Mothering Forum banner

Silly things you've been told about breastfeeding?

17K views 126 replies 67 participants last post by  Taximom5 
#1 ·
I would love to know the little rumors and tales you've been told about breastfeeding! I want a list of the silly things someone told you, with their good intentions I am sure, about breastfeeding. A good laugh might get me out of these winter doldrums.
 
#3 ·
This is so bizarre, that it must be shared...

A stranger in a store once told me that it's best to not get a baby too dependent on breast milk (and to do formula instead) just in case something happens to the mom.

???

with that logic, I assume it is also best to, you know, not hug your child too much because if you're killed tragically then at least the kid isn't dependent on all that snuggling... and therefore adjusts to your death much easier! It's always best to plan ahead for the worst, you know!

I was so struck by the comment that I literally couldn't even respond.

I am still laughing, just thinking back to this
 
#4 ·
I was told that by breastfeeding in public, I am trying to force everyone to be ok with it. I don't even know how to respond to that ridiculousness haha!

Not exactly on topic, but I did chat with a lady while shopping once. My kids are 15 months apart and my older one is a chunk, my younger one has a leaner body. The lady said that my daughter is probably stealing my sons bottles. I said we don't use bottles. She looked confused and said, "Not at all?!" I said nope. I swear, the lady sat there for a sec just trying to figure it out. Thank God she finally did hahaha! She was a sweet lady and said how lucky I was that I can breastfeed. I said thanks, even though I know 99% of women can but oh well!

Edited to clarify that all I said was thanks, but I was thinking that luck isn't the reason I breastfeed.
 
#5 ·
An ER doctor told me that there was no advantage to breastfeeding after six months, basically she had gotten everything she could from it by then. (I was nursing my then not quite 2 year old and he didn't want to be bothered to come up with a bf'ing friendly medication for me.)
 
#6 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by fruitfulmomma View Post

An ER doctor told me that there was no advantage to breastfeeding after six months, basically she had gotten everything she could from it by then. (I was nursing my then not quite 2 year old and he didn't want to be bothered to come up with a bf'ing friendly medication for me.)
This reminds me of what our pediatrician said. She said that after 6 months there's no need to eat at night. I basically told her I don't need her bad parenting advice.
 
#7 ·
These were not specifically said to me but:

My SIL's husband said that after 3 months, there's no advantage to bfeeding.

And regarding their DS, if I remember correctly: Because he's a big baby (he's maybe in the 75th percentile), they needed to start solid foods early. Because mom can only produce a limited amount of milk and he was *so* big, he just needed more calories. BUT, being that he was only 4 months at this point, they had to supplement with formula because he's digestive system was not mature yet. But at 5 months it was and finally they could give him solids, as he must have been so hungry at this point!

Something like that. It didn't make any sense and it made me sad because they are probably getting this from their ped... It made me sad because SIL started supplementing with their older DD because a ped said she needed to. This led to her supply dropping and she eventually stopped bfeeding. She mentionned at a family dinner that she had been dissapointed with this (she wasn't expecting her supply to drop), and her husband basically said that it was better that way. She could sleep more now! He basically told her not to be sad about it. I don't like SIL much, but that time really made me sad.

Anyways, sorry I got a bit OT!
 
#9 ·
I was told my teeth would fall out too! It was in the context of my dds' dentist telling me that her cavity was not due to night nursing because "it's more likely to damage Mom's teeth, all that nursing". I just let it go because I was happy to have a breastfeeding friendly dentist..now I wish I'd asked what that was supposed to mean.
 
#12 ·
A ped told me after the colostrum is gone, there's no real benefit.

My pastor's wife asked "When you gonna quit nursing that baby, she's gonna dry you up!"

My DH's grandma told me you aren't *supposed to* continue nursing after 9 months!

My grandmother says she couldn't breast feed because she was too skinny..... ?? I don't get it!

You have to wean once the teeth come in.

You have to give BF babies bottles of water... I don't see the logic there at all, but I've heard more times than I can remember!

And yea my MIL claims that she lost a tooth for each baby she had. And the longest she BF any of hers was 4 months!
 
#14 ·
The ignorant and completely uninformed comments from doctors are just scary. I dont think I've really gotten any about breastfeeding specifically, but when my DP's parents came to visit baby girl was about 2 weeks old and nursing all the time. His mom made sure to tell me that she "had" to put rice cereal in DP's bottles starting at ten days old or else he'd just want to eat every 2-3 hours. Then she told me this again when we saw a month later.

I've heard the tooth thing but in relation to pregnancy, because your body will take calcium from wherever it can get it when the baby's bones are forming.
 
#15 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dia View Post

That in order to make milk, I needed to drink milk. (Cow's milk presumably).
I'm a vegan.
Ha ha! That reminds me of the episode of the Vicar of Dibley after Alice has her first baby. The vicar asks her how the BFing is going. She says "oh it's lovely! Especially now that I know I don't actually have to eat grass to make milk."
 
#17 ·
I was told by a postpartum nurse at the hospital after my first was born that my breasts were probably too big to do it.

To be fair , they're huge and it was a steep learning curve to maneuver a tiny baby around them, but we went 2.5 years.

My second was just born and I find them more of an asset than a liability now . They're like go go gadget boobs!

My elderly great aunt was awesome, too. She told me to do it for at least three years -- that's how you have nicely spaced babies. She criticized my grandma (her youngest sister ) for not bf her kids and said that's why she had six babies in 10 years.
 
#18 ·
Lady: "Look at the baby, she is so nice and chunky! She must be a GOOD eater!"
Me: "Oh, she's only five months and she hasn't started solids yet. But yes, she sure does breastfeed a lot!"
Lady: "You mean she doesn't gat any food or formula bottles?"
Me: "None."
Lady: "Well, that's why she's so chunky! She's so hungry! You need to start feeding her food right now or she's going to starve."
Me: ????????
 
#20 ·
My son was 5 hours old and my mom told me he was using me as his pacifier, and argued with me when I wanted to nurse him.

She also says he's not gaining weight because he's not on a feeding schedule, as in I should be feeding him every 3 hours and distracting him when it hasn't been 3 hours yet so he would be hungry and eat better...even though I feed on demand and it still works out to be about every 3 hours. We eat when we're hungry at my house.

She said I should nurse for 10 minutes on one side, burp, 10 minutes on the other side. I don't know how damaging this actually is, but from my knowledge it could effect milk supply because an empty boob makes more milk faster, and also baby might get too much foremilk and not enough fatty milk because they are switching sides too early.

Surprisingly she breastfed me and my sister for 6 months, but I doubt she liked it much.

My MIL acted surprised when she was looking at the baby pictures and I was nursing him within 30 minutes of birth. She didn't know they wanted to nurse that soon. To be fair, she had struggles and had to supplement in the hospital, then went on to breastfeed my husband for 9 months. She always tells me how much she enjoyed it.
 
#23 ·
I hate it when the naysayers are so loud it makes you truly worry. It sounds to me like you are doing wonderfully CLplus1!

And its totally fine if a newborn is using mama as a pacifier! So so so many benefits!!
Building milk supply, colostrum, skin to skin, bonding, keeping baby body temp regulated, I think there are hormonal benefits for mama too!
 
#24 ·
My midwife actually told me she quit nursing after 18 months, since her daughter kept biting and her nipples were bleeding. Left me scared until the teeth came and I realized SHE must have done something wrong.

She also told me nursing while lying down prevents hanging boobs - I wish :-D
 
#25 ·
I have seven sisters, six of whom breasted their children...I was the last to have babies and had the benefit of tons of solid experience. The great thing is that I have no doubt that had I chosen not to bf not one of
them would have judged me. BFing was just something they DID. They didn't talk endlessly about it or care if others did it or let it define them or their parenting. Ahem.
 
#26 ·
The handout we got at our doc's office said to feed for 10 minutes on the first side and as long as baby wants on the second.
:irked
And our doc is pretty bfing-friendly too. They got this handout from somewhere and it's general stuff about infant care, not just bfing. Maybe I should say something. I'm glad they didn't give me that handout with my first; by now I know enough to ignore that 'advice'.

I haven't gotten too many stupid comments, though I did get a little of the "you're still nursing her?" from my parents when I went past a year with my daughter. The longest my mom nursed was 6 months with me and I think they thought a year was plenty long enough.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top