Breastfeeding church

[Dana]

I think a hell of a lot of my PND was down to the huge pressure to breastfeed. I was at home with a newborn baby who was screaming all the time because he was hungry, and not one of the goodly, idiotic midwives who came by thought of this 'complicated ' diagnosis. They kept pushing me in the direction of the breastfeeding clinic at King's college Hospital, where a deranged woman, called Clare Kedves kept training me for hours. She ignored teh fact that I was obviously exhausted and very distressed and focused solely on Daniel ' having' to breastfeed. This is a woman who breastfed her daughter until she was 5 years old and thinks babies who breastfeed have rounder heads...It wasn't until we went to see a private pedeatrician that he just stuck a finger in Daniel's mouth and diagnosed with a smile that he's crying because he's simply hungry. But by then, I was feeling so humiliated and useless for not being able to do 'the right thing' by my baby, it was too late for me. None of these irresponsible people even outlined the bottle as an option, or talked about combining breast and bottle. God save us and protect us from all thses liberated liberals and the NCT army who are actually so fascistic in their view of how to raise up children. I'm sure so many women experience this terrible pressure if breastfeeding does not go according to plan and it's so irresponsible for health practitioners to be so unresponsive to the mother's well being. I'm still shocked when I think of the way I was treated. By the time a normal health visitor entered my life I think i was way over the edge.

[Sharon]

There is a lot of pressure to breastfeed, and I felt like a failure when it was difficult. Luckily the midwives were realistic- one told me it was worse than labour! They also took my son to the nursery and gave him a bottle one night so I could sleep. I'm sorry yours didn't listen to you.
somebody told me that you can't tell which adults were breastfed as babies . It definitely isn't as important as your well-being.
I hope you are feeling better now

[Jo B]

I had a lot of pressure to breast feed too, and also couldn't produce enough milk, particularly by the 3rd month. When I spoke to my health visitor about feeding my daughter by bottle 1/2 and 1/2 by bottle she told me it would burn a hole in the lining of her stomach! I knew this was rubbish and my partner was furious at this as he saw I was exhausted as well, but I was too frightened to change for another 2 weeks, but when I did things were so much better and my poor baby was finally a lot more satisfied. You've just reminded me of this, and I think this added to my PND too. It's a Blairite policy about breastfeeding which has been carried a bit too far in my opinion.

[Lainey]

I agree totally with all your comments.

I was unable to breastfeed my daugther due to her being in intensive care for four days before I could actually hold her.

The Midwives at the hospital tried to 'latch' her on on numerous occasions, but it was such a humiliating experience, not the joyful one I wanted. I breastfed a little and mainly fed her by bottle.

When I returned home and had my first midwife visit, I was told very coldly that my baby had been overfed! and I must breastfeed. She then whipped open my dressing gown and promptly told me to keep going until I had grasped it. I felt so humiliated and cried all day. She made me feel so useless. My poor little girl was so hungy and I ended up making my own decision to feed her by bottle. My milk just wasn't enough for her!

Why can't midwife's give new mum's a bit of credit. We have instinct, we know when our baby's are hungy. My mum always told me to ignore my midwife's comments and do what I thought was best. I have done and my little girl is thriving, as I am sure all of your little ones are.

The next thing we will get is that our babies are not walking soon enough.

Best wishes

Elaine
x