"It is every mother's free choice to feed her baby however she chooses, and let's be honest, everybody these days knows about the benefits of breastfeeding. We don't need any more 'raising awareness' about this, we just need to help people if they need help - and stop the guilt-tripping."
I don't believe that's true at all. I have bf 3 of mine and have also trained as a BF supporter. I have read myriad's of books and know for example that bm is tailor made for the needs of baby e.g. different consistency during hot weather. I did not know that night milk make baby more awake and am glad I learned something new on this thread.
Hearing 'breast is best' is naff now, tired old slogan with a lot of problems. Probably it was conceived during the time when Nike's "Just do it" type of slogans were all the rage. Giving actual facts such as how the milk changes to produce the right type of food for a baby in terms of anti bodies, water content and such like would illustrate why breast is best much more.
I'd like to see a change in breastfeeding policy from BF promotion to BF advocacy which focuses on the needs of women during the antenatal, post partum and weaning stages. Let's move on from the patronising and victorian model of 'we know what's best' to an approach that takes into account the diverse lives of pregnant mothers and that promoting bf needs to acknowledge that we are competing with breast milk substitute industry, low bf rates in the UK, societal barriers and all other barriers such as sex abuse and so on. There are many women who have experienced different levels of abuse some of whom would have a huge issue with bf due to the trauma they have experienced. Others have different cultural norms for instance in many Asian and African cultures babies are given solids with the first few weeks. BF policy needs to catch up with the times.
I agree that dishing out stats about cancer in an antenatal brochure is a sensitive issue, and i doubt that any woman chooses to bf her child because of that one fact.
Facts can be conveyed in a sensitive manner it's about communication and reaching out to mothers and their families.
I am passionate about bf but I am also a feminist and there are issues about women feeling unable to bf because of social norms and felinity, sexiness etc. It's a bit cruel to shout "breast is best" without a commitment to address structural barriers such as formal marketing. For instance the UK is not fully compliant with the WHO International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes, which is a bit hypocritical.
Stop laying the blame on women and start tackling the myriad's of tough barriers to bf whilst supporting mothers and presenting evidence based facts in a sensitive manner.
End of rant.