Hi all,

Did anyone see last night's Breast is Best programme on BBC 3 last night. If so what did you think?

It caused major discussion at my local breastfeeding cafe today. Just interested to hear what others thought about it really!

I've just watched it - the footie was on last nite so I was banned from the remote

The teenagers with the stupid views were clearly too young to be having children (in my opinion!!). One girl said she would breastfeed if more celebs do it because she has red hair because Rhianna has red hair - oh dear!!
The presenter woman got on my wick - alright alright you had mastitus, you were scared to feed, it hurt - we heard you the first time and the twentyfirst time!!
Also she really didnt help that girl feed in the shopping centre, she probably made her feel worse and more nervous! Some support would have made her feel better.
I felt that when she met the first girl as well that she should have taken her somewhere to get help rather than just giving her a camera and saying video yourself & I will see you in 2 weeks!!
It raised a few great things though - a massive big up for getting help and where to find it! And milk donation - brilliant!
Ok rant over - an ok ish program - the best I've seen on tv. They did have to put the footage of feeding a 5 year old in there thou to keep the so called "weird" factor of breastfeeding in there - grrrr!!

I watched it yesterday on the i player. Breastfeeding can be hard for any mother and not just first time mums. I found it difficult with my 4th, but I still kept at it. I have to say though, that i don't know if it gives the mum a different bond with her baby than a bottle feeding mum would get. Tiredness made me quite irritated during the night, and as I was B/feeding I felt alone.
It is nice, and I am all for breastfeeding, especially very young babies, but it is not always easy, no matter how easy it has been done in the past. My 2 girls were easy, but my 2 boys I found more difficult.

I didnt see the programme but i am all for breastfeeding if you can do it and if you want to do it!

I tried with all 3 babies, 2 for no more than 6mths but Cole, my middle child, fed for 18mths! I wanted to stop at 1yr but he just wouldnt let me - he never had a bottle and I am proud that I managed that with one of my children at least.
All children are different - some take to breast better than others.

I think if you tried and it didnt work out it doesnt mean it wont work with subsequent babies, certainly wasnt that way for me.

I dont watch many programmes like this as it stirs up the hornets nest with me.....
health proffs say that even a few days breastfeeding can still pass on so much special stuff babies need and can be so beneficial that as long as they can have a little they can still do so well I also say you can lead a horse to water and all that as it rings true with many people these days so the help is out there if they really want to look for it

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Loving being a mum to my 4 boys (pic update soon)

And that woman is allowed to breed?

Never watched the programme, they always irritate the crap out of me to the point where I implode and abuse the TV like a madwoman!

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oh sel you make me lough

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I actually thought it was a good program. There are no programs out there that outline how hard BF'g can be but this did just that. It was a video diary of one woman, setting out to find out about other women.

I liked it and thought it was a good reality look at BF'g, the message was clear 'don't give up too early'.

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Some great points made and much the same as we were talking about at BF club last week. Have subsequently spoken to a few of my pregnant friends who saw it and one was really put off even trying when her baby arrives.

I never wanted to BF while i was pregnant until about 37 weeks when i watched the bump to breastfeeding DVD they gave me at one of the midwife checkups. I watched it at 4am when i couldn't sleep one night and thought that i would give it a go when my son did arrive. I was brought up in a family of non breastfeeders, my mum her mum, my aunts etc didnt BF and so i had no one to ask. When he did arrive i gave it a go and while at hospital i really struggled despite a little help from the midwives (very busy!). When i got home and my milk came in it was easier but i still had no one to help me or show me or support me. My health visitor told me about the help at the BF cafe at my local childrens centre so i went and got the help and support i needed.

these places and peer supporters are amazing. I made the decision to give my son one bottle a day and wanted to express but i found it really hard so made the tough decision to give formula (my son's dad and i are no longer together and he wanted to feed him when he saw him) the peer supporters and other mums at the club have always been supportive of my choice and i have never felt judged in anyway.

I am a secondary school teacher and have expressed (no pun intended!) an interest in speaking to teenage girls and their boyfriends about breastfeeding and their choices etc. I have a great rapport with teenagers and think i could be a good role model but dont know how i could go about it! Anyone think it would be a good idea and know of anything that i could do?

Ems, I think that's a wonderful idea about talking to teenagers, could you maybe start by volunteering to do something like that at your own school. I have to be honest and say the more information and help that is out there the better.

I was desperate to feed my first but I had a traumatic time with the birth and ended up having an emergency c-section which left me really shell shocked as I had never entertained the idea of needing a section. Looking back now, I think I was suffering a bit with a bit of post traumatic stress which my cow of a hv at the time put down to pnd. I never managed to get my first latched, wasn't able to drive to get to any groups and don't think that I was in a position emotionally to get the help I needed. Midwife was insistent about giving formula as baby wasn't putting on weight and both my mum and ex were pretty unsupportive at the time. I pumped for around 6 weeks and then gave up, especially as ds1 developed quite severe reflux. Also with the benefit of hind sight and the experience of ds2, I actually think ds1 was actually tongue tied (he still has a slight notch at the front of his tongue even now at nearly 4, although he can stick his tongue right out).

I went into things with ds 2, with the view of if i can feed great and well it doesn't matter if we can't. I had an even worse birth with ds2 as I suffered a uterine rupture and he had an apgar of 3 as he was on his way out of the rupture and had to be taken up to NICU and was resuscitated. I had to argue like hell with the midwife to go and see him and there was a delay of several hours as they wouldn't let me get out of bed until I'd had several litres of drip through to replace lost blood, but I cuddled him under my nightie and he went straight to the breast and latched. I had a lot of problems feeding him, he was constantly hungry and I was lucky that i managed to get some help this time from my local breasfeeding groups, but I was still having to top him up with formula or ebm. I eventually found out he was tongue tied when he was about 4 months. It was cut but he still needed topping up - I carried on feeding and topping up until he was 6 months but the pumping and looking after a 3 year old on my own took it's toll and i moved him on to bottles at about 6 months.

I think that most problems can be overcome with the right help and support, but that sometimes it's difficult to access that. The lactation consultant who diagnosed ds2 with tongue tie told me that it's something which is often missed, in fact i even went back to my gp after 6-8 week check to make sure that there was nothing organic going on before I decided to pump every 2 hours and it was still missed.