There already are a lot of versions of this kind of top ten. I thought of coming out with mine, culling them from my own experience. Obviously I shrugged off these comments and did not give it much thought, since I am here, nearing my fourth year of extended feeding. (ETA: Please pardon my crankiness, i may have writte this during a time when i have been barraged by comments about my decision to nurse my child way past her toddlerhood).
So here goes my top ten things you should never say to breastfeeding moms:
1. “Aren’t you getting uncomfortable with that, how can you leave the house?” – Obviously, this does not lend support to breastfeeding moms who are struggling with the first few weeks of their child. These are the hardest weeks of breastfeeding because the mom is still learning how to nurse. Comments like this should never be said, and besides, has this person heard about a breast pump?
2. “How long will you be nursing him?” – This is the question I get asked the most! My goodness, now that i’m on extended mode (little is way past three!) I wanted to answer this question with a retort – “will nurse her up until college if she wants to!” do not ask this question unless the person hired you as their breastfeeding coach.
3. “Goodness she has a lot of teeth already, doesn’t she bite you?” – this is the second most frequently asked question that I get. Yes my daughter bit me when she was getting used to having teeth. Yes she bites me at times. But she and I have an understanding already that if she does it on purpose, she will not have any of it again!
4. “Why don’t you switch her to bottle feeding so you can have your life back again” – whoever said I lost my life?
5. “You can pump/nurse in the bath stall” – unless you’d enjoy devouring your meal in the confines of a germy place like the CR, do not ever hint that my child could devour hers in a public bathroom stall. Shame on you, with a capital S!
6. “Won’t that pump destroy your boobies?” – why would it, and why do you care?
7. “A great tip I heard about weaning the child from the breast is to put something spicy or bitter on the nipples,” – excuse me Miss/missus, am I discussing my weaning plans with you? And who are you to recommend such traumatic experience for my baby? Why don’t you give your ‘expert’ advice a try.
8. “I know you are doing this to shed off the extra weight” – Number one this is not true for me, because in fact, I have gained a lot more poundage because I kept on eating whenever I get hungry. And if it were the reason why other BFing moms are doing it, their kids are benefiting from it still. Besides it is NOYDB (none of your D*mned Business!)
9. “You should not be nursing when you are tired,” – folklore or elderly advice. I really appreciate the concern, but this has no scientific basis whatsoever, and is just preventing children of working moms (whether work at home of office based, or even tired stay at home moms) from getting the best milk ever!
10.” Aren’t you scared your boobs will sag?”– To this idiotic and vain question, I answer, “boobs are not just for attracting men or for sex or for looks.”
Good luck breastfeeding mommies, and let’s continue breastfeeding in spite of the snarky comments we get every day! As one of my forum mates say, “ituloy ang misyon”
Till next post!
