Goidellick Designs is a tiny family run business. We run our business from our remote farm cottage in the Highlands of Scotland.
We have three children who are educated at home. We decided to start up our own business to allow us to be at home with the children. We wanted this business to reflect our values and opinions. We are enthusiastic about breastfeeding, home education and environmental issues. Through these interests we came up with our range of shirts and bags.
We’re now running a busy household full of children and cats and trying to promote our business too.
Dear Aunty Lactivist, There has been some discussion at an ante-natal group I attend about the merits of Vitamin K and how best to administer it to babies. Given fears about the injection potentially causing a leukaemia risk, there is some support for an oral dose administered through formula feed, as Vitamin K deficiency-related illness tends to mainly affect breastfeeding mothers. Please can Aunty Lactivist weigh in with some facts and figures? Kind regards,Anonymous
Aunty Lactivist is all of us so if you can help the person who wrote the question, if you have links to research, have read anything useful or have opinions you want to share on the matter please use this space.
I’m really pleased that Lactivist t-shirts are now available in Norway! The shop Ammebutikken stocks them, along side all sorts of interesting looking things.
Here is the site translated through google, for those of you, who like me cannot read Norwegian!
I would like to start up Aunty Lactivist and ask Lactivist readers to become agony aunts and help people with breastfeeding problems.
The idea is that we take one problem, say ‘my baby won’t sleep through the night and people say formula will help’ then Lactivist readers can comment and try to help. I know for a fact that some of you are Breastfeeding Peer Supporters and Lactation Consultants so we could theoretically have a good mixture of professional help and personal experience.
What do you think?
If you have a problem you’d like discussed you can email me at moomum@lactivist.co.uk and I can post it anon for you.
September 9th, 2010 by Dispelling Breastfeeding Myths
There are many myths surrounding breastfeeding and to be honest they’re all pretty unhelpful… One of the ones you hear most often though, is that breastfeeding your baby will make your boobs saggy.
In light of the unhelpful & (IMO) highly misleading article in closer magazine by Dr Christian Jessen I thought it might be a good idea to set the record straight (again).
In one online survey, half of the young women (aged 18-25) polled said they had no intention of breastfeeding, and 32% stated that their reason for making such a decision was that they didn’t want to develop saggy breasts.
Regardless of the rights and wrongs of such a decision, anyone aiming to encourage women to breastfeed needs to take such figures seriously.
Last year in England and Wales there were nearly 700,000 births. If the above poll is in any way representative, last year something in the region of 350,000 mothers (around half) may have chosen not to breastfeed.
A belief that breastfeeding would adversely affect their figures may therefore have prevented over 200,000 mothers from breastfeeding their babies in England and Wales alone*. *(Until further research is undertaken these figures are purely speculation on my part, however they are based on a large survey of over 1,000 women).
Setting aside for a moment the range of other issues which influence a woman’s decision concerning how she feeds her baby, these statistics are horrifying because they show a huge degree of ignorance when it comes to the facts.
Thousands of women choose never to start breastfeeding because of a myth – they may as well believe the earth is flat.
IT’S SIMPLY NOT TRUE.
Last year thousands and thousands of babies were denied the protection of breast milk and breastfeeding. Not because their mothers weren’t adequately supported (which is so often the case), but actually because their mothers believed alie.
Who told these women breastfeeding would make their breast sag? Their mothers? Partners? Friends? Doctors?
It’s incredible in the C21st, but this myth is so virulent that despite scientific evidence to the contrary, people still believe it.
So here’s the truth.
Breastfeeding doesn’t make your boobs sag.
Here are the facts on breast sagging (breast-ptosis) and why it happens:
The majority of women undergo some breast changes during pregnancy. These changes include breast enlargement, increased blood flow, the development of small lumps (‘Montgomery’s tubercles’) on the areola. These changes happen so as to prepare the breasts for breastfeeding a baby after birth.
Many women put on weight during pregnancy and additional fat stores are laid down in the breasts. This adds to their increase in size. Both of these changes will result in a stretching of the skin, and stretch marks may appear.
In the days and hours following birth, the breasts begin to make milk. This will happen whether you intend to breastfeed or not. A few days after birth the milk (usually) ‘comes in’ and many women experience some engorgement. Their breasts become full and the skin may feel tight and stretched, (breastfeeding is a great treatment for this). ;)
If you don’t breastfeed, the breasts gradually stop producing milk and the engorgement subsides on it’s own as the body realises no milk is required. The milk-making machinery then shrinks back in a process called ‘breast involution’. The skin (which has been stretched as explained above) may or may not ‘snap back’ into shape.
The additional weight gain/ breast enlargement caused by pregnancy may have also stretched the ligaments supporting the breast.
If a woman smokes, this can affect the ability of her skin to recover from changes (such as those brought on by pregnancy). This is because smoking reduces the levels of collagen and elastin in the body.
If a woman continues to breastfeed her breast involution will be delayed and will take place when the child weans.
Age matters – the older we get, the less collagen and elastin we naturally have in our skin (hence wrinkles!), and so with age everyone sags a bit. It’s a fact of life.
The number of pregnancies you’ve had can also contribute to breast sagging. The associated weight gain/ weight loss and breast enlargement/ breast involution is to blame. Basically, the more pregnancies you have the more you’re putting your body through & the harder it will find it to recover.
The bigger your breasts are anyway, the more likely they are to head south at some point. This is because of gravity and the weight of the breast pulling on the supporting ligaments.
If you lose a lot of weight, your skin may struggle to shrink back once the fat has gone – this can leave your breasts looking ‘empty’. Again, the supporting ligaments may have been stretched in the past.
Breastfeeding has not been found to be a cause of breast-ptosis.
Breastfeeding helps the body to recover from the changes of pregnancy because it helps the uterus to return to it’s pre-pregnancy size. It also uses up additional calories and therefore assists in post-pregnancy weight loss.
Take a look around you. Can you honestly say you can tell from looking which of the mothers you see out and about have breast-fed? Can you tell if their impressive cleavage is down to a good bra, a set of chicken fillets, good genes, a good surgeon or a breast full of milk?
Posted by ceridwen on September 7th, 2010 at 8:42 am
Here’s how it should go: As a part of the basic biology curriculum, children are taught about breastfeeding. How the milk comes in. What’s in it. How it helps the baby. Students see pictures of women of multiple ethnicities breastfeeding. There’s a homework assignment and several questions on a test. Twenty or thirty years later these kids, now fully grown new parents, may not even remember Ms. Morris’ biology class, but there might just be one less mental hurdle to breastfeeding.
The website Nursing Freedom ran a piece last week called, “Why Children Should Witness Breastfeeding in Public.” Here’s a line I liked:
“We need to make nursing in public so boring, so quotidian, that it garners no more of a glance or second thought than seeing someone drinking a coffee or hugging a friend in public.”
I read this on Friday and over the weekend kept thinking about public breastfeeding. Usually this issue comes up when some ignorant manager of a mediocre eatery stupidly asks a nursing mother to cover up and then has to endure all kinds of grief, including being read to from state laws concerning breastfeeding in public and/or local press coverage of a “nurse in” in which a posse of breastfeeders show up and breastfeed in front of or inside the establishment.
I support a woman’s choice to breastfeed in public. If breastfeeding is kept out of sight, no one sees it. No one sees it and it’s mysterious. It’s mysterious and people feel weird about breastfeeding. And on the feedback loop goes. More exposure would make the sight of breastfeeding “boring.” Or normal.
But then I saw a new mom in the park nursing under a kind of nursing tent/cover-all. It was a pretty cool-looking gizmo and propped up so that the baby could nurse privately without a blanket literally plastered over his or her face. I thought about the feedback loop and wondered whether this mother should just toss this fancy tent aside to help the rest of us get over our baggage.
Then I thought back to when I first had my baby.
I was quite engorged and it wasn’t the hot kind of engorged, the fake boob kind. It was the, Wow, how’s your back doing? kind. I won’t tell you the cup size, but let’s just say many people I do tell had no idea that size even existed. My over-supply meant that milk would often squirt out all over the minute I started unfastening things. The idea of doing all of this in public– as much as I supported the idea in theory– was hard.
After a few months when I’d gotten it all down, I nursed at friends’ houses, in restaurants and parks discreetly and without much fuss or a blanket. But at first I felt like this was all nobody’s business. I also felt a little cranky about the situation. Why do I have to change attitudes about public breastfeeding?? It’s hard enough learning all these new things. Do I have to change public opinion at the same time?
This is how I came to the breastfeeding in school concept. If Bill Maher and others had seen breastfeeding when they were kids, and been taught that it’s a normal part of life, like digesting or breathing, maybe there wouldn’t be so many snickers. Get to the kids before they get to the giggling stage– teaching teens about breastfeeding is also a great idea but by then too much squeamishness has settled in. The sooner the better.
“I am a nearly 37 year old mum with two children (Connor nearly 4 and Katie nearly 2). I gave up teaching in a primary school (which I loved) so I could look after my son and haven’t looked back. Although money is tight, my husband and I are content with our lifestyle choice which is just as well as we are going to home educate our littlies and so won’t be bringing in much money any time soon.
I like being creative, when I get the time, and I am not looking after children, cats, dogs or chickens. I enjoy cooking/baking, making jams and chutneys, making ring slings and clothes, making cards and my latest Sok Doodes. Sok Doodes were sock dolls that I made for my children but after I put photos on Facebook, I had lots of friends and family asking me to make them all kinds of creatures. My midwife loved them and asked if I could make a breastfeeding doll and I accepted the challenge as it was something that I had wondered about in the past myself and so Boobee Mamma was born!
As I posted the orginal photos on Facebook, a friend suggested I make a toddler as well as a baby so she could be a tandem feeding doll. Already she has created a lot of discussion at a family party and if I don’t get the opportunity to feed my daughter in my efforts to normalise breastfeeding (which to be honest, happen fairly regularly ) then at least I have something else to help the cause!
All items start at just 99 pence with NO RESERVE. Come on over to The Bundle Jungle pregnancy and parenting forum now, sign up for your FREE account and get bidding! It’s all for a great cause and there are some serious bargains to be had.
Angry mums have again blasted GMTV after a programme expert claimed breast milk is as bad for infants as drinking cola.
The breakfast show was bombarded with hundreds of complaints about midwife Clare Byam-Cook. Her views have been passed to Ofcom.
The fury comes just a week after GMTV, whose weather slot is sponsored by baby-milk maker Nestlé, was accused of an anti-breastfeeding agenda. Yesterday Byam-Cook told ITV1 host Lorraine Kelly: “Breast milk beyond the age of two isn’t necessarily good because it’s very, very sweet. The fact that it’s breast milk doesn’t make it any different to a glass of Coca-Cola.”
The rest of the panel debating the subject were visibly shocked. Author Ann Sinnett demanded: “Can I ask your evidence for that?” But after mumof-two Nicola Harris said, “My daughter has perfect teeth”, Byam-Cook went on: “I am all for breastfeeding but if your toddler wanted to spend all day eating sweets you wouldn’t let them.”
Emails to GMTV called her opinion “nonsense” and “outrageous”.
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Mothering forum Mumsnet said the show had “crossed the line” after its recent poll that asked if it was “wrong” to breastfeed a child over 12 months.
A gmtv spoksperson insisted: “This item was fair and balanced.”
Feed facts
Experts say mums should breastfeed on demand from within an hour of birth for at least six months
This is a trailer for The Baby Breakfast Club with Sheree Murphy. It is very sad that the baby on the trailer is bottle fed, not breastfed. I think it might be a bit ‘out there’ for GMTV to put an actual breast on the TV screen if it is not for petty sexual stimulation but to put a bottle feeding baby on is just not a clever move.
If (like me) you want to have a rant I started a thread on their forum at netmums, which, interestingly are sponsored by the evil Nestle. I originally had all my pregnancy and baby diaries on there but I withdrew them as soon as I found out. More on Nestle/Netmums here http://boycottnestle.blogspot.com/2007/05/netmums-are-delighted-to-welcome-nescaf.html
And the link to the coffee house for GMTV’s baby breakfast club is here, please join me in a rant but be aware that any mention of Nestle is likely to be deleted by them.
Angry mums are boycotting GMTV” my arse! I woudn’t even consider watching it so how could I boycott it, do I also boycott Hello and Chat, oh and taking it further, I also boycott Harvey Nicks cos I have never been in there.
Anyway, here is what the Mirror have to say about it all:
Angry mums are boycotting GMTV after accusing the show of a “blatant and disgusting” anti-breastfeeding agenda.
Bosses have received hundreds of complaints from viewers who were asked to take part in an “insulting” and “staggeringly biased” survey.
Yesterday parenting groups and charities claimed it was a slap in the face for mums who choose to breastfeed and accused the show of chasing cheap headlines.
The GMTV online poll asked: “Do you think breasts should not be displayed in public for any reason? “Do you think women should use discretion when breastfeeding?” And “Do you think it’s a woman’s right to breastfeed in public?” It also asked if it was “wrong” to breastfeed a child over 12 months.
Some viewers pointed to a possible conflict of interest over GMTV’s tie-up with Nestlé Cereals, who sponsor the weather slots and also sell baby formula worldwide.
Members of parenting forum Mumsnet have posted hundreds of angry messages.
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Comments included: “The questions are really loaded and negative.
“It’s telling us we should feel awkward about breastfeeding in public.
“It makes it seem as though feeding your child is in some way similar to flashing.”
Mumsnet spokeswoman Justine Roberts said: “The survey displayed an underlying negative stance. It has caused a lot of annoyance.”
Rosie Dodds, of the National Childcare Trust, said: “The questions seem designed to provide negative and sensationalist results.”
Gmtv yesterday defended the survey, saying: “Breastfeeding is a perennial subject. It always provokes discussion and debate. We always try to present a balanced view.”
Dear GMTV I am contacting you on behalf of La Leche League, GB, an organisation which offers support and information to women who are thinking of, or who are, breastfeeding. Several of our members have drawn our attention to the GMTV survey on Breastfeeding. Having looked at this we share their concern at the wording and bias of the questions asked.
The survey starts by asking if the person completing it thinks breastfeeding is something “women shouldn’t do”. After any birth a woman produces milk which is meant for her baby and contains unique structures which can never be replicated in formula. Breastmilk gives babies all the nutrients they need for the first six months of life and helps protect them from infection, diseases and, in later life, obesity and other illnesses. A breastfed baby is five times less likely to be hospitalised with gastroenteritis and, on average, will visit the doctor 15% less. It is also beneficial to the mother’s health. A woman may chose not to breastfeed but to suggest it might be something she shouldn’t do is as nonsensical as asking if giving birth vaginally is something women shouldn’t do.
The survey asks if women should be “allowed” to breastfeed in public. In fact the mother is not breastfeeding, the baby is, and there is absolutely no law against breastfeeding in a public space. It is, in fact, discrimination and in Scotland it is an offence to ask a mother to stop feeding her baby, while in England and Wales the mother can sue under the Sex Discrimination Act.
In question Nine the questions talks about “breasts being displayed” which is a very inaccurate and offensive way to describe a woman nurturing her baby. Many women are very apprehensive about feeding in public and do not want to draw attention to themselves. They certainly are not “displaying” themselves. The answer to this question of yes/no is also very unclear because of the way the question is phrased. To answer no, which would seem to be the answer if you do not mind women breastfeeding, leads to a double negative which might mean someone is answering yes when they mean no, so this question will not have reliable results.
Question 11 – Is it wrong to breastfeed over twelve months? – is again a very loaded question. Both the Department of Health and the World Health Organisation recommend breastfeeding up to and beyond two years. The physiological process of weaning is complex and involves many gradual adjustments for both mother and child. Human milk continues to compliment and boost the immune system for as long as it is offered and research on the incidence of illness in breastfed or weaned toddlers reflects these dynamics. It cannot be “wrong” for a baby to continue receiving emotional, nutritional and immunological benefits so it is a decision only those involved should make. If people do not have knowledge of the many benefits they may answer this question without enough information.
With Question 12 – What age should a woman stop breastfeeding? – this is not something that can have a hard and fast rule. It’s a natural process for children to outgrow breastfeeding on their own and allows for differences in children. Some will be ready to wean earlier than others. We do not expect all children to get teeth at the same age, to talk or walk at the same time or to be out of nappies by a set date. In the same way there cannot be a set age for breastfeeding to stop. Children mature at varying rates and will wean at different times. The aim is to finish when both mother and child feel good about it.
In conclusion we feel that the way this survey is worded could lead to results which will be heavily skewed against breastfeeding in public and extended breastfeeding, which goes against efforts to support women to breastfeed. Nine out of ten women who want to breastfeed give up in the early weeks, and many of them say that feeling unable to breastfeed in public spaces was a factor in this. Yet just a 10% increase in breastfeeding in the UK could lead to 3900 fewer cases of sickness and diarrhoea in babies which would save the health service £2.6 million. For the health of mothers, babies and their babies we should be encouraging breastfeeding not making it into something unacceptable. Yours sincerely, Anna Burbidge Chair, Council of Directors, La Leche League GB
GMTV are considering doing a feature about breastfeeding older children, this is the data they will probably use if the programme goes ahead so it is important to get a balanced set of answers – please do the survey, it is quick!
Please don’t have a go at me for using the phrase extended breastfeeding, I have had a long day already and it is not even noon. I couldn’t think of something short enough to fit in the title bar
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Goidellick Designs is a tiny family run business. We run our business from our remote farm cottage in the Highlands of Scotland.
Dear Aunty Lactivist, 
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