The wife and I are having our first little’n in November (actually, we’ve decided she will do most of the actual work), and we’re gettng the opposite. When we say we’re not sure if we will bottle or breast feed but are leaning to bottle, we get the “Oh. Really” in a tone and with a look that says “What!!! Don’t you know if you bottle feed your baby, they’ll become a serial killer??!!!”
I haven’t heard anyone talk about how disgusting breastfeeding is though. Wonder why so many people are so damned concened about what other people are feeding their kids?
Tretiak: Breastfeeding offers some immunological benefits to the child, as breastmilk contains white blood cells and immunoglobin A. It won’t prevent your child from ever becoming sick, as some people seem to think, but it does certainly offer them some added protection against illness.
It’s also free from soy and cow’s milk, obviously, which are common allergens and present in most baby formulas. (I.e., most baby formulas are based on either cow’s milk or soy.)
There are studies suggesting that mothers who breastfeed have a lowered risk of developing breast cancer later in life.
Breastfed babies have less stinky poop.
These are just off the top of my head. I can provide cites if anyone really wants me to, but if you do a Google search on “benefits of breastfeeding” you’ll find about three kajillion sites explaining it. The Ask Dr. Sears website has fairly good info on it that is free from ridiculously overblown claims (like “breastfed babies never get sick”, etc.).
None of the previous is intended to be negative towards bottlefed babies. There are a variety of reasons why babies might be bottlefed, and I understand that. I’m presenting “just the facts, Ma’am.”
My own fault really; I completely regret and hereby withdraw the post wherein I compared breastfeeding to urination; I know what I wanted to say, but it came out completely wrong.
It was a badly-worded post and an inappropriate analogy (I’m really going to have to give them up someday).
No, women DON’T generally deliberately draw attention to the fact that they are breastfeeding. (why the hell would they?)
I’ve never seen it happen and I can’t recall hearing about it happening.
If it did happen, it would be about on a level with somebody loudly announcing their intention to perform some other semi-private function that we are not accustomed to having our attention drawn to, (which I seem to recall does happen occasionally).
The point I was hoping to make was that discreet means just getting on with it and not making a fuss [sub](rather than specifically hiding away, which might draw attention and end up being indiscreet)[/sub].
As far as I know this is the case nearly all of the time.
Mangetout, sorry for misinterpreting what you wrote. Some businesses in the U.S. have tried to make mothers enter the bathroom to breastfeed their children, which I find disgusting. This was why I was sensitive to the analogy to urinating. I see no reason why feeding children should be treated as anything other than a normal part of life.
Oh! Well then, Mangetout, I think we are in agreement!
(Nifty username, by the way. I have to shamefacedly admit that for the first like, year that I saw it, I thought it read “Man, get out” and had no idea why someone would choose that for a username.)
I need to be more careful with my analogies (I’ve been in trouble with them before), so the apology is mine.
Somebody once tried to point out the ManGetOut thing to me in a chat room, but I just thought they were telling me to get lost and I got enormously huffy about it. It took about 20 minutes of talking at complete cross-purposes before the penny dropped, I really can be quite dense sometimes.
I still have to ask, what is indiscreet, exactly? A woman who doesn’t make sure that her entire nipple and areola are covered while she tries to get the baby latched on, or if baby pops off to look around? A woman who lets the entirety of her breast be seen except the nipple area? A woman who wears a blouse that has be entirely unbuttoned to allow breast access? A woman who wears a top that has to be pulled up from the waist, potentially exposing not just breast but her entire belly, too?
Indiscreet would include making a show out of it (but we’ve not established that this ever happens) or possibly going to such absurdly great lengths to conceal what you are doing that everybody notices.
I once saw a woman “making a show of it.” She didn’t expose her breast, but she did deliberately sit in the MOST obvious place around and glared at anyone who dared look in her direction. It was obvious that she was hoping for someone to say something so she could yell at them. The poor baby–he probably just wanted to eat his lunch, not be part of a protest.
You guys are brave. I never breastfed in public. I didn’t want anybody catching a peek at my boobies. They were gargantuan and they took a whole lot of bouncing, jiggling and moving about to get them in position.
I’ve always read it as “Mange Tout” (“eat everything” or “eat all”). I never even thought of it as “Man Get Out” until I read it about 4 posts earlier in this thread.
I’m sure that Mangetout is simply flattered to get so much attention over his username.
fI was raised in a sexually repressed society (at leased repressed outside of marriage) but when my mother or one of a dozen aunts had a baby, out came the boobs and my younger siblings and cousins gained sustenance while I gazed intently on the process. They all just ignored me.
It is with great effort that I do not even today stare at a woman feeding her baby. I’ve watch two of my own children countless times and still I’m fascinated by the process.
My MIL said the same thing. She was sure her precious grandson was going to whither away and die because I selfishly chose to breastfeed him.
“Oh, my God, how do you know if he’s getting enough?!? You have no idea how much he’s getting. What if he’s not getting enough?!? Is he getting enough?!?”
Sorry, my boobs don’t have ounces marked on them, but the fact that he eats for 15-20 minutes at a time every 2-3 hours and poops and pees regularly and sleeps regularly and is gaining weight would seem to indicate he’s FREAKING GETTING ENOUGH!!
:rolleyes:
i had my son when i was 17, and i choose not to bottlefeed, much to the shock of my mother-- once while we were dining out, a friend ( who was male ) came up and said " wow, you had the baby" he procedded to pull back the blanket and see my beautiful son, sucking on my boob-- the most embarrassed person was my mother.
Of course, it does, but I’m used to a little staring-at-me-like-I’m-a-freak.
Well, at home I completely remove my bra and shirt to nurse, and some days don’t bother to put them back on. That would be indiscreet. But I have never seen a mother do that in public, and I seriously doubt I would.
I personally use my scarf as a cover and/or find someplace private because it makes me more comfortable. I’m just a tad shy. But just because I wouldn’t breastfeed in the sanctuary at church doesn’t mean I would be appalled at anyone who did. In fact, if I saw another mom do it at my church, I’d be less inclined to sneak off to the nursery myself. Sort of a not wanting to be the first person on the dancefloor thing.
I also want to chime in my disaproval of anyone who would harrass a mom for bottlefeeding. I know I said that I can’t imagine any mother not wanting to breastfeed, but just because I can’t imagine it doesn’t mean that she hasn’t got a good reason. I would probably encourage a friend to try, yes. But some stranger in the mall? What if it’s bottled breastmilk? What if she’s the baby’s aunt? What if the child has some weird allergy, or the mom is on some medication? Or, what if this poor woman has tried to breastfeed, has had an awful time of it, is feeling less than good about herself because she can’t, and some schmuck decides to rail on her about bottlefeeding?? Personally, I just don’t think it’s ever a good idea to rail on a stranger about a situation that you probably know nothing about. Unless she’s beating a three-year-old in the auto aisle at Wal*Mart (or some other obvious sort of abuse), it’s probably none of your business.
I have a question that came to mind reading another post. I was nursing in the nursery (ha!) at church, and one of the little girls (less than 2 years old) wanted to see the baby. Like I’ve mentioned repeatedly, I cover him and myself in a huge (and beautiful, at least, Seamus thinks so) scarf. I was very tempted to pull the scarf up to allow this little girl to see my son, but I wasn’t sure if I should. Obviously because this was in the nursery, her mother was not around to ask. The nursery lady apparently decided that she didn’t like the idea, because she dragged the little girl away. What do you think?
