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Yes you can quite a lot of people do a bit of both - especially giving a bottle of formula at night as it in theory makes your baby sleep longer - though how long they do sleep is mainly down to genetics.
Sagging is largely thought to be because of breastfeeding, but studies have shown that actually it's the pregnancy that knackers them. Link.
I'd say if people are that precious about their looks, then pregnancy is going to be a shock all round! It deffo hasn't done anything for my good looks.
I don't understand that, you're saying that on average people breastfeed until a child is 4? So there are people (quite a lot of them by that suggestion) breastfeeding when their kids are 6/7 ? Well, I can understand folk going for breasfeeding, but continuing to breast feed when a child is 4+ years old and perfectly capable of eating real food for themselves, and going to school, etc. is weird IMO, and would get a social stigma because it's ridiculous.
I did a fair bit of research into various stats and things when we were introducing Niamh to food, and a lot of the WHO advice seems to centre around conditions in 3rd world countries, where poor hygiene around food & bottles can have a big influence on illness. That's not to say that it's invalid, it just has to be taken in a certain context.
but she also added that she was disappointed at how painful it was and how she just couldnt do it. because she feels she missed out.
I thought you got tokens which could be exchanged for milk or formula? Or am I stuck in the past?
Personally, I think it should be called substitute breastmilk, not formula milk.
I sat opposite a woman breastfeeding yesterday, she asked if i minded (nope!) and she just had this pad around her breast, no-one would be able to see anything anyway!
Yeah, your stuck in the past.
You do get a milk token if you're on benefits but you exchange it for 10 Benson and a scratchcard
I don't know why it isn't fashionable to breast feed because I don't have children... Apparently it's getting fashionable to have a cesarean too.
I think it would be really hard where I live in London. You couldn't sit down anywhere, transport is not safe to even really stand whilst holding a child (especially buses) and cafes can get packed.
Put this in together with the fact that a lot of women cannot afford to stay at home with their babies and it may give an answer.
Maybe bottle feeding is more likely these days because more people live in cities or have more hectic lifestyles.
I think this depends a lot on the woman, and to a degree how well they have been taught how to breastfeed. It is my understanding that breastfeeding doesn't just come naturally to all women - I imagine that may well be a factor for people to choose bottle. My mother for example, had my older brother and I in the late eighties and each of us were only breastfed for a week or so because no-one really taught her how to do it - she ended up cracked and bleeding. It was not a result of her anatomy as ten years on she had my two younger brothers who were both breastfed for a year+.
I think those that fall at the first hurdle and don't have/ don't know how to ask for help may make up a large proportion of the 'bottle' camp, though it's only speculation.
A word from a childcarers' POV. Children in the nursery that I work at can be and are admitted at four months old. Whether or not a child should be put into full-time child care at this age is a different issue, but for whatever reason when they are it is hardly feasible for mum to come in and breastfeed during the day. Some mothers simply do not have the time to breastfeed their child for six months, they must be happy with the bottle before they come in, or we can't take them. I am hesitant to call this a class issue - it's a private nursery, pretty expensive and predominately middle class.
It can happen whether you breastfeed or not.
That's not true. It's the only reason women have mammary glands, but the breast has been re-purposed by evolution to mimic buttocks, in order to arouse the male, as the upright posture diminishes the effect of the genuine article.
In the majority of other mammals the mammary tissue is not prominent when the animal is not lactating.
Burn :P
Very interesting though, I never knew they were meant to mimic buttocks.
me neither. wow
I think you're right on this point, although I have noticed among a lot of my friends that people often do try to breastfeed, but it doesn't take much to put them off. There's this attitude 'I'll do it if I can', when in reality no one's born knowing how to breastfeed their child, just like babies aren't born knowing exactly how to eat. It's a pretty steep learning curve for both of you and sometimes people aren't prepared to go through it.
I think lack of support is a problem. Like I said before, the support in my area is fantastic. Me and the wee one had all manner of problems - she wouldn't latch on properly and was getting dehydrated and annoyed, I was sore, bleeding and fed up, knackered from emergency surgery and sleepless nights. It would have been very easy to give up at that point if I hadn't really wanted to feed her myself, so without the help I got, I can definitely see that if your heart wasn't really in it, you'd throw in the towel.
I also agree with the point someone made (Wyetry, I think?) that there should be more honesty about the first few weeks of breastfeeding. I think that they play down how hard it can be in order to not put people off, but in reality it can be painful, awkward and difficult at first. I was in tears feeding her at times in the first 3 weeks or so, but because I'd been warned about it in advance by the ladies in my family, but also reassured that it does get easier, I was able to power through, and now it's painless and easy as pie.
Fair point! I'm currently trying to get tiny to take a bottle of expressed milk so we can leave her with her grandma for a few hours, but expressing is pretty labour intensive, and I can understand people not wanting to do that on top of a full time job. 4 months of breastfeeding is still a good effort though, even if people aren't able to make it 6 months.
More true in America than here, but yes! That whole 'too posh to push' thing.
Makes me laugh, actually, cause I ended up having a caesarian (not by choice!) and I can't imagine anything less glamorous. They put your first dose of post-op painkillers up your arse :thumb:
I want to believe this. Have you got some links? It puts a whole new spin on 'are you a boobs or a bum man?', because either way you're a bum man!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceTp1UgkcXc
Case closed.
magnificent :d
It CAN be hard work for some people, but theres no sense in expecting the worst before it even happens, because for a lot of people its absolutely fine
Yeah i kind of think its a bit wierd as well as i've been to loads of developing countries and i've not seen many 7 year olds hopping on and off the boob - but i guess if at all its probably only at bed time and there is less social stigma because everyone does it so its not weird.
I heard a thing on radio 4 a couple of months ago about men breastfeeding - apparently its possible but very very rare
Plus because there are loads of people from other countries where there is no stigma attached to breastfeeding everyone seems to be a bit more accepting of it.
I had cracked nipples for 3 months and i didn't' give up even when the breastfeeding councilor told me i had to feed her formula but i was very very bloody minded about wanting to breastfeed and went and found a better breastfeeding councilor who could actually help me, but not everyone has this option. But also i couldnt' get her to take a bottle at all - so it wouldn't have worked anyway.
But my neighbour went back to work at 4 months and carried on breastfeeding and just expressed 3 times a day whilst at work - your employer is legally obliged to make it possible for you to do this and should make avaliable a room with a locked door for you to express which is not a toilet and access to a fridge to store your milk in (more info here). Though TBH i think it takes some supreme dedication to manage it correctly and i'm very lucky that i didn't have to go back to work until she is one.
The buttock substitute is one of the theories for the mechanism of that attraction, proposed by Desmond Morris, but many people feel that Orangutans not having breasts disproves it.