to be absolutely freaking fuming about breastfeeding vouchers! !!!

[harriet247]

Cannot put into words how annoyed I am,have just switched on the news to be told that the government are considering offering breastfeeding vouchers to new mums.
160 quid in shopping vouchers for the first 6 weeks of the babys life and 200 if you go up to 6 months.
Im a ftm and I had crippling horrible guilt that I couldn't breastfeed. I really wanted to but my milk didnt turn up until 9 days after my baby was born. I think was something to do with 44 hour labour which ended in an emc a few weeks before my due date.
I am just furious, furious that women are being treated like foolish little ladies who need a cash incentive to feed their babies in the way the powers that be say is best.

Re: demonising of formula feeding mums. I am one of only 2 bf mums I know and I felt fucking demonised! Accused of being smug, righteous, difficult, antisocial?! And this is by other mothers. My dd is now 11and I avoid talking about feeding when babies are born as the moment it gets out that dd was bfed the new mum gets this guilty look and I'm left feeling horrid.

Mums shouldn't feel bad for their choices whatever they are but it is surprising how many mums don't even try to breast feed.

The fact is it is better for your baby and most people can do it but most people don't. We need to ask why and incentivise a change somehow

YABU - it's a university trial involving 130 women living in a deprived area where breastfeeding is particularly looked down on, to see if a financial incentive to breastfeed will help them overcome local stigma and breastfeed rather than ff. Not an official government policy, not judgement on women who aren't able to breastfeed, just research into encouraging health behaviours, which has been badly reported by the media (surprise!)

If it shows useful results there may be a larger trial, looking at rolling it out to more women in different areas where stigmas and pressures regarding BF are different, to see if a financial incentive works for other women. Probably won't - financial incentives are rarely as successful as might be imagined - but if you're particularly looking at increasing levels of BF among deprived women who are able to but choose not to out of social pressure, a voucher might be effective. Can't know until we ask the question.

The demonising of formula and mums who use it is so dull and ignorant and of the moment.

I am not clear how this trial 'demonises' FF mums. That seems a tad hyperbolic.

I can understand the arguments about its effectiveness, but I really cannot get cross with some low income mums getting a bit of extra cash. At its worst, it is surely benign but ineffectual?

I find the level of rage against this trial out of all proportion - so what if some hard up women get a it of extra help- why does that make some posters so very angry?

I'm not sure of the idea, but disagree about it putting more pressure on people to bf.

I remeber watching the cherry heely breastfeeding programme when dd1 was about 6 months and they followed several mums. One in particular was very young and from a deprived area and her reasons for not breastfeeding was just because nobody else does. Mother was aware of the benefits but just felt uncomfatable. I can see in this case it would possibly persuade more people to bf. I live in what is classed as. a deprived area and baby clinic is packed every week and heath visitors visiting regularly - I saw mine at home three times after midwife discharge. I think this would encourage more people in my area to bf.

is this not research being carried out on a small cohort of women who have consented to participate? presumably they have given some thought to their methodology and how they are gathering data, and how they are verifying self reporting of breastfeeding?

i have a very slight experience with social research, in my experience this seems likely

are found it moderate increase is 45% of mums feeding at 4 months. which would be a big increase on where we are now. I think breastfeeding at six months is currently only 1% according to the data in this study.

It's not extra help though is it? Does a voucher solve anything ? No!! You don't need money, you need someone actually there to help you.

if i had only read this thread, i would assume

wads of cash are being used to bribe women to bf
no on is going to do any follow up
this is a national scheme
ff mothers will be penalised (how? fines?) and demonised

rather than learning that this is a very small scale study involving a segment of bf mothers.

What a waste of money.

If there is money going spare it would be better to use it to improve midwife services etc - something to benefit all.

I also can't buy in to the comment I've seen on this thread a couple of times now re 'saving millions by reducing hospital admissions due to illness as a result of ff' - ridiculous!

Sky news had 'an expert' on this morning that literally made my blood boil in 30sec flat and i had to turn over. I mean opening the discussion with comparing the risk of not breast feeding with danger of not putting a seat belt on a kid into a car and then going on to say it was "a personal attack, I'm sorry, an attack on people who chose to breast feed"

miaow this reminds me of a time I was asked to stop breast feeding in a cafe or when another mother told me she thought it was 'dirty' and another one that my do would probably start having an affair if I didn't 'get that baby on a bottle soon' or the time my dgm threw a blanket over my child's head lest anyone see me breast feeding her or te time I was directed to a ladies loo to feed her.

It isn't just ff mums who are made to feel uncomfortable for their choices believe me!

I'm also absolutely raging about this. I think you'll find that those who want to bf give it their best shot anyway, and £120 or £200 isn't really much for an individual to change their mind if they don't plan to bf. But put together all of the £200's and pay someone to support those who try their hardest and end up feeling desperately guilty that they cant would be a much better use of money.

My DC wouldn't bf, or i wasn't doing it right (never got to the bottom of it really but i think he has slight tongue tie) and although i managed to express bm for 6 weeks and feed him this way, i had to then give up as i couldn't keep up/cope. I never got any support in hospital to establish bf and although i asked my hv several times to provide details of someone local who could help me, i got nothing. Promising me £200 would have made no difference to me, but a breast feeding coach in hospital and details of someone i could call on once i got home would have made such a difference.

The incentive of saving £££ on formula is already there if you bf so this money is being misused and could be put to much better use IMO

Ahh not forgetting the 'your dd will end up a lesbian after sucking on yer tits' comment

Truly without those 'breast is best' posters etc, I'm not sure I would have continued.

I think it's a great idea.

Anything that boosts bf rates is worth a try.

The £200 spent will probably be offset by those babies growing up to be healthier and taking pressures off the NHS - fewer gp visits for ear infections etc.

It's only a trial in a couple of small areas - I'll be interested to see what the results are.

Just to add, i have nothing against a trial where presumably the participants are getting adequate support to bf. But if its a success and a local authority decides to roll out the concept of paying mothers to bf, would this level of support also be provided by the LA? I think not. Therefore it is a waste of time. And money.

I think its a joke

trying to bf pushed my anxiety into overdrive and had panic attacks. I already felt under so much pressure and worry that I gave up to protect my mental health, and in turn my baby.

as soon as I made the decision to ff it was like a lifted weight and I really could enjoy dd

this shocked and saddened me this morning. I honestly feel I did what was best for both of us. dd absolutley thrived and is a lot healthier than many bf babies I know

its just shit

Bf = fewer GP visits for ear infections? Both of my children were ff by choice and neither have had an ear infection yet (one is 10, one is 8). Perhaps they have super genes?

I really wish they'd stop looking at ways to promote breastfeeding and spend more on supporting mum's to breastfeed.

My Dd was too gunked up after emcs, her bloody sugar dropped dangerously and she wouldn't feed by any method. When she came out of nicu 3 days later I'd only just managed to get someone to show me the pumping facilties. When I got home my bog standard Tommee tipped pump did nothing but further reduce my already limited supply. I got a new pump but could only manage one bottles worth a day at maximum. The advice I got? Starve Dd of formula so she pulls my supply up. That's right, Starve the kid who'd spent time in nicu with feeding issues. No financial incentive was going to help me there. But £200 on training someone to actually help would have done a lot more for us and some other people.

I think they should try it in one or two areas and see if it works. If they are aiming for areas of social deprivation where traditionally many women may not breastfeed for social and cultural reasons* then a tactic like this might well work. (And I had huge problems breast feeding both my DSs - went into mixed feeding v early with DS1 and swapped completely to formula for DS2 after we ended up back in hospital after a few weeks with v low weight gain so I know about the guilt and feelings of failure for not managing to get to six months).

• a big generalisation I know but I was listening to a report about this on the radio today and the difference in bf rates in different areas are staggering.

monic it's an average you can't apply it to individual cases on average ff babies will have a higher rate of gp visits. Doesn't mean all ff babies will. Also doesn't mean that bf babies won't need gp visits either. they are looking at whole picture you can't then apply this to you individual case it doesn't work like that.

There are lots of posts from moms who gave up ff or didn't bf because 'there was no one to help'. This is sad but is reality at the moment in the NHS-we shouldn't accept it, just as we shouldn't accept patients without drinking water, or beds being changed etc, but we should be realistic with our expectations.

If you're going to have a baby, you'll probably find you're pretty much left to it feeding wise. However, I spent hours on the Internet, on forums and information websites and found the info and the support I needed to carry on. If bf is important to you, you will find the info and support you need. You shouldn't have to, especially dealing with the aftermath of giving birth, but the sad fact is that it's unlikely the NHS workers can provide it for you.

We're often happy to spend hours on Facebook/forums/Internet shopping-we should use the Internet for a greater purpose and not just give up because there wasn't anybody to hold our hands through it. It's our baby, we can be proactive in getting them fed the best way (and despite the armchair medics trying to argue with anecdotal 'my child is top of the class and has never had a day's illness', the overwhelming evidence is that bf reduces the risk of many potentially serious illnesses now and in later life, as well as the risk of cot death).

Everything in the first days and weeks should be about getting bf established-paternity leave isn't for baby to bond with Daddy, but for Daddy to look after other children and household duties so mom and baby can retreat to bed, if needed, and establish bf.

Unfortunately, in my opinion the majority of people who give up (and this is where I refer to anecdotal evidence myself!) do so too quickly and easily, then feel guilt about it so try to belittle the efforts of those that do bf, or play down the benefits.

Bf was hard on my body at times, affected what I wore, how much sleep I got, what I ate and drank and where I could go. An incentive wouldn't have made me do it but would have been useful towards the cost of breast pads etc. and an acknowledgement that what I was doing was being valued by the wider society.

ithaka
But it's not a choice for all women that's the point.

How ridiculous, plough the sodding money back into training and employing nurses OR how about keeping the walk in centres open!