Breastfeeding and MN. Why so different to IRL?

Everyone in my social circle has EBF until solids too, except 2 mums who had preemies - one needed a special type of milk right from the start, the other began mixed feeding a few weeks in due to digestion issues. I am actually more surprised at the “1% by 6 months” stat, which is not representative at all of what I see.

Edit to add - not currently in the UK, and here BF is not correlated with class. If anything it’s the opposite, wealthier families will usually FF as they can afford the extra cost.

It's a demographic thing I think - MN tends to be wealthier and more middle class than the population at large, and those are the groups that are more likely to breastfeed.

FWIW, all of my friends EBF or breastfed with the odd bottle of formula. I can think of two who didn't, both of whom tried very hard on their first but it didn't work out.

Also there is a judgement element on here, so I can understand FFing mums not posting about it (which is a real shame). Plus, on a thread like the wedding one, BFing is relevant to the logistics, in that an EBF baby at that age can't be left, so given the OP herself mentioned BFing she needs to know that if the feeding works out, the wedding won't. FFing isn't a consideration as anyone can do the bottles, but obviously at that age lots of FFing mums wouldn't want to leave the baby anyway.

But also this. I'd never met anyone who breastfed before my lot. I hadn't considered it until we did NCT classes, which was mostly to make friends as we'd just moved to a new area at 34 weeks pregnant. It's very middle-class here and BF rates are high.

I think it’s like the others said then must be location but I am in a relatively northern deprived area so that does suprise me and we always have chats about how cheap breastfeeding is maybe our midwives talk about that aspect haha

Interestingly back when I was in a baby club thread here on MN, we realised that the percentage of us on the thread who were still BF past 6 months was way higher than the stats. Maybe part of that is because people come on MN to seek support (I remember lots of Qs asked and tips offered about BF on the thread at the time), and often lack of support is a factor in why people stop BF?

I'm in the SW and have friends still BFing their 3 year olds. The BF rate here is v v high. I stopped feeding my first at 10 months and second at 7 months and am very much the minority

and it is very much correlated with levels of maternal education. Women with degrees or post graduate qualifications are much more likely to breastfeed than women without.

MN demographics aren't representative of the general population. BF in the UK correlates with social class.

Out of my 8 person NCT group, 1 formula-fed, 1 exclusively pumped, and everyone else breastfed.

But equally - there'd be no reason to start a thread about a formula-fed baby needing to go to a wedding, because the choice is clear. Baby can't go, so someone else feeds them, or Mum doesn't go. It's more complicated for a breastfed baby, because exceptions are often made, and nobody else can feed the baby easily.

This. It's not really that hard to figure out.

All my mum friends breastfeed too.

I agree with you OP. None of my circle did it, and I was adamant I wouldn’t. Wasn’t pressured by midwives neither, just got asked and the bottle feeding box was ticked on my notes.

I saw somewhere it was very demographic dependant so therefore some areas rates are higher, some really low therefore you are more likely to see all of one or all of another.

Just thinking about the mothers I know, most break fed/are breast feeding beyond 6 months. My daughter is still BF her 7 month old. A friend BF until her child started school!

Because people are more likely to post about challenges etc if the baby is BF.

Because for weddings, when the bride sets out she wants a childfree wedding, and someone decides that doesn't apply to them and they want to guilt them into being allowed to bring their baby; saying they are EBF is essentially saying "my hands are tied" and puts the bride and groom in the position of looking like complete dicks if they say no.

All my real life mum friends breastfed tbh I don’t know anyone who formula fed not that it’s a problem just an observation I think the figures are out of date