To wonder how much breastfeeding matters 14 years on?

[ringle]

Genuine question. I bf both my kids with relatively few problems, mostly because I found it enjoyable.

But looking back it doesn't seem that big a deal.

What's prompted this is a couple of people testifying on another thread that their ongoing efforts to bf drove them to depression.

What are the stats?

LivingtotheFull,
sorry to hear this story

You might not be able to tell on an individual level, but you can at population level.

This whole thread demonstrates that we need UK evidence-based guidelines for infant feeding. I'd love to see graded-evidence NICE guidelines, clearly setting out the benefits. Then decisions based on evidence (not exaggeration, anecdote etc) can be made.

Thank you ringle. I do feel that the pressure on me to find a way to breastfeed contributed massively to making an already traumatic situation all the more excruciating.

And I really felt that pressure…from having a breast pump set up for me near DC's incubator in the neonatal room because I was told that being close to my baby may make it easier (don't think it made any difference to me trying to produce milk next to my DC fighting for life).

And I remember staring at the 'Breast is best' poster set up strategically opposite me in the ward after my emergency Caesarian, depicting a healthy pink-and-white baby being cuddled - so different from my own little one I could have picked up in one hand at the time, the contrast was grotesque.

The pressure felt almost like bullying to me at the time - I'm not saying it was, I accept the staff had the best of intentions towards my DC - but it was such a sensitive, painful and terrifying time and i found that pressure hard to cope with.

There is something wrong that I found this the single most traumatising thing about the whole experience, I am sure that there must be a better way.

moreprosecco -- totally!!

living - that is so so sad. I feel like it is awful you had to be presented with that type of traumatic scenario. Is there any way to feed back to the units, through patient representation or anything like that? Or to get in touch with eg, baby friendly who are developing/establishing standards for encouraging breastfeeding in neonatal units, they are v much about encouraging it, but ensuring it is done in a really sensitive and supportive way and can learn from the experiences of families where well meaning "information" was taken up in a way that actuallydidjt always result as planned - the kind of sadness and guilt you are reporting.

Thank you bigmamapeach, I think that they tried to handle it sensitively but there was no getting away from how hurtful the situation was….I am not sure how it could have been handled differently.

I think they were right to try to encourage me to produce milk though as it is beneficial to the baby: www.nhs.uk/Conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/Pages/breastfeeding-premature-baby.aspx

It was so hard though, my DC was too sick for the 'skin to skin' contact that is recommended for preemies. But it was nobody's fault that it was particularly hard.

I think I could have been spared that poster though. That and the 'milk bank' fridge. I am sure these could have been handled differently.

You might not be able to tell on an individual level, but you can at population level.

What are the population-level differences between 14 year olds who were breastfed and 14 year olds who weren't?

Living I recognise the feeling of being bullied, I was told in a breastfeeding group (and I was BF just needed a bit of support in early days) that in the wild, if she were any other mamal my baby would die if i didnt BF.

Please write to 'more or less' as this thread is already too long for me to bother to read!

Reading scientific papers is always better, as news articles grab a statistic out of them with little background. For example the BBC quoting that 'over half of uk babies have formula by the end of week 1' to back up their story of how terrible uk breastfeeding rates are. While this is true, they didn't go on to point out that c-section rates are around 20% and most will have some formula to start as the mother's milk takes a bit longer to come in. So some of these will go on to be ebf for a year for example (like my niece). Similarly they quote the stat that only 0.5% of babies are bf past a year, without passing comment that a lot will he fed to exactly this date, (again my niece) due to maternity leave in this county being 12 months long. Bf rates are low, but all news articles now seem to need to be extreme and full of click bait, rather than presenting a balanced, well researched picture.

But what would we ask More or Less to research?
Is the data on people driven to PND because of pressure even out there? How could it be gathered and made available?

I guess the NHS has records of bf in the baby's red book and PND in the mother's health records, but they are likely not held in a way to make the data possible to link or use. A study could look at a random sample of a lot of people, but would have to try and account for whether the people most likely to bf, are more likely to have depression for other reasons and would need to adjust for previous depression. Possible though.
Would be interesting to design some kind of 'baby benefit' measure and assess whether the benefits of bf are negated if the mother ends up too tired/stressed etc because of it. You can't ask babies to complete a survey to rate their health and wellbeing sadly. 😉 Interesting to muse on, but I don't know if any research has been done along the lines of the above.

It seems like a huge challenge.

Could women be asked a simple question like "how does your experience of bf/trying to bf make you feel?"

Yes, a survey could look at that side definitely, although my experience is that I've felt a whole range of emotions about it at different times, so a few questions may be needed.
Linking that to if the health benefits outweigh any detriment due to any negative feelings or stress on the mother's part is very complex and very much an individual consideration. E.g My experience was that I exclusively expressed in the early months, but supplemented with formula because to pump enough would require 8 expressions a day and we never would have left the house and I'd have gone crazy, which I judged would be unhelpful for my baby's development and wellbeing. I worked hard, though,as I judged 50%+ EBM was worth the extra effort for the reduced risk of stomach bugs etc. Also at the very start on NICU it made me feel as if I was helping, as it was one thing I could control, which was very positive for me. Some other people had the opposite experience and felt pressured though, I notice from earlier in thread and therefore chosen the best balance for their family, which would be different.