Breast feeding- were any of you actively discouraged from BF?

My grandma had 11 children. She used to say that babies bring their own love and their own food. I’m quite sure she wouldn’t have been able to afford formula 😂

I haven't read all of the posts but spotted NCT classes. I attended these for my first child, had a birth plan, every intention of breast feeding etc ... and it all went WRONG! Ended up with a caesarean, and try as I might, I let down sweat not milk whenever she came near me as it was so, so painful, and ended up with a milking parlour in the lounge! (I now think she was possibly tongue-tied as I fed my second daughter for a year very successfully. BUT I do think in hindsight that the NCT encouraged us to have these very high expectations, and I felt very guilty about it all (although I was a Post Natal Co-ordinator with them for a few years afterwards).

I hadn’t decided whether to breast or bottle feed until DD was born and it was a completely spur of the moment choice to BF, despite having a C Section. Hospital staff were supportive, but were not averse to shoving a bottle in the hand of anyone who was struggling., especially if the baby did a lot of crying. Both my kids were BF on demand and by the time they were a couple of months old were almost spherical!

I had my babies in the 1970s, when breastfeeding was deeply unpopular but I was determined to do the natural thing.
My second baby was in special care for 10 days and, every time I went there to feed her, the nurses insisted I sit behind a screen.
Same with baby 3, who was too ill to feed. Days went by and my breasts were engorged. I was told I needed a breast pump but there wasn’t one on the ward!
I never got help or encouragement except from mother and mother in law, very rare in those days.

I had my babies in the 1970s, when breastfeeding was deeply unpopular but I was determined to do the natural thing.
It wasn't where I lived - although Sister at the hospital who 'helped' me obviously had never breastfed herself. She was so matter-of-fact - 'Here's how you do it! Just get on with it'.

Other staff were much more helpful.

I too had babies in the early 70s and in the big New Town I lived in, and in every booklet I was given breast is best was the message and all the medical profession encouraged us to so do.

With lots of very young mothers in the area, few did, I did nd was the Health Visitors pride and joy.

Unveiling the predatory tactics of the formula milk industry
New report^ in The Lancet today.

www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(23)00118-6/fulltext

Not sure many of you will be sufficiently interested in the longer read above - but here's a short article about it in The Guardian

amp-theguardian-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/amp.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2023/feb/07/underhand-formula-milk-ads-stop-millions-from-breastfeeding-experts-say?amp_gsa=1&_js_v=a9&usqp=mq331AQIKAGwASCAAgM%3D#amp_tf=From%20%251%24s&aoh=16781289012793&csi=0&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&share=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Flifeandstyle%2F2023%2Ffeb%2F07%2Funderhand-formula-milk-ads-stop-millions-from-breastfeeding-experts-say

Then of course they are now developing breast milk in a lab:

www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/03/13/biomilq-artificial-breast-milk/amp

They are calling it Biomilq.

I had my babies in the 1970s and it never occurred to me not to breastfeed as my Mum had always said how much easier it was than all that sterilising of bottles.

I don't remember saying anything of this to my son and daughter but I was extremely proud of my son, aged 12, who had no embarrassment at standing up in his English lesson and defining "wet nurse" (as mentioned by Shakespeare which they were reading), and adding that it really was best to breastfeed your baby. The English teacher was very amused and keen to tell me what a lovely son I had (and still have )

I BF both my babies in the 1970s. I knew it was best for them and avoided a lot of workfor me. I delivered them in a big hospital then spent a week in a small maternity hospital each time. The staff in the maternity hospital were great and helped me to get the feeding established. I'm pleased to say all 4 of my DGC were also BF.

My first attempts at feeding were supervised by the ward sister, a young, snappy, and impatient woman, who was not at all supportive. I was giving it one last try, and this was supervised by an auxiliary nurse, Nurse Pike, who just sat on the bed, chatted, and told me I’d soon get the hang of it. She was right, and all three were fed until around a year old, no thanks to Sister!

Incidentally, son 1 wasn’t madly interested in feeding at first, so had to be coaxed, but son 2 latched on hungrily just minutes after birth. Strangely enough, their personalities are still like that 40+ years later, one laid back, and one diving headlong into everything!