Mumsnet Talk

Tiktok, I would but I have already made three extensive complaints with regard to maternity/antenatal care (all about much more major issues) so I fear it would just make me look like I was just looking for anything to complain about. IMO it shouldn't even be played in that waiting room - the first time I saw it I was waiting for a postnatal follow up after losing my baby at five months.

Love love love the best beginnings DVD - watches it before baby was born as it was given out by mw and it was just wonderful - detailed help with latching and hand expressing - have kept it to watch again before dc 2!

Before artificial infant feed (formula) went commercially mainstream (early 20th century), I wonder what the figures were then at 6 months?

And as an aside, did women experience these similar problems with breastfeeding before the commercialisation of formula?

BWP, tell the maternity unit, then - say the bf stuff on the loop would not be of any help. They need to know.

Oh tiktok, I'm so glad to hear it! It did seem utterly useless to define ebf as not including ebf!

I can accept that there may be useful info on the DVD but the bit playing on a loop in the hospital waiting room did not. Aside from the posters and DVD the only mention of breastfeeding in my antenatal care was when my MW asked if I would be breastfeeding when she did my home assessment for homebirth and I said yes. If my current baby had been my first I doubt I would be breastfeeding now never mind exclusively.

Thanks but I don't think you can have watched it properly. There are some sequences showing mothers who are enjoying bf, some info about health effects, and lots about expressing (it's very good on this), returning to work, getting your baby positioned and attached comfortably, how bf actually works and much more.

Independent eval says 99 per cent of women found it useful www.bestbeginnings.org.uk/fbtb

I have nothing to do with this DVD, BTW! I have seen many bf dvds in my time and this is the most comprehensive and useful, IMO.

I found that part to be a tiny part of the DVD. The rest of it was about how "great" BF is. I really didn't find it a helpful tool in preparing to BF.

I had much better info from you and MN!

???? The dvd includes detailed info with graphics and film of the practicalities.

Andmiffy you are wrong. Bf for this survey is breastmilk feeding howrver it is done.

Yes Badly, that is exactly as I had thought. I'll have to go and have a proper read...

AndMiffyWentToSleep, it's a long time since I read it and I wasn't particularly thinking about EBM at the time but the EBF was defined as whether they'd ever had anything other than breastmilk or medicines when I read it.

I have just been told that the 1% ebf rate does NOT include those who took expressed breastmilk, only those fed from the breast directly every single time. Need to check that though. Quite odd if true, IMHO.

Yes, the Bump to Breast DVD is crap. It's just a propaganda DVD about how lovely and marvellous BF is but doesn't really show you HOW to do it. Only when you get into the special features bit does it tell you anything of worth.

I would say that there is too much focus on initiation rates and not enough on maintenance which I would guess is because hospital statistics are based on % initiation and on method of feeding when baby leaves hospital. I definitely believe that any breastfeeding is beneficial so if a mother who plans to FF gives one BF then that is great but it seems like there is all this propaganda* to get people to try it but then (based on the evidence that most people who stop would have liked to do longer) not adequate support to help people sustain it.

*In my most recent pregnancy I was not given any information antnatally about breastfeeding but there were posters all over the ward when I was admitted part way through my pregnancy and there was a DVD in the hospital waiting room. Both were just pushing people to try it (in a rather in your face kind of way) and didn't give any information that would help people practically to actually do it.

You're both right, fraktion and midori - there is not enough support, but there are also not enough midwives. But, I do think this will get better as time goes by.

I think low rates are depended on good support from health care professionals, something that is seriously lacking, although its not really the HCP's fault, their training and time can be very limited, which isn't really good enough. I also think rates at uptake and continuation are due to societal attitudes and the fact that most women don't know many or any other women who breastfeed or breastfed for very long. Confidence seems to be an issue and it's harder to overcome that when there's no one to tell you 'hey, don't worry, that's normal!'

Interesting (and slightly worrying) results.

There desperately needs to be more BF support either from HCPs or volunteer BFCs or peer supporters. I suspect that 50% of the time it's a problem that can be resolved by someone with a bit of knowledge and a lot of encouragement but there are too few. It's taken 10 months after the point where the LLL would consider me for training for me to start training as a BFC. I don't know how long it will take to complete and I suspect that is a funding issue too.

I had no support in hospital. Gave birth in a birthing unit, only two midwives present, and was home within 4 hours of having the baby. Don't even think baby latched on in hospital! But, the next day (and the following 9), one of the midwives present at the birth came to check our BF skills.

I think, regarding the EBF thing (I would consider a baby who'd only had 1 or so bottles in the very early days to be EBF), they need to ask "In the last month, has you baby had milk other than breastmilk?"

I kind of meant both. The mothers who went to the hospital didn't even initiate whilst the ones who went to the hospital I went to did.

I would say that support once I was out of hospital was very patchy though.

The HV that came round on Day 2 told me not to eat beans in case I gave DD wind.

www.unicef.org.uk/BabyFriendly/News-and-Research/Research/Baby-Friendly-Initiative/Baby-Friendly-accreditation-increases-breastfeeding-rates/

Sorry, scrub that......showtunesgirl you said you noticed a difference in maintenance not initiation, and that does not seem to be a general thing, so far (if I remember the studies right).

showtunesgirl, your observations are born out by the research. There is a higher chance of babies leaving hosp. breastfeeding if the hospital is a UNICEF Baby Friendly hospital - the studies have been done comparing the stats.

Maintenance of bf seems unaffected, however.

tiktok, if that was the criteria then I would not be able to say that my DD was EBF.