the leaky boob

[sophiechristophy]

has anyone else come across this on facebook? facebook admin pulled a page that was a troubleshooting/support page for breastfeeding:

http://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#!/pages/Bring-back-The-Leaky-Boob/185706648121870

because of it's 'obscene' contents i believe, aka photos of breastfeeding mums.

can you believe it?!!

[GinaG3]

Typical, they should be pulling all sexually explicit material that's still on there.

I wonder how many complaints they got in the first place to start this war on breastfeeding. Can imagine the numbers are much exaggerated. It's insane breastfeeding is a positive thing I'd rather see my daughter grow up in a world where she saw the positive effects of a womans breasts as opposed to airbrushed naked perfection scrawled across every little nook and cranny making her think she has to be or look like a glamour model to get by in life.

I need a time machine.

[bluesuperted]

Grrr it makes me so angry. I have looked for a link to complain to Facebook but can't find one using my iPhone (one-handed whilst breastfeeding - HAH!) so will look later.

Also just to infuriate you both further, here's a link to a pretty embarrasing/inaccurate/childish article from Heatworld about Natalie Cassidy and breastfeeding... (found this link via babycentre, Heatworld is not a site I usually frequent!). Makes me very sad that the same kind of magazine carrying GinaG3's said airbrushed women has published such piffle about breastfeeding to its impressionable young audience...

http://www.heatworld.com/Celeb-News/2010/12/Natalie-Cassidy-cant-breastfeed-any-more/

I'd like a trip in the time machine too...

[GinaG3]

Its a complete an utter joke. Younger generations are only going to find it harder and harder. The more lads mags 'glamorize' nudity and explicit poses the more girls feels they have to live up to. In turn reducing the already low breastfeeding rates in 16-24 year olds in case of sagging or general cosmetic wear and tear (mythical or not). Its such a shame, it really is. I'm 20 myself, and my daughter is just about to turn 2, I'm still breastfeeding! Good thing is I'm not affected by peer pressure, whereas a lot of girls are. I'm the generation of girls where we believe were less than the girls in the magazines and have a lot of insecurities about our own bodies. A lot of my friends find it wrong that I'm still breastfeeding but it really doesn't bother me I'm trying to do the best for my baby and that I have done.

P.s probably 80% of my friends in the 16-24 category (lol) have or will bottlefeed, purely for vanity!

[Ruth_Baldock]

That heat "article" made me rage!!!!! Gina, since I had my son, 7 people I went to school with also had babies and not one of them considered breastfeeding :( someone sent me a MSG recently congratulating me on baby 2, and said " you're not going to bother breatsfeeding again are you???"

sadface :(

[Belle]

Completely agree that this is a ridiculous move by FB (not the first I gather).

However on Heatworld - there's a little context here: this is what Heat magazine tends to do, to poke fun at celebrities, its tone is pretty juvenile and can be critical, and readers don't necessarily take it that seriously. I'm not saying I agree with this editorial stance, but I think it's a bit different from reading this kind of article in, say, a serious newspaper. As it is, they are not mocking NC for breastfeeding per se, I read this as part of a bigger backlash against her for putting her life on show in a reality tv show, to me this reads as a 'too much information, Nathalie' commentary. I also find some of the comments below the article a bit worrying - I don't think anyone can pronounce on another woman's milk supply with absolute certainty. Looking at this from another perspective, isn't it a good thing that a young celeb mum is talking openly about breastfeeding, and the fact she did bf and supports longer bfing? I know there are many issues on how bf is handled by the media, but I think this one isn't an important one, compared with e.g. Facebook.

[bluesuperted]

Sorry for making you rage Ruth, I feel bad for sharing the misery that is that, as you say, so-called article, but it's all so interlinked with the Facebook rubbish and the general ignorance in the mainstream media about breastfeeding.

Well done for continuing to BF against the grain both. I'm 29 (for a few more day at least!) and am lucky that I come from a staunchly breastfeeding family (so very supportive and no 'when are you going to give the bottle' comments) and all but one of my mummy friends have breastfed, some of them through much adversity, so I've had lots of people to share stories and tips with. In contrast my friend who couldn't breastfeed had undiagnosed and for a long time untreated tongue tie, breast abscesses, infections and hospitalisation so did try incredibly hard, she's determined to try again next time and I hope she gets better support as it was pretty poor in East London where she lives.

The thing that annoyed me most is, given all the ridiculous minutae of information we get from celebs in magazines, a woman talking about feeding her child, a basic human endeavour surely, is somehow (ewww, ick etc) akin to talking about your bowel movements, and far too much information. And don't even get me started on them using the term 'bitty'!

GinaG3 - I had two EDF sign-ons for a while and was the 'Buggles' who bought your ace snowsuit! Absolutely love it so cheers again!?

[bluesuperted]

Hi Belle, we cross-posted - I agree that it's not as heinous as it appearing in a newspaper but I still think that Heat needs to think carefully about its responsibilities to its audience; yes Heat is a magazine that does poke fun at celebrities, but its also a magazine read by women and girls - it's not Nuts or FHM and in a similar way to issues like anoerexia being discussed sensitively, so too should breastfeeding. Many of Heat's readership are already mothers or will be mothers in the not too distant future and this kind of negativity around discussing potential breastfeeding problems is very damaging to the work currently being done to encourage mothers, particularly younger ones, to breastfeed.

I agree it is great to see any celebrity support of breastfeeding, but I think any such positivity from Natalie Cassidy gets lost here and the underlying message here seems to be, breastfeeding and its related issues, are not the kind of thing to be discussed in a magazine or indeed over lunch... (the journo better not come round to my place for lunch any time soon, they might be a bit horrified!).

[Ruth_Baldock]

Belle-I do agree that it's good that Heat are 'talking' about breastfeeding, or at least mentioning it, but I just hate the juvenile tone. However, you're right, that's their calling card- taking the piss a bit (in a good natured way)

What actually gets me, is you barely ever hear about celebrities who have breastfed 'successfully' (at least not in the UK- in the states they have Nicole Richie and Kourtney Kardashian and Gwen Stefani)so stopping early seems to be the norm. I don't know. A lot of this makes me sound very judgy, but I think I feel even MORE strongly about breastfeeding now that Baby B has self weaned...seriously did not realise how much I relied on BF to soothe/calm/distract him until it wasn't an option anymore. Hope to BF Baby B 2 for about a million years...

[Belle]

It's interesting though - some of the comments underneath the article suggested that the reason she'd given so much detail was because she'd have been criticised if she simply said 'I'm bottle-feeding', and I think there's something in that. Actually there are many celebrities who suggest their post baby slimline figures are down to breastfeeding and 'running around after' their kids - when we all know the private daily personal trainer and chef prob help too ;-)

Dannii Minogue is a recent example of a celeb who's regularly publicly talked about the fact she's bfing, and her baby is brought to her on set so she can continue to do this. I did think Denise Van Outen was a bit pathetic when she said she didn't bf because she didn't want to risk being papped doing it - I don't buy that really.

I agree re the heat tone being annoying - that's why I don't it any more, it stopped being witty and started being snipey and immature (or maybe I grew up!).

[sophiechristophy]

The media is so disappointing when it comes to breastfeeding i think - when was the last time you saw anyone breastfeed on TV? I mean, people have babies in soaps all the time, and you could easily suggest that a character was breastfeeding without them actually doing it, so why doesn't it ever happen???

It's so frustrating!!!!!

Have you guys seen this:

http://www.bestforbabes.org/

[GinaG3]

Facebook Nurse-in - Friday 7th Jan 12.30pm

Nearly 2,000 people today are protesting via profile pictures against the extreme moves of facebook against breastfeeding. I'm in, anyone else who isn't too shy if you want to do it, do it. All you have to do is display a breastfeeding picture or international breastfeeding logo from today at 12.30pm