Thank you to everyone who entered the competition to win this t-shirt from www.lactivist.co.uk.

I asked entrants to tell me their weaning stories, and they are well worth reading, more proof that all babies are different and that no research can tell what all babies will need and at what time.

All the stories are here: http://www.lactivist.net/?p=2432 but here are some of my favorites:

” Jules Stanway

• I am a mother to 4 young daughters, I gave birth to my first baby age 20 and I had severe PND. I listened to everything my first health visitor said and when she advised weaning at 16 weeks, she told me as she was breastfed I couldn`t tell how much milk she was taking so I should wean. I was too worried to argue. I weaned slowly and my now 7 year old eats well with no ill effects. My second baby was HUNGRY and despite feeding and feeding I had to wean at 22 weeks. Breastmilk was still her main source of food. I took it slowly. My 3rd baby was different again…she wasn`t intersted in solids until 7-8 months and was breastfed until we started baby led weaning. My 4th baby is 5 months and not ready to wean yet either…my point?? EVERY baby is different, breastmilk should be their main food until one year and my girls WEAN WHEN THEY ARE READY. Not when Joe Blogs says or some pretentious Health visitor. I just wish I had been more confident in my abilities with my first baby, trusted my instincts!”

• when I was weaning my oldest who is now nearly 2 and still breastfed I started him at 6 months, everyone told me that was right and being a new mum I went for it. I wish I had of made him wait and I think he had no interest then. But as time went on by 8 months he fed him self with a spoon! clever boy. I made my own food for him as he hated jarred food and them microwave baby food meals. He came up to the garden with me in the summer and we would dig up our own spuds and he would only eat stuff from the garden it tasted so good. I am sure the baby food companies wouldnt want to hear that.

  I have a 6 week old to thats breastfeed and where going to wait till he decides to wean! I hate the word wean as it sounds like stopping breastfeeding but where not just adding some food when he wants it. And I am sure my family will be asking me over and over when am I going to give solids like my oldest but I am wiser now and this cool t shirt can say it all.”

• We are loving Baby Led Weaning! We waited until 6 months, and our little lady was perfectly satisfied with just breastmilk. I am loving the weaning journey, I just wish someone had told me what happens to baby poo after they have banana – I had such a panic. Thank goodnes for google!!”

Martha  recommended Kellymom and  La Leche League websites and the Womanly Art of Breastfeeding.

Robyn found this website with some recipes that she’ll be trying when the time is right: http://www.homemade-baby-food-recipes.com/baby-led-weaning-recipes.html

and Samantha and Helen  gave us an idea of how messy the whole business can be:

Helen's 7 month old eating yoghurt!

• The one thing I have learnt about weaning is

  1. Have plenty of bibs
  2. Be ready for a mess
  3. Make sure you have a camera to hand

  Also
  4. There must be a conspiracy between baby food makers and bib makers as all food is bright orange and hard to wash out.
  5. Raspberry blowing babies will coat you in baby food once they’ve had enough by blowing raspberries in the mouthful your attempting to feed therefore coating you in creamy chicken supper
  6. A baby with a cold is never a good idea to feed. One sneeze and again your coated.

  Lesson is – the whole weaning thing is a messy business but fun to watch. =)

  The experiences with Holly May so far and shes only 6m god help me………..(FYI I do have a 7 year old as well though)”

The winner (chosen at random because all the entries were so good it was impossible to choose a best one) is Jessie who wrote this:

The winner of this competition on Lactivist is Rae who has been emailed. Thank you to everyone who entered!

Lisa

The winner of this competition on Lactivist.net is  Kate Richer who has been emailed.

Congratulations Kate and thank you to everyone who entered.

Lisa

This was a popular competition to win a copy of a fantastic book from Pinter and Martin

As part of the competition I asked people to tell me what myths about breastfeeding they used to believe.

Here they are:

• If I believed any of the myths, it was the “pump-and-dump” myth about drinking alcohol and breastfeeding, though I tend to look things up pretty quickly, so I’m generally disabused of any myths quickly.
• I used to believe there was no point of breastfeeding past 12 months.
• I have a preg friend who is not wanting to breastfeed her baby once he/she is born … because she doesn’t want saggy boobs and a baby who will be in a good routine.
• Breastfeeding myth – my mum told me that if your milk isn’t thick and creamy it won’t satisfy your baby
• I didn’t believe it but I was told that my boobs were too big to feed my son and I would smother him if I tried (just made me want to breastfeed him even more).
• I used to believe that bfing did give you saggy boobs, obviously not
• There is no point feeding a baby past 12m (We’re 13m and counting!)
• People who breastfeed past 12m are a bit odd…
• You can’t breastfeed if you have had any sort of implant (We seem to have managed!)
• You will ruin your boobs- even my plastic surgeon told me not to…
• I used to believe that breastfeeding was only for small babies! Not any more!
• Lots of breastfeeding myths but one that my midwife told me (and to be fair she was very supportive of me breastfeeding) was to give my newborn water when we went abroad as he may dehydrate otherwise.
• I used to think that it was really important to have a perfect diet otherwise baby wouldn’t get enough nutrients. Silly me
• I gave up breastfeeding my first little one after two weeks. I thought, having stopped feeding her one night, in the middle of the night, in severe pain – that that was it – end of breastfeeding. Not one health professional suggested I try again. Having breastfed my second for 5 years I now know different and I try not to think about it too much as it winds me up. It would have been so easy for someone to have helped me start up again, but I had no idea that, having stopped, all i had to do was try again…..
• I used to believe that it made your boobs saggy.
• I also thought that breastfeeding made boobs bigger, but apparently only some mums get that & for some they end up smaller.
• I also used to think that babies needed calories from elsewhere by four months or so, to help them sleep through the night.
• The biggest myth is that there are breastfeeding friendly places to go (implying that there are some places which aren’t) – I breastfed everywhere and anywhere and enjoyed every moment.
• I used to believe you couldn’t get pregnant when you were breastfeeding but I quickly realised that you can (and I did!).
• I think the biggest thing I used to believe was that breastfeeding was more work than bottlefeeding – then I realised that once you and the baby both have the hang of it then it’s by far the easier option than faffing round with sterlisers and bottles and making up feeds – especially in the middle of the night.
• The best breastfeeding myth I heard was from a friend of mine who’s grandad said “You can’t talk whilst you breastfeed, they baby will get wind” awesome lol
• I believed I’d have to give up breastfeeding when pregnant, but my children had other ideas and proved that one a myth ;o)
• I used to believe that breast is best, but now I know that breast is the benchmark and formula is just not as good…
• When your baby wants feeding more often than usual, it’s because your milk is no longer satisfying enough/there’s not enough of it.
• Giving one bottle of formula in a moment of desparation meant the end of breastfeeding.
• Having a c-section means you can’t breastfeed (you tell my 3rd child that!).
• Being unwell will affect feeding.
• You can’t feed once they’ve got teeth.
• I did think it made your boobs sag but soon got put right on that one -not that it bothered me anyway.
• The best myth we experienced so far is my mother in law keeps insisting i have to drink milk to make milk
  
  
• My mum always used to tell me that breastfeeding made your boobs saggy Any excuse eh? he he
• Before I became a bf mum I used to believe that formula was acceptable, good even. Oh how my ignorance has vanished! Breastfeeding rocks.!
• I think the greatest myth seems to be that it will be easy and everybody is a natural at it, you just point the baby in the right direction and off you jolly well go!
• I used to believe That bf wasn’t important… Then I met my wonderful dd who allowed me to go on a wonderful bf journey with her. Am now having a bonus baby for Christmas and am really looking forward to bf again

And the winner is (picked at random using random.org)……

Claire Constable! Thank you for entering everyone! Don’t forget there are more competitions on lactivist.net:

Win The No-Cry Separation Anxiety Solution by Elizabeth Pantley

“A tear-free approach to child separation blues-from the bestselling ‘No Cry’ author a generation of parents have come to trust”

Just click on the link above and leave a comment and/or share the link to enter.

Closes 30th November 2010

Win The Politics of Breastfeeding

“An essential and inspirational eye-opener, The Politics of Breastfeeding challenges our complacency about how we feed our children and radically reappraises a subject which concerns not only mothers, but everyone: man or woman, parent or childless, old or young.”

Just click on the link above and leave a comment and/or share the link to enter.

Closes 30th November 2010

Thank you to everyone who entered the competition to win a copy of  Ina May’s Guide to Breastfeeding from the publishers Pinter and Martin

The winner is  Annie who said in the comments “This book is on my ‘to read’ list, I’m particularly interested to read what she has to say about creating a breastfeeding culture. ”

Annie’s name was drawn at random using www.random.org after I assigned everyone the number of entries they were due for tweeting/sharing or signing up to the newsletter as well as adding  a comment.

Pinter and Martin have been very generous with books and I have lots more competitions to come, there is one to win  “Saggy Boobs & Other Breastfeeding Myths” running now until the 31st October. You can enter here: http://www.lactivist.net/?p=1909 and you get 5 extra entries if you tell us what breastfeeding myths you believed in!

Lisa

To celebrate World Breastfeeding Week 2010 Lactivist, the home of  slogan t-shirts and bags that promote breastfeeding had a competition to find the Moo Boy – that is my son (when he was a lot younger) and the person who started off the whole Lactivist thing.

If I wasn’t critisized for breastfeeding him when he was a tiny baby then none of this would happened.

The 4 winners each searched the site at www.lactivist.co.uk to find his picture and emailed me it’s location.

The winners are:

Laura Cameron

Bekki Lewis

Lisa Fryer

Nicola Kelsall

They each win  a Lactivist bag of their choice, a Lactivist T-shirt of their choice and a handful of cards and badges. I’ll be emailing you all to tell you how to order too

Congratulations and thanks to everyone who entered.

Lisa