Guest blog: 'Breast is Best' - has breastfeeding been oversold?

[KateMumsnet]

Prof Joan B Wolf is the author of 'Breast Is Best?', which argues that mothers are being pressured to breastfeed for reasons that aren't, in fact, based on good evidence.

In our guest blog debate, she explains why she thinks that the science behind the 'breast is best' health claims might be fundamentally flawed. On the same page Anna Burbidge, Chair of the La Leche League, responds to some of her arguments.

Do read both, and let us know what you think. Is breastfeeding being promoted as part of "an ideology of total motherhood that stipulates that a mother can and should eliminate any risk to her children, regardless of how small or likely the risk or what the cost is to her own wellbeing in the process"? Or do you feel that, far from breastfeeding being an orthodoxy, society still feels awkward and uncomfortable about it? If you blog, don't forget to post your URLs here.

We know the breastfeeding/formula feeding thing is a hugely emotive subject on MN, as in real life, so please do remember that Mumsnet supports parents' personal choices on this issue - we're all about making lives easier. Please be kind and respectful towards those whose views or experiences differ from your own.

If it is for health reasons that's fair enough, but I don't agree with choosing not to breastfeed for reasons of convenience or vanity.

"Anti-formula brigade" - yes, that well organised group that have a billion dollar industry dependent on not-too-many women deciding to breastfeed.. Oh, wait..

Mothers make decisions based on convenience every day,kids are fed a steady stream of convenience crap.

Many mothers find bfing makes them utterly miserable and they just can't do it.We are soooooo very lucky to have a safe alternative which isn't dangerous at all statwise if you follow guidelines.

Couldn't give two shits what anyone else did or does.
You're still feeding your baby, that's fine.

I chose bf because IMO it's easier - they're to hand and ready at all times and I'm lazy
I did do some bottles though when I wanted a rest and Dh could step in - didn't bother to express though or I may as well fed her myself.
Moved fully on to formula at 5/6 months not through choice but because dh was hospitalised and the visiting hours etc weren't flexible which was a pita - my milk also dried decreased due to stress.

I fully plan to bf and ff dd2 - best of both worlds for me

Guidelines of which my 8 year old could follow,comprehend and make a mean bottle of formula up with if she had to.

"Mothers make decisions based on convenience every day,kids are fed a steady stream of convenience crap."

There are some shocking 'mothers' in the world, I don't think that should ever be used as justification for anything!

That's great Polka but not everyone does. Or, they don't understand the importance.

I'm not talking about shocking mothers but decisions.Breast feeding is but one decision and to be frank most other ideals are far easier to provide as you don't get shredded boobs,pain,exhaustion and hormonal,leaking hell.

Far lazier to feed kids nuggets,let them sit in front of screens,not hear them read daily,not take them to the woods,not to cook and eat a family meal together etc.There is no pain or trauma involved in any of these yet plenty of mothers choose not to provide something that is far easier to provide.So if you want to hike your judge pants up..........

Star which is exactly why I think there should be safe formula advertising on TV,in magazines etc.

I disagree. Once you let that happen, already low bf rates will go down. It's a pattern that can be tracked across the world.

We need real investment in bf support. It can be done. It just needs political will and, of course, money for staffing.

Well, I haven't had any of those issues. On the contrary, breastfeeding has been much easier, no getting up in the night to sort out bottles etc, it's right there, where it's supposed to be!

Of course there are many important decisions to be made, but as one of the first decisions most mothers will make, I don't see why you wouldn't make it with your baby's best interests rather than your own.

Sorry Liz Zi found ffing waaaay easier for me.Sterilised bottle by bed,scissors,carton of ready made- bobs your uncle.No pain,no fuss,no crap latching,no resentment,no poorly underweight baby(in our case x3,I'm aware not for all)just a lovely cuddly time.

Well, good for you Liza80! My baby got some breastmilk until he was 13 months old, despite all of those issues and 2 bouts of mastitis. Couldn't do exclusive bf, as every time I tried (and yes, I tried every trick in the book), he starting falling down the weight centimes and frankly, one hospitalisation for dehydration was enough for me.

Really - we're all doing our best. We all came from different places and we all have different ideas of how we need our lives to be organised in order to retain some kind of physical & mental health.

Bully for you. The majority of mothers are not so lucky with breastfeeding. Otherwise they would not stop.

X posts, my last was to Liza80

breast feeding is optimal if it works,if not impacting upon maternal mental/physical health
formula is safe,rigorously tested and in uk it's how majority babies are fed
unfortunately bf attracts some strident sometimes over zealous supporters who do Hector mothers.they are a vociferious minority who do go too far

Lisa. I made it for my babies benefit actually,along with many others.A toxic,resentful,tear ridden scenario every single feed just wasn't worth it all.The benefits just weren't enough and my babies were sooooo much happier and healthier once we made the switch.

Perspective is what is needed,you're a mum for life,you don't fail at it if the first choice doesn'tfollow an ideal.Sorry. I know many wish it were so but you just don't.

Yes, breast is best. Nutritionally and medically, breast milk is better than formula milk. No one is denying that.

However for many women there are a whole variety of factors involved in the decision to bf v ff, whether it is as soon as the baby is born, or after a period of unsuccessful or painful bf.

For most of my time on MN I haven't admitted that I wasn't very happy with the thought of bf before DD was born, though I was prepared to try it and see if it came naturally and easily to me. We were all set up for mixed feeding or ff, though. This was a decision based on lots of factors, but factors which we as prospective parents felt would in the short term - i.e. the first 6-12 months of our baby's life - have more significant effects on our family than the longer term benefits of bf. Due to circumstances (which do clearly fall in to the lack of support for new mums) DD was given formula as she wasn't with me, and no one talked to me about expressing or keeping my supply going until she was ready to feed. I wasn't heartbroken, and so carried on with formula.

This is a decision I have now decided I am comfortable to talk about because I have realised that for a small portion of the online community, if they aren't slyly criticising you for one decision, they will be criticising you for another.

Some women online who have bf for a long time do word themselves as if they are all round better mothers than women who didn't bf, who didn't do it for long. I'm not saying there are people like it on this thread, but there are people like it online, and sometimes on MN. I have never met a single person in RL who has commented on me ff my baby, and that includes all the doctors and HV.

Breast is best and I wholeheartedly agree with everyone else who says that the money would be far better spent supporting women who are having difficult bf. Perhaps a better system of support, one that is well known about and seems to work, would help convince women like me to really give it a go.

But generally, a lot of these debates just makes we want to say - FFS, do we really have nothing better to do as women than to criticise other mother's decisions and to slowly chip away at their belief in themselves as mother's making the right decision for their whole family?

X-posted, but I just wanted to say hear hear to Polka for you're a mum for life, you don't fail at it if the first choice doesn't follow an ideal.

the most strident bf supporters always seem to habitually disbelive mums struggle to bf
I've read them on mn dispute not enough milk,milk not coming in,or pain
if that's a mums subjective account how dare someone stridently dispute or infer didn't try hard enough

Exactly Maebe and really I want to say ff's can we not after campaigning or more support,more info on safe ffing focus on other issues that will have a far bigger impact on child health in this country such as food advertising or sports facility provision,screen time restriction etc.

Have we really only got time to bang on backwards and forwards re this tedious debate when discussing child health?To be honest the overselling of this issue can be counter productive as I think some mothers are actually being brain washed into thinking oh I breast fed so now I can feed him whatever shit and however much I like.I know several.

It's almost like some women want breast milk to be he elixir of life.It's a good,natural food,the best choice but it will not ward off ill health or obesity if you don't provide a healthy lifestyle.If you provide a healthy diet and lifestyle and ff you'll still have a healthy child (genes and and luck aside).Many women actually lose sight of this.

I would like to say, that I totally sympathise with anyone who wanted to breastfeed but was unable to for mentioned reasons, as I said before, it's when people choose not to breastfeed before ever even giving it a go!
I think far too many people just expect to fail as well which inevitably means that they probably will!

If we had more faith in breastfeeding and a healthier attitude towards it, as a society, I don't think so many people would struggle or simply choose not to try!

But most people do try,there just isn't enough support.

Liza - I don't think most people think they'll fail. In my experience, breastfeeding classes as part of antenatal class gave me the impression that it would be easy & we'd all succeed. Therefore we all expected to succeed, and when it turned out to be bloody difficult, painful and inconvenient, we were a bit surprised and thought we must be doing it wrong. Some of us carried on, some relatively easily, some not, and some of us switched to formula - which, as a mix feeder myself (and therefore non-existant in most of the debates), I found a lot easier.

Personally, I think more people would persevere if they were actually told the truth - that it might well be a horrible first few months, but that it would almost certainly get easier.