To think mothers should not be offered a financial incentive to breastfeed their babies?

[brasty]

This is based on a pilot study being reported on the news. I don't think we should be paying new mothers to breast feed. Instead we should be looking at proper support. New mothers used to not be discharged from hospital until breastfeeding was established.

Well I can see the advantage. But how on earth would they check people were actually breastfeeding and not just collecting the money.

I had loads of support. Still didn't work out for me, I couldn't have BF even if you paid me

Ditto. I would have paid to be able to, but it didn't work out for us and I'm already carrying quite enough guilt about that.

I think it's only controversial because breastfeeding is something people get so heated about, but it's not so controversial when you put it in the context of other health behaviours.

But there's a reason why people get so heated about it. It's a very emotive topic that new mothers can feel really terrible about if they see themselves as 'failing'. I think throwing in cash incentives in these circumstances is a recipe for disaster.

An incentive is not an obligation.

The government incentivises all sorts of behaviour that it considers desirable. Not being eligible for something extra is not ‘unfair’.

It sounds like an intelligent idea in deprived areas.

No one "polices" it. If the women want to claim the incentive they fill out a form, sign it, and get it counter signed by their midwife or HV. Presumably if the midwife or HV has doubts then they don't sign the form.

HatsOffDear
I was just about to say something similar to your post.

If BF is so much better how come you cannot tell the difference between a 4 year old who was BF and one who was FF?

@Pemberly I had a similar experience unfortunately.

Accrual that's why it annoys me when people bang on about support all the time. I lost count of the number of HCPs that offered support, but it wasn't to be.
My DC are teens now and I never think about it except when there are bunfights threads on MN about BF.

I think they need to stop giving vouchers for formula milk first. If everybody had to pay for formula there would definitely be an uptake in the free stuff. I was the only bf mum on an estate when I had my first and I knew so many mums and all of them. ALL formula fed. Not one of them paid for the stuff. It was all vouchers. I'd rather see free prescription formula for those with need to formula feed.

Pengggwn

It's normal breastfed baby behaviour. Almost no one realises this, especially not in areas where BF is not the norm.

The reason breastfeeding has died a death is because women have collectively forgotten what these normal behaviours are. If an incentive is needed to get enough women to stick through this very, very tough patch, those cultural support networks will be re-built, and we won't need to rely on the NHS to provide this support.

This is me in utopia, of course. But anything to try and re-build the 'breastfeeding village' has got to be worth a try.

I completely disagree with this.

I couldn't breastfeed and my mother couldn't breastfeed me. I was nearly very ill as a baby as I was refused a bottle in the attempt to establish breastfeeding.

Personally I feel there should be support (non financial) to help feeding generally! I was convinced I'd be able to breastfeed and when it became clear I couldn't, I was told off by a midwife for not bringing milk and bottles to hospital with me and then no-one offered any help or support in terms of bottle feeding.

Missing the point but surely breast feeding is a financial incentive in itself?

I FF DC1 and BF DC2 - saved a bomb by breastfeeding!!!

How on earth would you "prove" you were breastfeeding in order to qualify for the incentive?

I had trouble convincing a locum GP that my DS was happily putting on a shed load of weight with no supplementary formula. She was adamant - "Come now Mrs BuggerOff I just need to know which brand of formula you are topping him up with", it was only when the HV stepped in with "Mrs Bugger has enough milk to feed triplets let alone the one baby" that she stopped insisting.

Personally I did it because it was FREE (financial incentive right there), easy (for me) and convenient (no sterilising, milk always ready and available).

My first little boy couldn't breastfeed. He couldn't work it out properly and lost too much weight and ended up in hospital even though we really tried, breastfeeding consultants etc. I'm pregnant with my second and I'm one of those that will be going straight onto bottles this time around. Because as much as I want to breastfeed I'm terrified of it happening again, I have nightmares about it

I just can't believe that £150 is more incentive that the numerous health benefits for your DC and you including reducing the risk of breast cancer!!

Anything that improves infant health in deprived areas is to be applauded. Bravo.

Typical whining from people outraged that people less fortunate are getting a helping hand.

@farfallarocks you're assuming that everyone knows and believes in those benefits. Many people don't know or don't think the benefits are real.

**Ethically I find it a bit of a grey area

This to me is about as far from a grey area as you can get ethically. Paying women to do something with their breasts that many feel uncomfortable with, don't want to or can't. A scarily offensive and frankly disturbing concept!

Thanks Hatsoffdear :)

Pengggwn

I explicitly said 'no PND'. Twice even. If it's giving you PND or making you genuinely ill, then of course you stop. Some (SOME) of the time, however, the inability to manage frequent feeds is a lack of coping strategies.

The issue with frequency of feeding is that it doesn't match what has become the expected 'norm' of four hourly feeds, and a baby who sleeps 12 hours a night from six weeks old. This has to change so that mothers are prepared for the reality and have strategies in place - safe co-sleeping and family support to hold a fed, sleeping baby so the mother can sleep, and do as much work around the house as possible so the feeding mother can rest. Unless you witness your friends, mothers, aunts, cousins, sisters coping with - and helping you manage - this reality, you will be convinced that getting through it is either not possible or not normal. Again, if incentivising getting through this period builds a community of supportive women, it's not a bad thing.

Please, for those who think this is an awful idea, read the full details of the study, including the qualitative research done with people involved in the scheme (midwives, mums etc.). If you still disagree, fair enough and I understand why. However, it would be worth keeping an open mind and trying to put one's individual experiences aside in order to assess the research on its own merits - and that means reading about the study first. Here is a good place to start:
www.dundee.ac.uk/news/2017/financial-incentives-may-increase-breastfeeding-rates-.php

consise

So if you can’t bf and vouchers are withheld to poorer mums how does that help the baby?

Elpheba

You need the remember that women are individuals. Some want to bf, some absolutely don’t. Some find it easy and others find it impossible. Some couldn’t give a stuff about BF and others like you are evangelical.

All these views are valid but none matter or should be of any interest to anyone else except the mum concerned. Her body her choice.

Those that choose to bf should be given every help and those that choose not to or find they can’t should be offered equal support to ff.

What waterrat said
In these deprived areas, the education standards are quite low and some people view it as disgusting which might put off unconfident mothers who want to give it a go. I think they were given shopping vouchers if they managed for six weeks.