Tongue Tie Article

This is a really interesting article so thought I'd post it. I'd never even heard of tongue tie until last year.

Breastfeeding - The Kindest Cut of All

Formula Milk in Bangledesh Article

It's an old article but I wanted to share it. It's something I didn't even know happened until I read about it when my daughter was around 9 months old.

She was formula fed from a young age and I totally understand those who struggle with breastfeeding and turn to formula. However what goes on in these countries and even here in the uk is terrible!

Interesting read...

Milking It - The Guardian

Breastfeeding & Formula on BBC

Not sure if anyone saw it this morning on the BBC News but it was very interesting to see.

They are campaigning for fomula adverts to be banned as currently they are able to advertise for babies from 6 months. I thought it was 12 months so was a bit shocked to hear it!

There was a lady representing the NCT and a midwife that is doing a study into breastfeeding and why 3 in 4 women start off BF but give up in the first few weeks. Interesting that the MW discovered, although not set out to examine positioning of bf mothers, that most could not position correctly, therefore uncomfortable, tired and often caused the babies not to latch on.

Sian Williams does go down in my estimations each time they do a report on babies and parenting. There was that awful talk on Baby Led Weaning that made me shout at the tv and now she is arguing against the NCT woman about breastfeeding. Yes we do all know that breast is best and yes a lot of us couldn't do it. The point is, most of us couldn't do it because we didn't get the support we needed not like Sian was saying because we weren't physically able. The NCT lady pointed out very very little women can actually physically not bf, she said something like 1% can't.

I thought I couldn't BF with Erin but on reflection I now know that with some guidance and support I could have got there in the end. I wasn't even asked why I switched to formula by my mw or hv or whether they could help.

Instead of fluffing up the fact that so many of us give up (and yes I am one of them) and putting it down to not being "able" why not help, show and support us how to bf efficiently. As natural as it is, it doesn't always come naturally and it's a shame that in today's society people are more scared of making women feel like a failure by showing them the right way (formula is offered far to easily in hospitals) that the mothers and babies are both missing out in the long run. Why is advice taken as a critism these days?

Breastfeeding & Support (or lack of)

When I last visited my friend in Surrey I met her mum who is a midwife. It took her about 5 minutes to ask me why I didnt BF! (it was the first time i'd met her in person and she lived in Aus for ages, in fact going back forever once she sells the house)

The thing is I have already been thinking about it more and more the last few months of how crap I did with it and how crap the support was. Even watching discovery home and health I see that if half the things said on there were said to me I would have done so much better! I already know that I would do better next time (if there is a next time) just from watching tv!

My friends mum is starting an antenatal bf class to promote bf more.

I actually feel quite sad about it now. Because the support I got was crap... well i didn't get any support. I think the only thing my mw said to me was my nipples were prefect on day 2 i think it was. that's it. Not even when I swapped to formula did she ask why or offer help or advice on how to bf properly/efficiently and I look back now and realise what a shame it is. I know it's not their fault. There's not enough midwifes, they're stressed and over worked.

I was already completely put off bf after bfing jake, it wasn't easy and the fact I was 17 and scared didn't help. His dad was a completely useless and made me feel quite crap about the whole thing. God knows how I managed to do it for a month with all what happened happening iykwim.

With these bad memories in mind I wasn't overly keen on the idea of bf Erin but said I would try and see how I got on... which again was crap.

So the biggest problem from what I've read so far is the aftercare oh and the lack of talk post-baby too. I was watching the programme earlier on H&H and the lady was saying all sorts that if I'd have known back then I think I could have struggled through. Also if my mw or hv even asked me how bf was going or offer advice... should we have to ask them for it? I don't think so, it's a nerve wracking time not to mention tiring I think they should talk things through with you more as part and parcel iykwim.

I'm looking forward to learning more about breast feeding in my training, hopefully it will arm me to succeed for longer with baby number 3 ;o) and not to mention the support I can offer other mums who have struggled as I did.