Anonymous wrote:NP. As someone who breastfed all kids until past age two, I think pro-BF sites and language tends to be incredibly, deeply misogynist. I’m glad to see people pushing back here.

+1 I extended breastfed my kids and I highly resent the way breastfeeding was shoved down my throat.

Anonymous wrote:NP. As someone who breastfed all kids until past age two, I think pro-BF sites and language tends to be incredibly, deeply misogynist. I’m glad to see people pushing back here.

In the other thread, the point was made by several posters that the messaging around breastfeeding used to be that formula was better. I know people here are proclaiming that is 2023, but history is always worth learning to put things into context. The pro breastfeeding message today is in a large part a reaction to messages and advertising in the past, advertising so extreme that many countries limit ads like we do for alcohol and tobacco. We are always swinging from message to message about things. Don’t eat butter, eat margarine! Oh wait, butter is actually better. Spare the rod, spoil the child! Oh wait, let’s not hit our kids. Remember the era of non fat everything? Those potato chips with olestra that would send you running for the toilet? We would eat foods with no fat but a million grams of sugar. Pregnant women were encouraged to smoke in the 30’s - it relaxes the mom and the added bonus was lower birth weight babies! This was an actual touted benefit for pregnant women smokers. We went from that to pictures of emphysematous lungs on cigarette packs within decades.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, people hate breastfeeding on this board. Your post won’t last long or is going to be get some seriously snarky responses. I’d find a more supportive group and ask this to be taken down.

This is so true. It’s insane how anti-BFing this forum is.
-a formula mom

It’s actually valuable— whenever someone claims that society supports breastfeeding moms I send them links to the vitriol thrown at breastfeeding mothers on this board to see how far we haven’t come.

Nice, using people calling out formula shaming to encourage more formula shaming.

Nothing will change until the discourse shifts from supporting "breastfeeding" to supporting parents. Until then people will continue pushing back against being talked down to and gaslit about how they should feed their babies.

NP. As someone who breastfed all kids until past age two, I think pro-BF sites and language tends to be incredibly, deeply misogynist. I’m glad to see people pushing back here.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, people hate breastfeeding on this board. Your post won’t last long or is going to be get some seriously snarky responses. I’d find a more supportive group and ask this to be taken down.

This is so true. It’s insane how anti-BFing this forum is.
-a formula mom

It’s actually valuable— whenever someone claims that society supports breastfeeding moms I send them links to the vitriol thrown at breastfeeding mothers on this board to see how far we haven’t come.

The vitriol is not directed at "breastfeeding mothers". It is directed at posters who spread misinformation about formula or who support limiting baby's intake of formula and/or pumped milk at daycare (instead of letting the baby decide how much they want). That has nothing to do with whether someone is a breastfeeding mother. Many of us that abhor formula shaming are breastfeeding mothers ourselves. I breastfed my child for over a year.

I am the poster who was told I “ruined my life” for focusing on breastfeeding in the first 12 weeks. I shamed no one, I gave no “misinformation” but I was told both that I had ruined my life and that my experience was meaningless.

Quite a lot of vitriol at a breastfeeding mother actually.

Yeah there are a lot of mean people on these boards

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, people hate breastfeeding on this board. Your post won’t last long or is going to be get some seriously snarky responses. I’d find a more supportive group and ask this to be taken down.

This is so true. It’s insane how anti-BFing this forum is.
-a formula mom

It’s actually valuable— whenever someone claims that society supports breastfeeding moms I send them links to the vitriol thrown at breastfeeding mothers on this board to see how far we haven’t come.

The vitriol is not directed at "breastfeeding mothers". It is directed at posters who spread misinformation about formula or who support limiting baby's intake of formula and/or pumped milk at daycare (instead of letting the baby decide how much they want). That has nothing to do with whether someone is a breastfeeding mother. Many of us that abhor formula shaming are breastfeeding mothers ourselves. I breastfed my child for over a year.

I am the poster who was told I “ruined my life” for focusing on breastfeeding in the first 12 weeks. I shamed no one, I gave no “misinformation” but I was told both that I had ruined my life and that my experience was meaningless.

Quite a lot of vitriol at a breastfeeding mother actually.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, people hate breastfeeding on this board. Your post won’t last long or is going to be get some seriously snarky responses. I’d find a more supportive group and ask this to be taken down.

This is so true. It’s insane how anti-BFing this forum is.
-a formula mom

It didn’t used to be. When I first started coming to DCUM it was all about shaming for not nursing. I think the trend has just shifted is all.

I found this forum extremely helpful when I was struggling with breastfeeding and I EBF my kid for 18 months after some formula supplementation in his first week.

As a mom who breastfed, I do remember the insane pressures and misinformation breastfeeding moms got. For example I was told formula supplementing would ruin breastfeeding with my son, it didn't and then when I looked into it, being open to early formula supplementing actually increases breastfeeding success. So me crying and thinking everything was ruined because my son had lost too much weight and needed formula was based on misinformation.

I had a wonderful IBCLC who gave me real, scientific help and wasn't anti formula supplementing. Again, I only needed the formula for a week, but boy am I glad I fed my son. There are cases of babies being hospitalized in the same period for dehydration.

I also saw my friend get guilted for not wanting to breastfeed her kid because she had to choose between taking her narcolepsy medication and breastfeeding. The idea that my friend should risk a serious safety issue (she can't drive without her meds) was just horrifying.

So I breastfed. I liked breastfeeding. I'd do it again if I had a second kid. But I am horrified by the misinformation and inappropriate pressure placed on women to breastfeed.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, people hate breastfeeding on this board. Your post won’t last long or is going to be get some seriously snarky responses. I’d find a more supportive group and ask this to be taken down.

This is so true. It’s insane how anti-BFing this forum is.
-a formula mom

It's not insane, it's just that most women don't enjoy breastfeeding and since this is an anonymous board we feel more free to share our authentic experiences.

I liked breastfeeding. I don't care if anyone else does it but I liked doing it and it made me feel good. I own my own business, chose to have just one child so I could have room in my life for work, and I've been called an anti-feminist troll on this website simply for noting that I enjoyed breastfeeding. People on here are nuts.

Yes, people are nuts on all sides, not just on the "anti-breastfeeding" side.

I've been attacked as "bashing breastfeeding" for literally saying I didn't enjoy it. Sorry, not sorry.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, people hate breastfeeding on this board. Your post won’t last long or is going to be get some seriously snarky responses. I’d find a more supportive group and ask this to be taken down.

This is so true. It’s insane how anti-BFing this forum is.
-a formula mom

It's not insane, it's just that most women don't enjoy breastfeeding and since this is an anonymous board we feel more free to share our authentic experiences.

I liked breastfeeding. I don't care if anyone else does it but I liked doing it and it made me feel good. I own my own business, chose to have just one child so I could have room in my life for work, and I've been called an anti-feminist troll on this website simply for noting that I enjoyed breastfeeding. People on here are nuts.

Anonymous wrote:
I don't understand why this is so polarizing. I assume it's just a few trolls who rile up other, perfectly reasonable people. Breastfeeding is usually better than formula for the baby and mother (lowered risk of breast cancer), but there should be viable alternatives when this is not possible. I breastfed two babies, but had to abruptly switch to formula for the first when I had radioactive treatment for thyroiditis. We NEED safe and nutritious formula!

There was a whole other thread where someone was aggressively denying this, but I think that got deleted also.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hello all, I wanted to mention to anyone who needs to hear this that it is now the year 2023. It has been decades since anyone has told a mother in the US that formula is nutritionally superior to breast milk. The articles above highlight how monopolistic behavior among formula companies and the lobbying that allows this has impacted formula supply chains, putting babies at risk of malnutrition and starvation. The ability to access formula is a good thing and has saved countless lives.

I agree with you but that was a claim made on the now-defunct thread. 2023 hasn’t sunk in for everyone.

OP said, ominously:

There are powerful corporations pouring millions of dollars in the US alone into marketing of formula and formula promoting research.

Somehow I don't think she was talking about supply chain issues.