Facebook nudity policy draws nursing moms' ire

I had little luck pumping as well. I took classes and all but couldn't get my milk to come down with a pump. But when Ems nursed, all was well.

 

I guess I was just lucky, then. Since I went back to work when Rachael was 3 months, I needed to pump if I wanted to continue breastfeeding. There's no way I could have continued otherwise.

 

Yep, I guess you were lucky. Mine was the same as Patty--no luck breast pumping (as I said earlier), but the nursing went very well!

 

I could not get past the incredible pain and the cracking. I didn't have anyone helping me with questions. I tried for several months with oldest and the pain was unbearable and he preferred the bottle. My youngest, I tried for a week and the dr. said to just bottle feed.

I was just not successful!

 

Katie, There were probably things that could have been done, and they have balms that help with the cracking. But, when you don't have anyone to help you understand, and those types of things are occuring, it's no wonder you chose not to nurse!

Wehn people have their first baby at the hospital where I had mine, there were lactation consultants that would come in and explain things and help you understand how the baby is to latch on, etc. It was a little uncomfortable for me, since I had to nurse the baby in front of her, BUT, it was an invaluable source for me, as my first had a very hard time with nursing and latching on! She also gave me a card so I could call her if needed. What a great service that was! I understand that not everyone needs it, but she was a great help when I was having those very same problems, and I can only think that if they had someone like that when you had your babies, that it could have worked for you to have someone help you through that! I wish that would've happened for you!

At any rate, I didn't need the help with the other two since I had experience, and they latched on with vigor the very first time they nursed!

 

Rachael was in NICU right off with an infection. I'm in there, trying to nurse, and having a little difficulty with the latching on. So the NICU nurse came over and put a little sugar water on my nipple, telling me, "Don't let the regular nurses know I did this! THEY think it's terrible, but it really does help sometimes to get the baby started...." So a few days later, I have her with me in my room and again she won't latch on. The regular nurse came in, put sugar water on the nipple, and told me, "Don't tell the NICU nurses we do this......" LOL!!!

 

That's funny!

They didnt have lactation nurses when I had my guys. It was just the regular nurse who came in to care for me.

It's really neat they have someone with knowledge help the new moms now.

 

I really thought I was going to be an ol' pro at it. I wanted to nurse them, we went all naturale with the deliveries and also while I was preggers so we wanted the same for after they were born.

I was quite disappointed! But, Dh said, "Well, at least we can take turns every other night getting up with the baby to feed him". Whatta sweetie!

 

Jackie, I used to do that both sides at once pumping! How comical we must have looked. :wink:

 

We had a situation here where a lady wanted to nurse in the front of WalMart, near customer service, where there was a bench. An employee saw her and offered her a dressing room. The mom went ballistic. Her baby's hungry NOW! Why should the baby have to wait?? This mom got the newspaper involved, she tried to get the employee in trouble, and she was dealing with WalMart.
Me- I'd have taken the dressing room. No baby is that hungry that it can't wait a few seconds to get to a dressing room. I'll even say that I wouldn't be in a store during my baby's feeding time, if I was breastfeeding.

 

This thread reminds me of a mom at Jeannie's first grade art class. She had a 3 yr old that she still allowed to nurse. This little guy would walk up to her- in front of all of us- thrust her shirt and bra up, and just begin nursing!! She'd keep talking like nothing was going on! This little guy did this many times one particular day, and the mom saw nothing wrong with it. It was troubling to see a child that old nursing, and seeming to use his mom as an object of some kind.

 

This is really a cultural issue. In some cultures (um, not the US's) children breastfeed even past the age of three.

Myself, I could never stand it when a baby or toddler would pull on my shirt - manners are manners no matter how old or young you are. I personally cannot imagine letting someone just push up my shirt and help themselves.

 

And I'm guessing the employee was trying to be nice when he offered, thinking she'd prefer that.

 

That would have been what I assumed.... and most likely I would have smiled and said 'no thanks, I'm ok' :lol:
It would never even occur to me to get all up in arms over something like that.

I guess that's why it's hard for me to see what the big deal is on both sides.... it's just a matter of fact thing for me. I don't make any more fuss over bfing than I would giving a baby a bottle, I just quietly do it!!

 

We had a lactation specialist in the three hospitals we delivered the four kids in (2 in GA, 1 in PA). With the last one, the nurse was like, oh, you're an old pro at it, and left me - but I had trouble getting DD to latch on! And then I was too embarrassed to ask for help, LOL. I don't know what the deal was, but I just had a tough time with it.

When I pumped, I found it easier to use the little hand held ones and pump while I nursed.

The problem with not going out when your baby is scheduled to feed is that mine were FOREVER going through growth spurts and changing their schedule. I tried "forcing" a schedule with my first, which I regret, and that was tough, but with the rest, I let them feed when hungry and went from there. So just as I would get comfortable, they would want either more or (sometimes) less. With later kids, I also had to schedule around the younger ones' naptimes.

My stepmother was very old school. When out of my house, I always nursed discreetly (hard to be discreet at home when I was nursing and pumping, LOL). She would get up and leave the room because she thought I should've. But my dad and my grandmother (I was usually at my grandmother's house) didn't care, so I stayed, since we'd driven 8 hours each way to visit, LOL.

SG

 

All three of mine were nursed on a schedule. While it's something I would suggest to anyone, I also realize that it isn't "best" for everyone. I mean, there's so much more to raising kids other than whether or not they were fed on a schedule! But for me, it worked wonderfully. I wonder if I would have done it that way if I wasn't planning on returning to work, though.....

 

Some moms DO nurse their children past the age of 3. I DID! DD#1 nursed until she was over 4. DD#2 (23 months younger) was also nursing then (tandem nursing). I tandem nursed them for over 2½ years.

I also believe in CLW (child-led weaning), where you let the CHILD decide how long to nurse. It's impossible to FORCE a child to nurse if they don't want to .

Oh, DD#3 just turned 2, and it still VERY attached to her "dupidas"!

 

There is a lady here that nursed her dd into first grade. I was at her house (first grade dd) and her dd yanked up her shirt ducked under the shirt, pulled one out and started nursing. :roll: The little girl turned around, looked at me and let the br**st milk spew between her teeth like a water fall on to the floor. I was quite shocked. The mom said her dd would come home during lunch from school to nurse. I asked if she ate solid food much and she said her dd would prefer to nurse and she sleeps with her so she could nurse during the night. The dd was quite small and very skinny. The mom said she has anxiety when she goes to school and will break down into a crying fit to come home and nurse. She said her family and the school counselors said she needed to wean her dd and asked my opinion. I told her that I really preferred to not offer an opinion on something so personal. I realize people are entitled to do what they want but at that moment I was quite embarrassed and thought perhaps this was not good for the dd. :shock:

 

I think in the US, since breastfeeding isn't as common as it is in other countries, sometimes people don't take into consideration other issues involved in breastfeeding children past the baby/toddler years. For example, I was at a conference where staff from a regional breast milk bank were speaking (okay, first, I didn't realize because of HIV how few breastmilk banks remain). But the staff talked with amazement about one mother they worked with who had triplets, and all three children had some serious and very bizarre food allergies. By age three, the doctors had only found fewer than ten foods (aside from breastmilk)that these children did not have serious allergic responses to. The staff was speaking in awe and admiration of this mother because at that time, she was still supplying the bulk of the triplets' food - breastmilk - herself(!). I know breastfeeding a newborn, I ate like a lumberjack because I was so hungy - I can't imagine how many calories that mother had to ingest.

 

No, guys, this mom at art was an all American.