Why are breastfeeding rates so low in the UK?

[Olivebrach]

So related to the news about the Royal College of Midwives changing their policy saying mothers have the right to formula feed and the stigma around formula needs to change ect..

I get it that for people that breastfeeding doesnt work out for/isnt easy, they shouldnt be made to feel like a failure. And the 'breast is best' mantra can be upsetting if that is what you desire to do but it doesnt work out.

But considering the breastfeeding rates are so low in the UK (1 in 200 babies are breastfed at the age of 1). The "mantra" and policy atm currently isnt working to up bf rates..? Clearly more people are formula feeding.

So in your opinion..
what should be done to increase breastfeeding?
And why do so few women end up breastfeeding?

AIBU to think the rates need to improve?

I remember being pregnant for the first time a few years back and a midwife asking me if I was planning to breast feed my baby... I was astonished and replied "of course. Why wouldn't I want to BF my baby?

Ahh the naivety of being a first time parent 🤣

Turns out I did BF all of my babies for over a year - but it bloody hurt at first and I got no sleep for a number of years. My choice.

It just didn't occur to me not to do it. I would absolutely not judge anyone else for making a different decision. But yes it does seem sad not to make people aware of the benefits.

I was treated like a cow. As long as they could tick the box that my baby was getting some form of breast milk the medical professionals couldn't give a shit. My son wouldn't latch, I was proactive about asking for help at every conceivable opportunity. He lost 10% of his birth weight after a traumatic delivery (cat 1 EMCS) which no one talked to me about as my boobs were far more important. I left hospital exclusively expressing as my supply was fine and I really wanted to make it work. I kept trying to latch him at home to no avail. He'd just cry and turn his head. They causally told me I'd have to express every 3 hours around the clock to keep my supply, especially in the early hours when your hormones peak. All well and good but it took an hour to get a decent amount with a screaming Newborn who I couldn't hold at the same time then an hour and a half to feed him using a bottle. "Make sure you rest your infected c section". Good one. I lasted 3.5 weeks (mainly because my husband being on paternity for 2 weeks helped massively) until my supply dwindled to a few drops so I "gave up". Knocking over a small bottle, that took me an hour to get, through sleep exhaustion was devastating. It's something I'm passionate about. Calling the Samaritans from Sainsbury's feeling like the worlds biggest failure after basically being told I was a useless mother by some twat on a supposedly parenting forum when I asked for help was the lowest I've ever been in my life and I'm petrified I'll end up back there if I have another baby. I still feel pangs of guilt and sadness when I see a breastfeeding mother and that's after therapy. Breastfeeding is amazing and I genuinely admire those that continue when it's hard, I also fully support those who choose to FF from the start. For some of us though, there's a painful story behind it and you can't help but feel scrutinised and judged by the very establishments and outlets you turn to in desperation for a crumb of reassurance.

Also to add to my PP I speak as someone who had planned a drug free water birth. I went into my first Labour with printer up birth plans, lavender oil & had thought deeply about what my wishes were for the placenta etc.... all my babies turned out to be born by C-Sec - but again I don't feel bad about that neither do I beat myself up about it - we all just do what we feel comfortable with and whatever helps us get through those baby years - women DO need to feel
confident to make their own decisions - BUT we also need to know the facts!

Oh i’ll Also say

With DD2 I was a very active member of the NCT (despite being everything against the stereotype).

I called the helpline. I could never get through to ANYONE. Many many times. You are supposed to be directed automatically to someone local.

I knew who to mention this to. I had uncovered a fault which meant that very very few people from my CITY would have been able to get any support in the preceding MONTHS due to a phone software mis-program.

Even @call a helpline” fails sometimes

And this is why women like myself get defensive and feel that they have to justify themselves; because the attitude from those who managed to breastfeed is always that we're just making excuses / could have tried harder / blah blah fucking blah

I would never bring it up. Ever. Your choice. Your decision.

But 9/10 when i bf in public another woman would start to tell me how they “couldn’t” breastfeed. As i said, some being blatantly untrue - that it is impossible to feed a baby over a certain weight, for example, or a baby feeding 3 hourly is “starving” because they aren’t sleeping through.

I’d smile and nod sympathetically. There is no need to justify it though. And to sit there and tell me a baby still night waking at 3 months is clearly not getting enough milk, when my 6 m old is still feeding 2x a night, is hardly helpful!

Bottle feeders shouldn’t have to justify themselves. That’s my point.

DoYouLikeHueyLewisandTheNews

You are far from the only one with a story like that. They system is crap and I believe that you shouldn’t be allowed to be a BF councillor unless you’ve struggled with BF or can prove you’re not a total zealot.

You did what you thought was right at the time. Don’t beat yourself up.

I believe that bf rates are so low because of the lack of support available for breastfeeding mothers, by that I don't mean around the act of breastfeeding itself but being cared for at home, having meals made, housework taken care of etc while they concentrate on feeding the baby. I also think that mums aren't informed on what "normal" breastfeeding behaviour looks like (cluster feeding, not being able to put baby down etc) and so they believe it's not going well and give up when in fact their baby's behaviour and feeding is completely normal.

The decision to breastfeed for the most part is exactly that, a decision. I had a terrible time with DS1 and found myself teetering on the edge of PND and hospital readmission when he lost too much weight. My story is not unusual. I made the decision at that point to bottle feed rather than persevere and have a healthy, happy two year old. When his sister arrived 10 months ago I half heartedly tried but deep down knew I wanted to treat them exactly the same so she too has been bottle fed. Funnily enough, she's happy and healthy too. Militant breast feeders are the worst people I have come across since becoming a mother. They support no ones cause but their own. Every mother does her best for her baby, no one had the right to judge another woman for her feeding choices. For many women it's not even a choice, I know many who have tried and not managed and spent years getting over their "failure".

I'm a 39 year old educated woman as well, perfectly able to do research and make decisions all on my own. Fancy that.

I hear you, Huey

I’m a student Midwife and today’s statement from the RCM has annoyed me no end. The whole purpose of my job is to support and empower women from the moment they book their pregnancy until we discharge them postnatally when baby is around 10 days old. This means supporting women in every decision they have to make throughout their pregnancy and beyond. Feeding is a conversation we have with women very early on, we give advice and inform women on their options not only for breast feeding but also bottle feeding. I would always respect and support a women’s decision regardless of her method of feeding as that’s my job! A happy, confident and relaxed mum means a happy baby and if bottle feeding is what helps mum achieve this happiness and confidence then that is fine by me.

Your choice

Formula feeding was never my choice, and it doesn't sound like it was the choice of
DoYouLikeHueyLewisandTheNews either. You know nothing about someone else's baby and someone else's lactation just because of people you have happened to speak to.

1. Not enough support in hospitals and communities to help women understand how bf works
2. Women not getting to recover from the birth properly by getting a few really good nights' sleep in the hospital. They go home already shattered and look for the quickest way to make up a bit of sleep or be able to hand over to others. And PND caused by this lack do rest.
3. Not enough work around tongue tie
4. A misguided campaign aimed at pressuring women rather than educating the population about how bf is normal and should be seen in public.
5. No information given out aimed at Dads and how they can and must support bf for their child to get the benefit of it.

Ten years ago it was a lack of support that led me to FF. I had a hospital midwife trying to express colostrum from me with a pump. Obviously it didn't work. I was only 21, totally inexperienced, and led to believe I wasn't producing anything to feed my baby. No one told me your milk doesn't come in for a few days. When I was 24 hours post birth and panicking I had nothing to feed my baby with I went straight on to FF. Aforementioned midwife was a right cow to me after that and uttered various comments about not breast feeding. The guilt was immense and I felt like such a failure from the off. That experience was enough for me to decide that if I have another child I will decide how I will feed that child from the off, regardless of what health "professionals" tell me to do.

@misssusansays thank you very much. @raviolisays absolutely.

When I was a first time mum at quite a young age I first discovered that I suffered from primary lactation failure because of lack of glandular tissue. I couldn’t produce milk. The midwives who treated me basically told me I wasn’t trying enough for my baby. I was well informed about breastfeeding and this made it so much worse. I sat up in the hospital in tears feeling like I’d failed my child. I got little to no help and mostly sneering from older midwives who questioned everything I said or anything I did.

I’ll never forget that feeling. So if I ever told someone ask to why I was formula feeding I’m not “making excuses”. The fact that some actually think that saddens me.

I don’t think people really know the benefits of breast feeding. Not just at first but how it benefits babies into adulthood.

How many mothers are aware that a bf baby is unlikely to have high cholesterol and diabetes as an adult?

I think the support to teach bf mothers is awful.

It is amazing that someone has created a substance and convinced us that it’s the equivalent as something our bodies make naturally. And we have to pay for it .

2. Women not getting to recover from the birth properly by getting a few really good nights' sleep in the hospital. They go home already shattered and look for the quickest way to make up a bit of sleep or be able to hand over to others. And PND caused by this lack do rest.

Hang on... "a few really good nights' sleep in the hospital"? Which hospital is this? I got less sleep in hospital then I got at home.

Busy understaffed post natal wards with partners sleeping over on chairs is not conducive to rest. I don't think trying to make women stay in that kind of environment for more time is a good idea.

To be honest i think it should be made clear that it is possible to successfully combi feed. There's so much breast or bottle but for longevity i found most of my groups combi fed and ended up bf fed longer then they expected.

America has had some success in boosting breastfeeding rates despite lack of paid maternity leave. A quick check on the CDC website gives 55 percent still breastfeeding at six months in 2014.

I'm guessing free breast pumps have really helped boost those numbers, although I have no evidence for that; anecdotally from long term visits, there's quite a culture of mums who pump occasionally or even exclusively (!?) which allows baby to be left with other caregivers. Perhaps the NHS should consider free breast pumps for all new mums, the newer models are actually quite nice.

I actually had a weekend away with DH at the two-month mark thanks to a milk stash built up over the previous few weeks. I did have a painful first two weeks of ebf but persisted as I knew there were many long-haul flights in my future and didn't want to faff around with bottles/formula, and traveling ended up being a breeze with baby.

It would have definitely been harder to continue if I didn't have that firm goal in mind.

There isn't enough support on getting breastfeeding established (groups once per week for a couple of hours really isn't enough), you need 7 days per week access to professional help with knowledgeable people, not just those that know the theory on how to breastfeed.

Also there isn't enough support for mothers in at home since families are now smaller and spread out over a wider area. Who is going to look after the other children and do basic housework at home whilst the mother is sleep deprived and pinned to the sofa? Well no-one in most cases, so you have to formula feed as there really isn't really any other choice.

I think it's unfair to say if you BF, it'll be difficult.

My DS never cluster fed. Not once. He also slept through from Day 1 and I never got as much as a cracked nipple.

Lovely experience and very convenient to just whip out when it's needed.

I'm not an exception. I know a few mums with similar experiences.

I also know mums with tough experiences.

There's no 'one size fits all'. I think we need to be open and honest about what can be experienced whilst BF, both the negative and the positive, and be clear that these things won't all happen, and none may happen.

Fed is best is a bit of a bonkers statement, if you know anything about the benefits of BF to a baby.

But I also believe if you don't want to BF, that should be that. But more often than not, women give up because they feel pressured to or don't have enough support. Not because they'd actually prefer to formula feed

The point of breast is best alienates people.
You have been saying there's not enough publicity of breast feeding even though you have this is the best thing for your child shouted at you from the beginning.

Not everyone wants to breastfeed. Not everyone wants to formula feed. Let each individual decide and respect their choice to do what they want with their body and child. .

The lack of realistic information and support has been covered well by everyone

We have a culture at the moment (think Brexit, anti-vax etc) of not believing experts. People simply don't believe the scientific studies (which can strip out the effects of social class, earnings etc) which show the average benefits of breastfeeding over the population as a whole. I'm not saying these benefits are massive but people use the 'my child was ff and was top of their class' as conclusive proof there are no benefits to breastfeeding. I think that's because people don't understand or dont want to understand maths / stats. Maybe understanding this wouldnt make any difference anyway, I don't know...but it's annoying when people with no medical qualifications or background in statistics casually dismiss years of peer reviewed research.

Also I don't understand why there is even a breast v bottle debate or why it's all so polarised. In the three baby groups I'm part of, some ff, some combination feed, some breastfeed. There have never been any negative comments to anyone about how they feed their babies, I don't think anyone actually gives a shit how someone else's baby is fed. When it's come up in conversation, it's been recognised there are advantages and disadvantages to both e.g. bf mums seem to have worse sleep but ff mums have the faff of running out of formula etc. No one has judged. No one has (openly, anyway) looked down on ff or been grossed out by bf. Maybe I've been lucky with the women I've met, or maybe it's media / social media exagerating the differences. There are horrible judgemental people on both sides of any debate surely, but that's not the majority views. I've just been surprised to read a lot of posts from mums saying they were made to feel bad from mums who fed differently (not suggesting this wasn't the case!). It's a shame that mums on either 'side' can't say anything positive about how they feed for fear of offending others (I'd say this is the case especially for bf - any positive comment about it is usually taken as disrespectful to people who wanted to but struggled). It's so emotive!

Sorry this was a bit waffley

Even if the breastfeeding is going well being the sole provider of good is mentally hard. The sleep deprivation is a killer and it's so hard when you're up at 3am and your dh is fast asleep next to you. A Ff mum will say 'my dh/dm etc can give me a break Sao I can have a whole night's sleep’

What the hell are you talking about? I breast fed my babies and was never was sleep deprived. I breastfed for three years between them and loved every minute of it. I found it very relaxing, peaceful, easy and bonding. My husband slept because he had a job to do as did I. My job was being a good mum and his was being a good provider. I most certainly did not want anyone shoving a rubber nipple in my babies mouths and feeding them this awful shit;

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