"Dont you wish you did it the NORMAL way?" WHAT?!?!?!?

[Meercat]

Today I was talking to a younger friend (I am 26 and she is 21) about how my daughter wont take a bottle, so I havent had a drink since I fell pregnant and will have to wait until she is ready until I can let my hair down.

She says "Ohh doesnt that make you wish you did it the NORMAL way now?"



I just told her "No, not one second would I wish that"

BUT

Now I think about it, how sad is it that people simply believe that feeding from a bottle is the normal way? Even going to the Baby Expo, there were huge displays for formula and bottles... and one tiny little stall in the corner for the ABA It is sad that some people dont even consider breastfeeding, thinking bottle feeding is normal.

There is my vent lol

[TeniBear]

But you are doing it the normal way! Sigh... Hopefully your friend (and many many others) will realise what a silly statement/thought that is...

[~ Zarava Flutterby ~]

some people just don't get it but honestly it comes down to education and the environment they have 'witnessed'.
Hopefully come time for your friend to have to make that choice she realises just how wonderful it is to BF and your not really missing out on anything.

I am still BFing DD2, every now and then when i time it right i have a glass of wine, but there is no need for me to go out and get wasted anymore (well not just yet ).

[LimeSlice]

*facepalm*

You were much more restrained than I would have been... The soap box would most certainly have come out! lol

[peanutter]

God made my boobies and not that bottle ... I'll do it the way He intended, thanks, and be grateful that I'm able!

I mean really, do we run around after calves and piglets and puppies with formula and bottles? NO.

[meow]

Ugh!! Normal??? A man-made plastic teat with dehydrated powdered milk-stuff??

When I was waiting for the MCHN once I was BFing my son and another mother was there with her little baby and toddler. The toddler came over to look at me feeding and mother said "The baby is having his bottle". WTF? If saying something about breasts bothers you, at least say he's having his milk... don't call my boobs bottles!

[Early Kids]

You were very restrained about it, I wouldn't have been so nice lol.

It is sad that many believe that bottle feeding is normal

[Early Kids]

You were very restrained about it, I wouldn't have been so nice lol.

It is sad that many believe that bottle feeding is normal

[~Debbie~]

when bf ds2, i was talking to an older friend, she must be in her late 50, early 60's i guess, and, when saying that things where abit of a struggle in general with a new bub, and a toddler, she asked if I was b/feeding. I said I did, feeling very proud of myself... her response.. "oh, you poor thing" !! I had so expected some sort of encouragement, pat on the back type comment, esp from someone of the older generation, I was completely taken back.
Its not just the younger generation that are uneducated I guess.

[LimeSlice]

when bf ds2, i was talking to an older friend, she must be in her late 50, early 60's i guess, and, when saying that things where abit of a struggle in general with a new bub, and a toddler, she asked if I was b/feeding. I said I did, feeling very proud of myself... her response.. "oh, you poor thing" !! I had so expected some sort of encouragement, pat on the back type comment, esp from someone of the older generation, I was completely taken back.
Its not just the younger generation that are uneducated I guess.

It the date is 1940, but by then, over 70% of Australian kids were fed formula. Wasn't until the 70s that breastfeeding came back into "fashion"... wonder where that article is...hmm.

[*LittleMissSummer*]

I'm FF my daughter and i honestly don't think there is 'normal' way to feed our babies. We all do what we think is best and what we are able to do.

Meow- I don't think the mother intended to offend you she explained to her toddler the best way that they could understand. If she had of said the baby is feeding he would have asked why was the baby doing that and it would have been a matter of why, why, why and so she told him something he could understand right away. I have been there with my niece and was staring at a mother BF and i said the baby is having their breakfast/lunch/dinner whatever time of day it was and she looked a bit confused but then never said anything.

[NaeNae]

I mean really, do we run around after calves and piglets and puppies with formula and bottles? NO.

this made me laugh (we actually DO run around after calves with bottles, sometimes with formula but mostly ECM expressed cows milk )

Hun, I hope you said, this IS the normal way. I guess thats the ignorance of youth and really something you DON'T think about until you are becoming a mother. I honestly didn't think much about BF, FF, EBM anything until I started TTC. Another thing I just figured out on is that you don't see isles of different boobs labelled for the different ages of baby eg: This row all colostrum (sp?), this row for hindmilk, this row for for milk so on so forth, so its not something that you are exposed to everyday or everytime you hit the shops. I know when I am out I rarely see another woman feeding unless I go into those parent rooms.

it is frustrating though x

[tellytubby]

w.t.f!?!

Some people are freaking CRAZY!

[MummaSue]

and

[Traveller]

I would have taken the comment as a chance to educate this friend in the fact that breastfeeding, whilst sadly not as common any more as it was pre the days of massive formula advertising, is in fact the biologically normal way to feed an infant human. I would have then gone into the irrefutable health benefits of breastfeeding, and the health risks taken when choosing not to do this. I have done this to other people before. It either results in them learning something, and possibly changing their opinion, or I bore them so much they never risk criticising my breastfeeding again

[TeniBear]

I would have taken the comment as a chance to educate this friend in the fact that breastfeeding, whilst sadly not as common any more as it was pre the days of massive formula advertising, is in fact the biologically normal way to feed an infant human. I would have then gone into the irrefutable health benefits of breastfeeding, and the health risks taken when choosing not to do this. I have done this to other people before. It either results in them learning something, and possibly changing their opinion, or I bore them so much they never risk criticising my breastfeeding again

I really hope I'm able to do this if anyone ever asks me

[Bathsheba]

I could also maybe push the boundaries a bit and say "maybe breast cancer rates would be more normal instead of what they have become if women did what nature intended and breast fed their babies... proven to reduce the likelyhood of developing breast cancer". But that's an emotive issue and i'd pick the time and place IYKWIM. It might be something i would pull out if the person was insistant that breast feeding was 'ick' or 'boring' or something dismissive like that.

[Shanti]

I find when I state the WHO guidelines on infant feeding, that most people don't know what to say after

Well done breastfeeding