm guessing the scots who regularly dine on wild-caught salmon & fresh venison would probably be more open to a bfing message than the pepsi-swigging emigrants i knew here. it sucks, don't it, that people whose babies desperately need a proper start in life are least likely to get it.
I'm sure you're right about that. I still say, though, what kind of an IDIOT would someone have to be to base a decision on your baby's health on how other people treated the subject?

Probably just an excuse for people who already chose against breastfeeding.
post #33 of 37
2/12/05 at 1:19pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by annettemarie
I feel bullied into putting my kids in carseats!
I feel bullied when I see a "friends don't let friends drive drunk" commercial. Why is it my responsibility?
I feel bullied when I see those pictures of an unborn baby smoking a cigarette- why should I have to quit smoking just because I'm pregnant?

Wah.



FTR- I don't smoke, my kids are in car seats, and I wouldn't let anyone drive drunk if I could help it. BUT we use guilt all the time, when appropriate. This notion that it shouldn't apply only in this particular area of child rearing is, IMHO, a load of crap.
Annette
Excellent post!!
There are lots of thing us mother's do that we don't want to do. Heck, the carseat thing "isn't for me" either, Its SO annoyong getting my kids strapped into the seats in the freezing cold. It would be easier to sit my little guy on my lap, BUT I buckle him in becaise it's the best thing for him.
I think a problem is that half the formula feeders who CHOOSE to formula feed believe that formula is just as good as breastmilk, and the other half uses formula thinking that it's 2'nd best, when infact it is only 4'th best.
post #34 of 37
2/12/05 at 1:30pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ms. Frizzle
think a problem is that half the formula feeders who CHOOSE to breastfeed believe that formula is just as good as breastmilk, and the other half uses formula thinking that it's 2'nd best, when infact it is only 4'th best.
Do you mean formula feeders who choose to FORMULA feed? If so, I appreciate you saying that, because I am one of those formula feeders/breastfeeders who did not choose to formula feed (I am forced to for physicla reasons), so I just wanted to share the love with you for making that distinction.

Sharing the love :
post #35 of 37
2/12/05 at 1:49pm
Oh yes! That is why I put choose in big letters. I didn't want to come off as bashing all mom's who formula feed. Going to edit that right now, thanks for pointing it out.
(See, I have breastfeeding on the mind, lol)

I used to work in the breastfeeding clinic of our hospital, plus I'm an LLL leader, and my heart breaks for any mom who wants to nurse but she can't
post #36 of 37
2/12/05 at 2:01pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ms. Frizzle
I used to work in the breastfeeding clinic of our hospital, plus I'm an LLL leader, and my heart breaks for any mom who wants to nurse but she can't
That's so sweet of you. No one's heart is as broken as mine over not being to breastfeed though. I guess that's why I get so impatient with people who don't try to breastfeed at all. I would kill to have boobies that make a bunch of milk, and there they are wasting their boobies! :LOL
post #37 of 37
2/13/05 at 6:41pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by KristiMetz
That's so sweet of you. No one's heart is as broken as mine over not being to breastfeed though. I guess that's why I get so impatient with people who don't try to breastfeed at all. I would kill to have boobies that make a bunch of milk, and there they are wasting their boobies! :LOL
It is so sad and ironic, isn't it?

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