Breast is best (All About Our Children)

Member Name: vichar68

Product:	All About Our Children
Date:	09/06/08 (86 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good for baby good for you

Disadvantages: peoples attitude

The reason that I am writing this piece is because I feel that even in this day and age breastfeeding is not really accepted and I cant understand why.

My partner, my 2 of my daughters and myself went to Asda at the Metrocentre ( Gateshead ) for a bit of shopping. As per normal my youngest suddenly had the need for a drink so we headed for the café in the store. After a bit a woman and her very young baby came and sat at the table next to us. The baby started to cry and the woman took a shawl draped it over her shoulder and started to breastfeed the baby. I was really surprised to hear a group of men of about 25 to 35 starting to make fun of the woman. They were not very quiet and the comments were very crude. The poor woman was very embarrassed and looked like she wanted to run away. If that was not enough an older couple started tutting and remarking that it was disgusting in a public place. I was so shocked about the attitude of these people. First they could not see the woman's breast as she had the shawl over herself and most important this is a very natural thing to do and is better for the baby. I am not the kind of person to cause trouble but sat there I could not resist saying loudly that there were some small minded people in the world and if they had been breast fed then they might be a little bit brighter. The poor woman looked at me and smiled but by then the damage had already been done.

The reason for my little outburst is that I am 5 months pregnant with my fourth child and I intend to breastfeed. I breastfed all my other children and it is an amazing bonding experience. My last child I breastfed for 11 months and found it hard to give it up. However just like the lady in Asda I have had a very bad experience. When my first child was born I made the decision to breastfeed after a lot of advice from the midwife. I found it easy and very enjoyable. Normally I fed my daughter in doors but one day I decided to go to Bishop Auckland for the afternoon. About 3pm I went with my mother into McDonalds. My daughter started screaming and I decided to feed her. I put her underneath my large T-Shirt and started to feed her. I could hear some people tuttting and also kids laughing. Even though I was very embarrassed I continued. Suddenly a manger from McDonalds came over and asked me to stop feeding or go to the toilets to carry on as there had been a complaint from a customer. I was really shocked. There was no way was I going into a dirty toilet to feed my baby. I got up really red faced and nearly in tears with a screaming baby and went across the street to Mothercare to their baby room to continue feeding my baby. That was nearly 17 years ago and I thought that attitudes had changed but watching the poor lady today it would not seem so.

Here are some very important facts about breastfeeding direct from the NHS breastfeeding website:

Breastmilk gives babies all the nutrients they need for the first six months of life and helps protect them from infection and diseases. It also reduces mothers' chances of getting certain diseases later in life.

Breastfeeding helps protect your baby against:
ear infections
gastro-intestinal infections
chest infections
urine infections
childhood diabetes
eczema
obesity
asthma.


Breastfeeding helps protect mothers against:
ovarian cancer
breast cancer
weak bones later in life.

Women who breastfeed return to their pre-pregnancy figure faster

I don't feel that any mother should be forced into breastfeeding but if someone makes that choice then people should respect that it is a very natural thing to do and leave them alone to get on with it. If a mother has respect for the general public but making it discrete then she should be giving the same in return.

Websites to refer to for help

www.breastfeeding.nhs.uk

www.laleche.org.uk

www.abm.me.uk (Association of Breastfeeding Mothers).

Thank you for reading this

Summary: Breast feeding