To be annoyed by breastfeeding camapigner's tactics?

[ibangthedrums]

Yesterday I went to a community family fun day. It was a huge, busy event with funfair etc. One of the stalls was a breastfeeding campaign group. All good so far!

I was stood by the stall for a few mins waiting for DS1 to have his face painted so was able to watch them. They were really quiet but only method I saw them use was to ask older (school age) children if they were breastfed.

The only ones I saw, had to ask their Mum and it so happened they were. The lady then said "well done" and gave them a pack of pencils as a reward.

The more I think about this, the more it bugs me. The children have no control over how they were fed. If they had said no, I wonder what the woman may have done. Give them pencils to make up for it?! Perhaps the mother ought to have got the pack of pencils!

I know it must be hard to reach people, but surely mums with little babies, pregnant women or just adults are more of a target audience than young children?! BF does need to be promoted and people need all the help they can get. These sort of tactics however, will surely not reach those that need it and actually turn alot people off who are struggling.

[EmmaBemma]

YANBU, that's just bizarre, and bound to get people's backs up.

[Baconsarnie]

That would definitely have annoyed me too! YANBU!

[OTTMummA]

TBH thats frankly barking, who came up with that idea?!
BF does need to be talked about more from a younger age than secondary school
More people need to be well informed and can prepare as much as possible for what they choose to do, so i think getting them young is good, but the whole reward system deserves my second ever.

[Morloth]

That is just weird.

[dawntigga]

I'm all for bf'ing but that annoys the heck out of me.

EncouragePeopleForTheRightBloodyReasonsTiggaxx

[unfitmother]

How odd!

[LynetteScavo]

Very lame.

YANBU, but I don't think it would actually put people off breast feeding. Especially if they see free pencils being handed out. Woo-hoo!

[Morloth]

I just can't see the connection? Are they hoping to ad another benefit to BFing perhaps?

Breast is Best! Your child could be given free pencils if you BF!

[Northernlurker]

I believe that research has shown one of the big factors in determining how you will feed your children is how your mother fed you. Certainly from my own experience I know the fact that my mum b'fed was a big thing in convincing me that I could do it when things were hard with dd1. Likewise I know a big factor in my then neighbour stopping b/feeding was that her mother was discouraging her and talking about her own bottlefeeding experiences. I think my daughters are more likely to b'feed having seen both me and their aunts b/feeding. SO - it is important to talk to kids about this but the rewarding of children in this situation is frankly bizarre! YANBU to be annoyed at this particular incident.

[Ceidlihgirl]

Are you sure you heard right? What did she do if the child said no? Maybe all the kids got pencils?

If you feel really strongly and are v sure of yourself you could always write to the organisation.

If in fact children were being rewarded only if their parent breastfed them then YANBU.

[laurely]

So when my children answered no, these campaigners would do the sympathetic head tilt and say " Oh no!! So sorry you poor deprived child, no pencil for you"

FFS. How ridiculous

YANBU

[tethersend]

Stable, door, horse, bolted.

[mixedmamameansbusiness]

very odd.... i would be annoyed too

[CerealOffender]

sadly campaigners quite frequently are freakolas with few social skills and zero sense of perspective.

good cause - weirdy methods. i would have said something

[LackingInspiration]

Seriously?! I am a very active breastfeeding supporter (not a campaigner! ) but I think that is the most bonkers thing I've ever heard!

[Vallhala]

"I believe that research has shown one of the big factors in determining how you will feed your children is how your mother fed you."

That kind of screws it up for those of us who have no ides how we were fed, NL. :o

On a more serious note, how bizarre. I don't think that being viewed as peculiar is going to do much for the campaigner's aims.

[Ceidlihgirl]

Was the lady freaky in other ways too?

[thefirstmrsDeVere]

I think most children would be too busy cringing or convulsing with giggles to receive their pencils.

If you asked my kids 'did mummy breast feed you?' I suspect they would look a bit like this



And they were all bf apart from DS2 and he sees me doing it all the time (two little brothers).

Odd woman.

[Northernlurker]

Vallhala - you'd be an anomaly in the resarch then. As you point out it's just one of the factors - I can see why the campaign might beaimed at children though I disagree with the method which is frankly nuts!

[ShadeofViolet]

I dont think my children would be able to answer. Its just not something we have discussed.

Sounds nutty to me - which group was it?

[booyhoo]

ok, she definitely has the right idea (children are the future adults and will be making teh choices on how to feed their babies) but she is completely off the mark by giving them pencils for being BF. who the hell came up with that. what about doing a BF competition for the kids to improve their knowledge of the thing? surely that would have been more beneficial. as if they are likely to remember who they got pencils off. but they would remember if they actually had to think of the amswers to questions about BF or ask parents for teh answers.

[BuzzingNoise]

yanbu.