I'm starting to hope the posts on thr thread are beginning to show the problem HCPs and the NHS have over the issue of feeding a baby. There are too many variables.
You see I disagree on that point. Much of the rest of what you say has elements of the truth and a good deal of merit but that's the one I ironically disagree on.
I think its a cop out to say there are too many variables when the truth is that problems that women have tend to be fairly common ones rather than unusual ones and the really key message isn't being prompted. It should be that "health and welfare of both mother and child both physical and mental is best" rather than the kindergarten "breast is best".
HCPs have a duty to 'do no harm' and to put the interests of each individual patient first. I do think an over zealous and simplistic approach to feeding IS doing harm. Especially if you consider the what the implication are if poster who put the following is correct.
Interestingly in the recent issue of our local NCT newletter, postnatal depression and bf was mentioned, but the title was about how bf reduces PND. Only at the bottom of the article did they mention in passing that it had been found that not being able to bf was linked with PND.
We live in a society where we do have complex health issues. We need to get to grips with dealing with them as being complex rather than trying to reduce them to black and white. Life isn't like that, and we do all know that.
Ultimately if you promote a more complex message that "health and welfare of both mother and child both physical and mental is best" then the women sat next to each other with different problems are more inclined to see healthcare as a series of more complex compromises and individual care plans rather than being quite so black and white. Its a message that although not quite as catchy and a bit more complex isn't really hard either.
I think that actually the biggest problem women have is this thing where they are constantly compared and taught to fit into little boxes throughout their lives, not just in health and wellbeing in a way that men aren't. We look to see how we fit in with others rather than accepting and acknowledging our differences. Its about seeing women as simpletons.
I don't think the most basic of practical principles of breast feeding (or indeed formula feeding) are terribly hard. However I do not think that teaching 'baby to boob and if it hurts you are doing it wrong' is a correct principle because its too simplistic. We don't get taught about the most common problems and how to deal with them until after we give birth (and the health service does not support the most common problems such as tongue tie adequately). Only providing education after the fact often means the ship has sailed before you can get the information you need. Women are able to and would rather manage to make decisions about family planning and the sometimes complex pros and cons about each method than dealing with an unplanned pregnancy. How does this differ exactly?
We hear a lot about the emotional bond between a mother and baby when breastfeeding goes right, but we don't get taught a great deal about how to cope if its not going right. We don't get taught that you are likely to behave in a way you might not normally do after giving birth (which applies to a number of issues - which include things like signing your life away to the likes of Bounty...).
Under all this, is the fact that postnatal care is crap. But that is not under pinned by lack of funding but by lack of political will power. Its poor planning and allocation of resources rather than lack of them that are the issue. PND is linked to feeding outcomes, so is costing the NHS and other parts of society more than it would to properly address the source of the problem rather than only addressing the symptoms.
The bottom line is not that women are stupid, but that women are being treated as if they are.
Again another basic principle of good healthcare.