Bore Off About Breastfeeding

The media is obsessed with lactating females. If we are not reading about the latest superpower to be discovered in breast milk we are hearing about idiots objecting to mothers breastfeeding in public places.

I am so bored of breastfeeding.

You can't switch on the Internet these days without having a pair of big, milky boobs shoved in your face.

The media is obsessed with lactating females. If we are not reading about the latest superpower to be discovered in breast milk we are hearing about idiots objecting to mothers breastfeeding in public places.

We have stories of women nursing six-year-olds, ladies being told to breastfeed in the street, protesting mums getting their boobs out on mass and celebrities taking 'brelfies' in an attempt to 'normalise breastfeeding'.

And then there's all the 'backlashing'.

Recently there has been a backlash against 'brelfies'. A craze which in itself was started as a 'backlash' against the stigma of breastfeeding in public. Formula-using mothers are reportedly 'up in arms' over the images and even staged an online protest.

What next? Will there be a backlash against the backlash against the backlash? Or should I say a 'bracklash'?!

Surely, the best way to normalise breastfeeding is to stop banging on about it.

Breast milk is good stuff. We ALL know this.

We have seen the campaigns, read the research and studied the NHS literature we have shoved down our throats from the moment we fall pregnant.

Unless you have been living under a rock for the past ten years you will know that breast milk has many health benefits for mother and baby.

So by regularly bombarding women with an abundance of facts that they probably already know, all we are achieving is to load guilt on the shoulders of women who do not, or cannot breastfeed.

By giving column inches to every idiot who complains about a mother breastfeeding her child in public, we are only normalising the behaviour of the idiot.

By sharing pictures of celebrities nursing their babies looking totally 'normal' (we all have a full hair and make up session before sticking our newborn on the breast, right?) we are simply making breastfeeding into a big thing, a statement and a fashion accessory.

And referring to a few annoyed women as a 'backlash' only creates a mummy war that doesn't need to exist.

No offence fellow mums, but I couldn't care less how you choose to feed your babies. I am too busy feeding my own kids.

Whether you use a bottle, breast or both. You life, your boobs, your choice.

Just because I breastfed my children doesn't mean I am anti-formula. What is right for me and my family is not necessarily right for every family.

But thanks to all these stories of the apparent 'backlashing' when we take out our boob or bottle we are worried about upsetting someone.

Breastfeeding Mum is concerned that Formula Feeding Mum will be offended. While Formula Feeding Mum is scared that Breastfeeding Mum will think she is offended.

The only way to stop this media-fuelled bottle vs. breast 'war' is if everyone would just chill the hell out and stop going on about breastfeeding.

For more thoughts on parenting stuff and absolutely NO advice visit How To Survive A Sleep Thief or join me on Facebook. and watch out for the book Sleep Is For The Weak for anyone who has suffered sleepless nights at the hands of a baby!

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