Some time ago a bunch of us Lactivists got together to request that Netmums take off a list of cons of breastfeeding. This time www.thinkbaby.co.uk – a Pampers (disposable nappies) site has come up with a list of disadvantages as follows:
Disadvantages
Breast problems – Breastfeeding isn’t necessarily problem-free, you may have trouble with sore or cracked nipples, engorged and painful breasts and mastitis. All of these are uncomfortable for the mother and mastitis will require treatment, but it’s quite common and can be treated effectively
Dietary restrictions – As you are continuing as your baby’s source of nutrition you have to be careful about your own nutrition and continue to avoid certain food and limit your intake of others, eg. alcohol and caffeine
Hormonal instability – Breastfeeding releases hormones that make you feel good, but the continuing fluctuation in hormones after pregnancy can also play havoc with your emotions
Inconvenience – While in some ways breastfeeding is incredibly convenient in that you can in large part dispense with hauling around bottles and sterilising equipment everywhere you go, it’s less convenient when you’re not at home and trying to find a suitable quiet place to feed. Breastfeeding may also make you feel a little trapped as your breasts are in frequent demand
Dads – Breastfeeding is obviously something that dad can’t take part in and he may feel left out (though probably not at 3.30 in the morning when baby’s demanding a feed), to compensate for this you can express milk with a breast pump so dad can bottle feed your baby while you get chance to be somewhere else for a change
Sex – Some mothers find that they have lower libido when breastfeeding and it may interfere with your sex life in other ways, for instance by changing the way you view your breasts
I am about to post this on their site
“To balance this you really should have listed under cons of formula feeding:
increased risk or excema, asthma, obesity, cot death, diabetes and lower IQ,
Breastfed babies are far healthier than formula fed babies and this should be highlighted.”
Please feel free to add more comments.
Lisa (thanks to Kat for flagging this up!)
I tried to post this:
Oh fgs thanks for that, Pampers, it’s not enough you’re content on destroying the planet by filling every available space with your poo-filled products, now you have to try to put the kybosh on breastfeeding too.
1. Pain – Breastfeeding doesn’t usually hurt if it’s done properly, and if your baby has no physical problems such as a tongue-tie. It can be difficult to do it properly without support, which is why we have a commonly held believe that it’s very painful. So if you want to breastfeed, get the support while you’re still pregnant, from a fully-trained breastfeeding counsellor or La Leche League Leader.
2. Dietary restrictions – cobblers. Apart from a few women whose babies can’t tolerate cows’ milk in their mother’s diet, most women can eat or drink what the hell they like. And yes, that includes alcohol. And coffee. Even breastmilk with nicotine in it is less bad for your baby than formula. Seriously!
3. Hormonal instability – wtf? It’s researched and documented that women who don’t breastfeed are more likely to suffer PND because of the lack of prolactin.
4. Inconvenience – hardly the fault of breastfeeding if women feel uncomfortable nursing in public whilst out. That’s society’s fault. And you’d be surprised; the nice comments I’ve had outway the nasty ones 10-1.
5. Dads. Oh yes, mustn’t forget about teh poor menz! If dad has anything about him he can help in other ways. What about baby massage, baths, stories etc.? And expressing milk, for lots of women, is just a faff! Let dad find his own way.
6. Oh, again, teh poor menz, their partners might no longer see their own breasts as his property, how terrible, what a disadvantage!
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Ruth, did it post?
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ahh, I posted it for you!
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breast feeding isn’t for the men any more its for the baby wich i think men will find very unfair and like my man very jelouse! sad kno but these things do happen so its good to breast feed but a bit of both wont hurt.
x
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Lactivists don\'t like this. Like or Dislike:
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Samantha i think you mind is in need of some serious love! brestfeeding is the most natural and beautiful thing any mother can do for there baby. its people like you that are to blame for why society is like it is today! you are a disgrace to human kind! grow up women are not exploiting there bodys whilst breast feeding… page 3 modeling is exploiting there bodys! If you dont like seeing women breast feed in public simply turn your head away and simply DONT LOOK! what you have just said is just simply ignorance!
Thank you!
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this site is important to new mums, the bad points need to be explained aswel as all the benefits. this wont stop me breast feeding, but will make sure i go into it with my eyes open.
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What a bitch ruth is
I am going to be a dad and want to be able to feed my baby as well as helping out with other stuff!
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I have breastfed two children and can see this from both sides. I do advocate that breast feeding IS best in theory but I also think that a happy mummy is important and breastfeeding is not for everyone. Having said that I think people should at least give it a go. Ruth – you say that pain is avoidable – I beg to differ! I suffered excrutiating pain / septic nipples etc etc for many weeks feeding both my babies – I had visits from a LLL counsellor as well as an NCT one and they couldn’t help. I battled on and it worked in the end, but had people told me it might hurt I might have been better prepared.
Andy – I expressed milk from the first few days after birth so that my husband could help out (to be fair though after he realised it meant getting up through the night he was less enthusiastic!).
I don’t think that ranting from either side is particularly constructive and guilt tripping people is not the way to persuade more people to breast feed. On the other hand saying that formula is the only way in which dad’s can help out / breast feeding in public is wrong etc. are essentially also misleading.
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I agree with Al. Really I think that people shouldn’t fight about breastfeeding. Although I do agree with Chelsea when she says that breastfeeding is the most beautiful and natural thing in the world.
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As someone who’s been breastfeeding for the last 20 months I can honestly say that I have come across many disadvantages (none of which are on that list), but the point is, as one above commented made, is that they are only only disadvantages to the adults involved – not my baby.
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Can you please explain why you requested that mumsnet remove the list of cons? What kind of a society do you think we live in that we are only allowed to see one side of an argument? Perhaps you were breastfed but never taught of the importance of freedom of speech or indeed freedom of choice?
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Christina – we asked netmums not mumsnet to remove the list of cons because we felt that the argument they sited against breastfeeding was not equally balanced with an argument against formula feeding. They only stated one side of the argument against breastfeeding. In the interests of freedom of speech and informed choice we requested that this either be removed or the balance be re-adjusted.
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I think breastfeeding is good and natural, but it’s the mother’s choice at the end of the day! This site is like an episode of big brother!
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I honestly think that brestfeeding is good and natrual its the mother choice no one eles people need to understand that
<3.
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For dads – feeding isnt the only thing you can do to bond with your baby. Bathing, rocking, massage, walks in the pram – all lovely, all give mum a rest (BF or not); all support your partner in breastfeeding and give you some much needed time with your baby.
If shoving a plastic teat in your babys mouth is your kind of bonding, then by all means, stop your partner BFing. Who wants to prevent diabetes/obesity/poor IQ/excema/asthma/allergies anyway.
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I thought you might be overdoing it a bit not to let them mention the cons of breastfeeding . . . . then I read the article.
“bottle feeding isn’t bad for your baby” and “but your baby will miss out on the extra benefits of breast milk” always bugs me!! Putting formula as normal and breastfeeding as some kind of health food! Its breastfeeding thats normal and formula is a good but not perfect substitute.
No mention of infections/ diabetes/ obesity/ eczema/ asthma/ allergies/ cot death in the health section. Though I would put something like “increasing the risk of something doesn’t mean it will happen, but if you can you may want to try to put the odds in your babies favour” because lets face it there are lots of very healthy previously formula fed adults around!
It says breastfeeding gets you in shape by shrinking your uterus?? Isn’t that only in first week! You use loads of calories breastfeeding. I don’t know any mum who has exclusively breastfed for around 6 months who didn’t end up at pre-pregnancy weight or less. To balance the argument you can lose weight if you are not breastfeeding, and if you go back to what you were eating before pregnancy you will probably lose weight.
It doesn’t mention cot death at all. I don’t want to scare people so I try and not mention this too much. Cot death thankfully not a common tragedy, bottle or breastfed, but big difference in rates (think 1/3 more?) with formula.
I never heard of breastfeeding causing havoc with your hormones, I thought it made them more stable – no PMT because my periods stopped! Strange then why you get less post natal depression if you breastfeed despite this “havoc”.
And colic is also caused by difficulty for young babies to break down the formula milk in their stomach compared with breastmilk that is gentler and easier absorbed.
Also not mentioned a con of bottlefeeding is that if it were to go wrong (eg baby has allergy to cows milk or baby is unwell with an infection) it could be too late to start breastfeeding.
My con of breastfeeding is that nipples may leak and so you may have to wear breastpads in bra, just in case, all the time you are breastfeeding, as I did.
PS Andy . . . you could get involved in the weaning! My other half wanted to feed baby and did with expressed milk but novelty soon wore off! Him helping me weaning baby was a great help though and baby loved it too!
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I don`t see a single disadvantage of breastfeeding. I was breastfeeding my first baby until she was 1 year old. It helped a lot when she was 8 months old and got sick and didn`t want to eat anything for a week … only my breast milk … no water, no tea, no food … only my milk. I was realy happy that I kept breastfeeding.
Now I have second baby 6 months old, I got sick, I can not breastfeed, I need to take strong antibiotics for two weeks… I am trying to express my milk, but I feel I am loosing it … I want to cry.
BREASTFEED AS LONG AS YOU CAN … its not just very good for your baby but it saves a lot of time … no bottle cleaning, no need to warm up the milk, you dont have to wake up from the bed to get milk in the night and you save money as well and of course there are plenty of other advantages already mentioned. I think that disadvantages mentioned are very sily. The only one I agree with is that sometimes it might be painful. For me it was just at the beginning with my first baby after it was ok.
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I dont dissagree with breastfeeding. My son and his girl friend are expecting their first child. (not planned)and they decided to breastfeed. I came to this website to find out the disadvantages of breastfeeding to discourage them. Simply because they are very young. He’s going to college, she have not completed high school (she’s 18). and she has signed up for the service (Army). She need to cmplt HS, go for training and how are they going to fit BF in all of this. I think they are using BF as an excuse to be lazy, and stay at home.
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Oh my goodness!! WOW, well I dont want to say this , but your a narrow minded woman! How about they have chosen to breastfeed because its what is best for baby, its not the easy option, I take it you have never breastfed,OOOOH believe me , Its no walk in the park, baby feeds more often, every hour to two hours, all day every day, If she is only 18 she needs your support right now, she needs to know that the choices she is making are right and you should be offering that support, how is she meant to go in the army when she has just had a baby???? Or would you recommend her giving up her baby to satisfy you too???
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Tree – there is a very good website called Breastfeeding in Combat Boots http://breastfeedingincombatboots.com/ that might reassure you that it is possible.
They have made a brave decision and they need your support, breastfeeding is best for the baby, there is no doubt about it. I don’t really understand what is lazy about staying at home with a baby, it’s hard work! And why shouldn’t they if they can? Isn’t it better for a baby to be close to it’s mum at the start? Why not give the baby the very best start in life? And if it makes you feel better – think of the money they will save!
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Tree – I urge you to reconsider your role in the lives of your son, daughter-in-law and their baby. You are obviously concerned about how they will cope. Having a baby is a tremendous responsibility at any age. However, they are choosing to breastfeed, which is a new skill that they will have to learn on top of everything else and will also, without a doubt, benefit both them & their baby. It won’t be easy. They will need your support. But the longer they breastfeed for, the stronger the bond will be with their child, the better the health benefits will be for mum & baby, the greater the satisfaction that, however hard & (possibly) unexpected having this baby at this time is – they will have done the most natural and amazing thing for their child.
I know, from conversations with my own mum, that you are likely worried about the future for them, but withdrawing your support of their choices will not help them, or you, in the long run.
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Tree – I think it’s great that such young adults are keen to breastfeed their baby and give him/her the best possible start in life. So many young mums don’t even consider it for many reasons, but often mostly because of society’s negative views towards bf. You may think it’s going to put undue pressure on them as parents, but the truth is bf has so many benefits for mum as well as baby that it’s always going to be worth it. Also, having a baby is hard work no matter how they are fed. Just try and have faith in how well you have brought up your son, and give them your full support, and most of all enjoy being a granny, and everything will work itself out. The most important thing is that everyone is healthy, and bf will go a long way to achieve that. Finally, if you want to do some research into bf, find out as much useful info as you can, as well as where your local support groups etc are and give mum as much support as you can to establish a good bf relationship. X
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I teach childbirth classes and when I talk about breastfeeding and involving fathers I always explain that dads don’t actually physically have to ‘do the feeding’ to either bond with their babies or help with feeding.
I explain that the support, approval and knowledge that the dads have about how breastfeeding works can make the difference between mums starting and continuing to breastfeed. In fact I spend more time explaining to the dads how it works than the mums….because I *know* that if the mum is struggling the dads will want to ‘fix it’ and will be more likely to either ring me or a breastfeeding helpline than perhaps the mums will if they think it will help.
I also explain to dads that if they ‘feed mum’ by helping to prepare meals and do household stuff after the birth they *aree* actually feeding the baby because good nutrition and the time to feed the baby is what mums need to help them produce milk. So I talk more about dads being great breastfeeding supporters and explain how some mums find expressing hard and some babies find it hard to switch between bottle and breast.
I also talk about how great dads can be at doing things like winding the baby as they have larger hands and can pat a larger surface area to bring up wind between and after feeds along with all the other stuff they can do to bond with their babies like reading to them, playing mimicing games with them in the early days, bathing etc etc.
As for the comments by Tree,…Tree? I presume that you are aware of the significant health benefits to the mother of the baby who is breastfed? if you haven’t then perhaps you should investigate them before being so negative about something which will reduce the risk of your son’s girlfriend from developing breast, uterine and ovarian cancers later in life; or perhaps the reduced risk of her developing osteoporosis ( brittle bones) would persuade you that she is not simply trying to be lazy. Both her and your son sound very sensible given that breastfeeding their baby not only confers many health benefits to both mum and child but that it will save them a considerable amount of money in the long run especially as they are both so young and starting out on their careers. Any decent employer needs to provide space and time for women who are breastfeeding to express and rest.
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Dear Tree, it’s natural you’re concerned about your son and his future family, I know my parents were when I first fell pregnant at 17 with my eldest, I was 18 when she was born, most definitely NOT planned and everyone (except my parents who know what a stubborn madam I am!) was surprised that I breastfed. I was a little surprised at what hard work it can be occasionally, especially in the early days but it must’ve been alright, I’ve gone on to bf 3 more children! I went back to work fulltime when my daughter was still a baby, mostly to prove to people that I wasn’t a lazy, unmarried, teenage Mum. I combine fed for several months which was a challenge but I didn’t stop until my baby did (and broke my heart about it). I was at college as a mature student when I fell pregnant with my 4th child and finished my course and qualified with flying colours, thank you very much!
Oh yes, and a Mum in my bf group, bf whilst training to be a doctor and her boyfriend qualified as a lawyer after an unplanned pregnancy. Please reconsider trying to change their minds on what they want for their family unit, it may cause a rift between you and your son at a time in his life when he needs you most. The best thing for your son, his girlfriend and your future grandchild is GREAT, non-judgemental, non-interfering support from family and friends.
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Thank you very much for your concern and support. Catriona, gill hewitt, juno, and lisa lactivist. I bf my son also, but me and my husband were on our own and I didn’t work for the first 5 years of his life. I just though it would be so hard for them given the fact that they live with me. And are tring to continue their education. I have not voiced my opinion to them, I will continue to learn more about bf for military moms, its true, Its not my choice, I’m smart enough to know not to initially react in anger. Thats why I reached out online. Again thank for the encouraging stories and information. I will consider them.
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Tree, the Breastfeeding in Combats boots site should be really helpful but I just found this – http://www.circleofmoms.com/breastfeeding-moms/younger-moms-and-breastfeeding-482477#_ if you have a read through it will show you how much she will be up against being young and breastfeeding, she will need all the support she can get. Breastfed babies are generally healthier than formula fed ones so she is very likely to be taking less time off work if she does breastfeed, it’s a very grown up choice for one so young, I’m proud of them and I don’t even know them! Thanks for getting back to us, I’m sure it will all turn out ok but it would be lovely to get an update in the future.
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And I’ve just found this – http://www.2coolbaby.com/Documents/brstwrk.htm haven’t had a chance to read it yet as my son is shouting mummy in my ear but it’s about returning to work or school while breastfeeding.
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Wow, Thanks lisa lactivist, I appriciate your help. I will post an update She’s due in Feb.
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i know this was from years ago but i still want to make my say. i LOVE breast feeding and unfortunately I came across many of the “cons” this time around as my daughter and I didnt get off to the best start but now after 8 weeks of ouchies antibiotics and every random internet theory out there and many a pain killer were fab. for someone to say it should be banned has really REALLY upset me, I hate the looks and the comments i sometimes get for feeding my daughter but i love how some people also priase me for it, as for the “another human sucking on your breasts” well…. lets just not get in to that one shall we, (talk about one hell of a boring sounding sex life HA)
my boyfriend doesn’t think hes missing out as he does help when i’m feeding, he gets me drinks and makes me comfortable and sits next to us and talks to the baby and me while i’m feeding her, he also uses that time to play or do special daddy daughter time with our eldest and like other mums have mentioned hes bonding with our baby in different ways, like baths and massage and storys and songs and cuddles… its possible to have skin to skin without boobs involved and that is what he does, he gets her off to sleep a lot better than i do just with a bit of skin on skin, and NO its not affecting our sex life. hes a bit of a boob man but hes well aware when im no longer feeding the baby the boobs will be fair game and he finds it rather lovely that they are getting used for their actual purpose. After all the pain (my own fault. i got a bad latch and position and didnt ask for help etc not that there is much over in my town but what ever) he says regually hes very proud of how i went through it all and we came out the other side. i can not believe pampers AND netmums are saying this on their websites. yes list pros and cons for BOTH but really…. could they make it any more obvious they are sponsored by cow and gate?
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im a sudent studying breast feeding and bottle feeding. i disagree with the comments saying that its not “natural” or “normal” to breastfeed your baby in public or at all! sorry but even i know breast feeding is the most natural thing out there. Websites having a pages with an equal amount of disadvantages to advantages, i cannot complain as in my study ive had to list some disadvantages on both sides and i believe motheres need to know apsalutley everything, bad or good because it is then down to them how they are going to feed their baby.
Its a beautiful sight seeing a mother and baby bonding in such a way, and i know for a fact that when i decide to start my own family, despite the image of today, i will breast feed no doubt about it.
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