Cant believe it

I guess it just because you always hear "exclusively bf for the first 6 months" as to why people stop about then, my goal was 6 months but now I am aiming for 1-2 years. It's a big commitment imo.

I don't know the answer to this but why can't bf mums still part time breastfeed? I mean do the morning feed and then the night time feeds and then part time formula?
Or do lots of babies decide they don't want mummies milk when this happens?

I intend bf til DS decides he is ready to stop, I sure am not gonna say oh golly he is 12 months, time to wean, tho I don't want to bf til he is 3, I think by that time he will have had enough from me lol. I feel sad that lots of people are judged for feeding over this age, as LilNic says, it is a big committment and one that is made with the best interests of the baby/toddler so what is wrong with that.

And I agree with fattarts, everyone knows (or should, there is enough publicity about it) that babies should preferably be bf til 6 months, but because people seem to think it is 'weird' to bf over that, it needs to be normalised and how else can you do it than by making sure the older babies get photo coverage too?

AandCsmum wrote: I actually don't believe in Latch ons...yes I will feed my baby any where & every where. Yes I'm discrete when I do it but I don't like the idea of going and feeding where the opinion is a bunch of hippy women flopping their huge boobs out to make a point. (Some posters last year where rather explicit IMO) The point is we shouldn't have to make a point. We shouldn't have to draw attention to it. It should be just a normal part of life. Also if we want to do a latch on...why do it in tucked away places. Get out there amongst the public otherwise they only see it on the news. And no, no one has dared make any comments to me about feeding my kids in public. Sorry if people don't like my opinion, I am fully in support of breast feeding & am still feeding C. I refuse to be a breastfeeding nazi though & to me that is what this is all about.

I know where you are coming from. It would have been much better if there had been more public places wanting to sign up for it - such as cafes perhaps?

I think "Latch On" promotes breastfeeding as a good thing. NZ is very supportive of breastfeeding compared to places such as the States and even Australia so I have heard. I think these promotions really create awareness and breastfeeding in a positive light - challenging attitudes and that's a good thing.

fattartsrock wrote: I would imagine the idea behind the more "in your face" pics are to "facilitate discussion" - unfortunately it tends to be nagative discussion, but they do get people talking about it and exploring ideas etc don't they? Secondly unfortunately the media tends to always choose the "extreme" cases when it comes to breastfeeding and thats why it seems to be the hippys feeding their 12 years olds in the paper etc, however I will say that whenever I am asked to get a mother and baby feeding together for a newspaper article I ALWAYS always choose mums with older babies and preferentially toddlers because it is mine and other BF co - ordinators etc round the country's "personal soapbox" to "normalise" feeding "older" (man alot of quotations huh?) babies and sadly in this country an older baby is seen as over 6 months as the stats for feeding beyond that are very very low and the thought is that if more people are seen to feed beyond that stage then it normalises it. CLear as mud? lol

You know...thinking of that poster, I can't remember the age of the baby/children except they were twins but it's more the woman in the poster & how exposed she was that has stuck in my mind!

Maybe it would be better in Summer, I for one don't really want to BF outside in Winter unless I absolutely have to! (The BLO I mean!)

When Leah started to refuse to bf Tali there was still certain times of the day where she was happy to so I did a combination of both for months until she finally decided no booby at all.

And yep, cafes etc would be nice, but you need to get the "permission" if the owner and the whole thing is a bit "time consuming" so imagine how happy mr small cafe man would be with 20 mums with babys, strollers, paraphenalia and often other kids in tow to take up most of the small space for an hour or so? The spend may not be worth the "publicity" IYGWIM? Im he past we haev held it at plunket rooms (3 times) then last year I decided to ake the leap and see if our fancy working mens club (who are keen to appeal to a younger market, lol) would host us and they were happy to, and delighted to be asked again this year! Anyone can "register" a venue, it can be at a home or whereever, but if at a cafe etc, it might pay to ask! If the venues in your area are too "hippy" then do one of your own! Its very easy!

TaliP wrote: HUNTD wrote: I do that TaliP, he is only *meant* to get bf in the morning (mainly because im not a morning person!) and he has formula out of a sippy cup during the day. Some days when we are home together he will ask for more though, but if im not there then hes fine with formula. It works for us, no worries if we are out and about he is happy with his 'milky' - cup and when we are home he has 'booba' - breastmilk. Okay, so it is possible? That's really cool    and I guess babies just adapt huh...

Theres absolutey no reason you cant and I think its sad that a combo hasnt been made more acceptable by breastfeeding advocates cos it may mean that babies get bf longer than 6months

I do a combo, since hes now on solids so isnt exclusively bf anymore having the odd formula if Im at work or out isnt any different than having a new solid.......if that makes sense. I never gave formula until after 6months though

Yeah is is dumbo to not push for combo bf/formula feeding if it would suit the mums at work...that would extend the bf out quite a bit for a lot of babies i reckon.

nathansmummy wrote:    But I can't help but feel uncomfortable because I know others are, eg. my relatives there's another mother who never feeds in public, and an American who I'm assuming is not used to it seeing as they are so weird about it over there.

haha! I had to laugh at this cause I"m American and it's so true. I found it so odd when I went home (I was 5 months pregnant at the time) and my SIL went into a private room to breastfeed their 5 month old. When our family came over to visit when Ryan was 4 months old I just fed him wherever I was so I didn't miss out on the conversation. If I'm ever in doubt around someone I'll just say something like "Do you mind if I feed Ryan?" Even if someone DOES have a problem with it, they almost can't say no to that question and then they are stuck! LOL