Does every health care professional breastfeed?

[Iammeltin]

Since the birth of my child and the way they push “breast is best” and my health visitor actually telling me she can’t promote formula even if breastfeeding isn’t working, not caring about the mothers mental health in the process.

Do all midwives/health visitors/doctors breast feed then? None of them use formula?

Breastfeeding rates in this country are hugely lower than other countries.

I was lucky enough to have excellent bf support because I knew where to ask for help.

If anything, I felt unusual to bf past the first week. It is absolutely NOT the norm to bf in this country, and it really should be.

The breast is best message is correct, factually.

That doesn't mean women should be shamed for choosing to bottle feed, and it certainly doesn't mean we should keep quiet about the benefits in case it hurts their feelings.

I don't criticise the 5-a-day message for making me feel guilty when I get a takeaway. I know I'm making the choice for a number of reasons, and that I could be making a healthier choice if I had more time to cook/classes in cookery/support when I set things on fire (you get the idea).

There are a GENUINELY tiny number of women who "can't" in actuality breastfeed, and a zillion other people who for lack of timely support and knowledge feel that they can't.

Early motherhood is a very stressful time, and women who are sleep deprived and culturally have not been around breastfeeding (most women in the UK, statistically) are unlikely to persevere with something when they face obstacles and have no support to get it right.

We absolutely need more information for mothers and a wider understanding of breastfeeding in medical professionals. The message to "top up" is in many cases damaging as it disrupts early supply and causes problems. If there was more, accessible support available then we could have higher rates of breastfeeding.

Like everything, continual governments have eroded and devalued the services we used to have.

Well as a midwife I’d disagree with your HV. I can’t promote formula feeding to groups of women, I can’t suggest it without reason to an individual woman. If a woman is keen to bf and it’s not working there’s things which can be done short term such as expressing and cup feeding. But as an autonomous practitioner if it seemed to me that a woman’s mental health was being wrecked by bf pressure I would certainly explore a gentle conversation about how long she wanted to keep trying. We should be providing holistic women centred care and women should never feel under pressure to bf.

i bf my Dd for nearly 2 years, all my colleagues I have known have bf. Maybe we have a head start and the positioning, etc comes a bit easier as we see it, talk about it so much.

Thats because formula milk is regulated such that they are extremely similar nutritionally, there is a standard they all have to meet. So any recommendation they could make would only be a personal one, which wouldn't really be very professional of them - formula milks are all the same.
Do you expect nurses to recommend different paracetamol or ibuprofen brands? No of course not because they all work the same - the principle is the same with formula milk. No need to recommend a brand they all meet the standard.

Breastfeeding has terribly low statistics in the UK compared to overseas, with many people opting for formula for no other reason than they just would prefer to use formula.

'Breast is best' is promoted for a reason - it is absolutely better than formula, and can help protect you from many diseases later in life.

Healthcare professional simply can not promote formula and nor should they.

We all know formula exists.

Unfortunately, many people are not educated enough to the benefits of breastfeeding and previously the NHS has not supported new mothers to keep at it.

Now they do, and it is excellent.

I will definitely discuss how to make formula feeds up safely, how to sterilise equipment, etc. I don’t recommend one brand over another as it’s all advertising guff…..there is no better formula. I say get the one your corner shop stocks so when you run out at 8pm you can get some quickly.

I really did not find any of the health care professionals I came into contact with after giving birth last year to be at all pushy. It was always my intention to formula feed. I mixed fed for the first couple of days to give a dose of colostrum and then exclusively formula fed. I discussed my choice with my midwife and hv, wrote it my birth plan and honestly felt that this decision was always respected and supported. I am also incredibly surprised that some posters are saying that midwives and health visitors are not allowed to discuss how to make up a bottle with new mothers. My midwife asked me in the hospital if I knew how to steralise a bottle and make up a feed (I was also given a leaflet on safe bottle feeding) and the health visitor asked the same question when she visited me at home. I felt the breastfeeding mums from my antenatal group had much less support. Many of them reported that the midwives were trying to rush them home just hours after giving birth when they were confused on how to establish feeding and as a result one baby needed to be readmitted because of dehydration and weight loss.

I wasn't pushed by any health professional to breastfeed. I said I didn't want to and they accepted it. No questions as to why.

There is a difference between not promoting formula and being so pro bfing that formula can never be mentioned.

There will be many instances where bfing mothers struggle and will wonder about formula. But they don’t have any space where they can discuss that switch because it’s all about bfing.
Never mind the bleeding, MH issues, struggles etc….

I was a near failure with breastfeeding despite my best efforts. Neither dc could get enough milk and they were losing weight and dehydrated.

eventually I cracked and barked at the health visitor/midwife (can’t recall which) “If it was your son would you give him formula” to which she replied with no hesitation “yes”. She explained later that she wasn’t allowed to recommend formula other than in emergency situations, which mine would have been a few hours later. I’ll never forget that.

With my first born in 2021 we had an appointment with the infant feeding team after my son lost over 11% of his body weight and was on the verge of being readmitted. I was 10 days after a c section, severely sleep deprived, bleeding nipples, at the start of post partum depression.

i desperately asked about formula feeding (as a FTM I had no idea) and I was told in these exact words “if you don’t want to breast feed we can’t help you”.

I left the appointment sobbing, feeling like a complete failure. I promptly switched him onto formula and he thrived.

There’s nothing ludicrous about promoting anything other than breastfeeding, but to answer the OP - I can guarantee they don’t.

Brilliantly written! My journey was hard but really rewarding in the end, like everything really. My sister who had her baby 4 month before me gave me guidance and was huge help. She would tell me: "you will persevere". Through tears, I did. It was so easy after (from 6 weeks). My MF was also fantastic and told me to not stress over child not feeding enough. She would say through enough exposure me and my baby would learn. We did.

I had the opposite experience. I wanted to breastfeed my son but in hospital the midwives basically took over and tried to formula feed ds against my will! Ds wouldn't take the bottle and I did end up exclusively breastfeeding in the end but did feel like I was going against the grain and not supported.

A crazy HV told me to not breastfeed and that if I did 'the baby would never bond with daddy'.

It wouldn't been great if I'd have met health professionals actually pro breastfeeding!

Whether you like it or not breast IS best, it is anti-science to suggest otherwise. it helps prevent breast cancer, diabetes, obesity, alzheimers between mother and baby and many other things as medical research has found over the years. Formula can’t contain the antibodies, hormones and stem cells that breast milk does.

At the end of the day you can strop about it but they are pushing science, the formula feeding rate in this country is uncharacteristically high and it can and will show its hand eventually.

There are a GENUINELY tiny number of women who "can't" in actuality breastfeed, and a zillion other people who for lack of timely support and knowledge feel that they can't.

This is part of the problem. Do I count as one of your genuinely tiny number? I had milk, but my tiny low birth weight baby struggled to stay awake to feed as I struggled to recover from pre eclampsia. She fed 20 hours a day. I was sobbing and exhausted for 10 days until I finally realised I was going completely loopy and offered her a bottle. Hope I count for your numbers, or maybe I should have just tried harder. Or maybe I would have jumped off a bridge.

Well my experience is that they do suggest formula when struggling! My baby lost too much weight at first check in and I was told in no uncertain terms that I had to give them formula as I was not providing enough milk for dd to survive on and gave me some aptimal. They suggested pumping to increase my supply and I tried every 3 hours pumping and combi feeding but the milk never came through. I regret losing so much sleep over it and went straight to combi feeding with dd2.

I know - I realise that. But when you're told your baby is ill and you need to go out and buy formula, you ask which one. Because you have no idea.

To be honest it was just one part of a complete mess of contradictory and confusing information at a very difficult time.

Yup, I had a very similar experience in 2019 - except we were at 14% and he was admitted and tube fed.

Unfortunately, many people are not educated enough to the benefits of breastfeeding

I agree with most of your comment but not this part.

Mothers (and parents in general) are very much told about the benefits of breastfeeding. What they aren't told about is the techniques, tips and methods etc.

Because so few women do it here in the uk, the skill isn't passed on peer-to-peer enough.

It's no good just knowing breastfeeding is better if you can't do it (or feel you aren't able to).

What society needs to teach mums is how to breastfeed, not just that they ought to

This was my experience too. I just nodded, then did my own thing. That health visitor left and was replaced by someone who supported my decision to breastfeed without constantly banging on about topping up. Most of the midwives at the maternity hospital seemed very reluctant to give me any breastfeeding advice. I'm in NI though. Anyone who wants to formula feed without prejudice should come here as that's pretty much all you see.

Mother and aunt both doctors. Neither breastfed their babies (they had 4 and 3, respectively).

They had children in the 1980s/1990s when maternity leave was much shorter though, so they may have made a different choice if they had their babies now.

People also seem to think that mums who formula feed are lazy or something - no, formula feeding is often a whole lot more bother, especially at night. It's not a lazy option. You also have to endure more crying while you're making up a bottle, rather than immediately latching a breast.

I think a large proportion of formula feeding mums want to, or would have wanted to, breastfeed.

Just "educating them on the benefits" wouldn't change outcomes, they know already, they just couldn't manage to do it

@Looneymahooney I am in Ireland but similar stats.

I would respectfully disagree with you on lack of education. It was everywhere, I am an intelligent PHd holding woman. I had no intention of ever breastfeeding. The benefits are at mass level. I was fourth generation bottle fed, so I had no worries about issues.

I wanted to share equal parenting with my husband and quite frankly I hated the idea and knew I wouldn't find it comfortable.

99% of my peers did the same. Most were very open about wanting equitable parenting. Wanting to give themselves the best chance of not being restricted.

Society should ensure support is there for women that choose breastfeeding. But I don't see how it will become the more popular option when I believe most women are making the free choice to bottle feed.

When the community midwife came to see me with DC2 she brought a student with her. She told her not to assume that women who didn't BF weren't motivated. Said Prawn was very eager to BF but I'd been acutely ill for a week after my first delivery (an ECS) and this second baby's jaw had been very badly bruised by forceps so he couldn't latch. In both cases my milk never came in.

I was heartbroken not to be able to BF. I was BF and always assumed I would do the same. But a wise man reminded me that the purpose of infant feeding is to feed the infant, which comforted me.