Shopping vouchers for breast feeding?

[PicandMinx]

AIBU in thinking that this is an awful way to encourage woman to breast feed their babies?

[Failedspinster]

I don't think it will work. It implies that the reason people don't bf is because they can't basically be arsed and not because of lack of support, not knowing how, etc.

[redexpat]

Well the people most likely to beastfeed are affluent, well educated over 30s. Perhaps it might motivate some from lower income groups? I'd like to know what data it is based on.

[MsRyanGosling]

It's funny because I bf because I can't be arsed with bottles, sterilisers and formula and all that entails.

Is there a link to this idea?

[SaucyJack]

I can see it would be a terribly sad state of affairs where some women chose to breastfeed because they got shopping vouchers and not because it was best for their baby.

But hey- free stuff for those of us who do it anyway. Every cloud.

[calmexterior]

I think the money would be better spent on increasing peer support to get BF help, YANBU

[Sirzy]

It's an awful idea and only aims to create a bigger divide between bf and ff and make those who can't BF feel even worse about it.

[coco2303]

I think it is horrible fir the women who want to breastfeed and can't. And not everyone actually wants to breastfeed. It's just as bad as that story about the overweight mother who said she should be paid by the government to lose weight. ......
REDEXPAT is that what they are actually saying? ?? That affluent, well educated over 30 are the main breastfeeding mothers
I breastfed my daughter and I was 23 when I had her and have always been a hairdresser on minimum wage lol. We do go to playgroups aswell where plenty of women breastfeed from all walks of life

[Pointlessfan]

Agree the money could be better spent on more BF counsellors etc but it would be helpful if the vouchers could be used to buy breastpads or nursing bras, I've spent quite a lot on those this year and one of my main reasons for BFing was to avoid spending loads on formula.

[ithoughtofitfirst]

Really interested in what people think about this.

[PicandMinx]

I'm sorry I can't do the link - it's on the BBC news site.

[fatlazymummy]

Here is a link www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-24900650 Mrsryangosling.
I'm not sure how it can be verified though. It's not like not smoking where carbon monoxide levels can be monitored.

[onthematleavecountdown]

Never heard about this?

So they are bribing new mothers with money to breastfeed - it's a pretty sad state of affairs when money is more of an incentive than the want to give your child the best start in nutrition.

I'm well educated, affluent etc. dos this mean that if this was rolled out in my area I couldn't join in as I'm more likely to want to bf anyway?

This money would be much better spent on more support for bf mothers.

[coco2303]

I would be interested to see how they got to that conclusion........
Like a previous poster has put though if I was offered vouchers for breastfeeding I wouldn't refuse them lol. But it's not something I think is fair to put into place. And how would they even monitor it. Anyone could say they were breastfeeding

[MoominKoalaAndMiniMoom]

I'd be fuming if money that could've gone towards more support for breastfeeding, instead went to those who did manage to breastfeed to get free stuff. Surely it's more important to get more people breastfeeding for the right reasons; eg wanting to give their child the best start?

Plus, great way to penalise us for not being able to breastfeed. I thought the aim was for breastfeeding to be normalised and seen as the norm - rather than being superior?

[OwlinaTree]

Definitely should put more support in place. Most women I know who breastfeed have had to seek out support and help and advice rather than this just being offered.

I was lucky that I joined a great breastfeeding group, but the health visitor support has been shockingly poor where I live.

Most of the women I know who didn't breastfeed but wanted to, when they talk about it have been let down by poor support. I think at least some of them would have been successful with expert advice.

[hackmum]

The link is to an article published a year ago saying the scheme was about to be piloted.

The news today is that the initial results show the scheme to have been a success:

www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-30083090

[mrsmilkymoo]

I agree that the money should go to better support for women. I am so lucky as the area I live in has excellent breastfeeding support workers and groups, and the midwives in the hospital were really helpful too. I wonder how I'd have coped with dd refusing to latch initially, or the seemingly interminable cluster feeding, if I hadn't had support around. Shopping vouchers can't do much to help in practical terms!

[ThinkIveBeenHacked]

What about the women who hate bfing but feel like they have to continue due to needing the handouts/not being able to afford formula?

I hated bfing. I feel lucky that I could swap to ff easily and affordably. My mental health would not have coped with being forced into continuing.

[coco2303]

I am also another believer the money should be spent on breastfeeding support. I had to have support as it didn't come naturally to me and my daughter was bloody hard.
When I was in hospital they had breastfeeding support but u was told they were making cuts to that

[IneedAwittierNickname]

Can I backdate my claim?

No seriously it's a stupid idea. My friend was gutted that she can't breastfeed. It contributed to her pnd with all 3 children. Schemes like this just make people feel even worse.
And the mums who don't breastfeed because they don't want to probably still won't.

[minipie]

I also agree that the money should go towards better breastfeeding support.

For example in some areas it takes weeks to get an appointment to cut a tongue tie. By that time it will be far too late to save BF . And we desperately need more NHS staff trained to spot tongue ties as well.

Not to mention better funding for post natal care generally so that midwives might have time to sit down and show women how to latch.

I wish they would talk to mothers about the reasons why they didn't BF/weren't able to BF, and solve the real problems, rather than going off statistical demographic studies and making assumptions from that.

[OwlinaTree]

thinkivebeenhacked to be fair we are given child benefit which should cover formula and nappies?

[Mehitabel6]

There are much better ways to use the money.

[coco2303]

But I do no people on income support receive healthy start vouchers to buy fruit,vegetables and milk including formula milk

[Cherriesandapples]

Reading the article, the project did provide support and was concentrated in poorer areas. You can't deny the health benefits for the woman who said the vouchers enabled her to buy tuna steak for the first time. In these areas, the babies are often disadvantaged in so many ways. If the scheme works it should continue!