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?

1. Nothing
2. As long as babies are fed why do you care?

I’ll confess that bf has no appeal to me-had I been able to have DC then I’m very sure I’d have used formula. The idea of having a constantly feeding baby sounds horrendous to me. I don’t think anyone could pursuade me to do it!

My close friends who had babies and have horses like me found formula much easier for leaving baby for a couple of hours to ride. Being chained to a baby not very practical.

Of course I may have felt entirely different when was baby born-but initial reaction is that it is far too much like hard work and for dubious benefits (I’m not all that convinced of the claims).

I think it's almost a cultural and historical thing in this country.

Don't know about previous generation to mine but all my DCs were born in the 1980s and it was assumed you would ff.

There was absolutely no advice about bf. Babies apparently were to be fed every 4 hours, and whilst in hospital - I had to stay for 5 days with my first - women like me who bf were expected to leave their hungry babies to cry until the next 4 hourly feed was due at the same time as the ff babies were to be fed.

The majority of new mother in hospital went along with the practice of all babies being taken to the nursery overnight and being ff by the nurses so they (the mothers) could sleep all night. And so the pattern of ff was set.

There was no encouragement whatsoever to bf and in fact, I would say that at that time bf was actively discouraged.

All this at a top London teaching hospital.

I went on to ebf all my three DC for well over the one year period and my DD has done the same with hers and, like me in my day, she's in a very small minority of current mothers who ebf for longer than a few months.

There seems to be a very strange attitude towards breast in this country: it's fine to stick a puffed up pair of breasts in a skimpy outfit on a huge billboard to advertise some product. It's absolutely acceptable to walk around with your breasts on display on a beach when you're on holiday, and it more than acceptable, in fact it's positively de rigueur nowadays, to wave them about on a music video. But breast feed your baby in a public place and you can guarantee someone is going to stare or tut.

Yes, women's breast are purely sexual apparently and that, in modern life, seems to be their sole function and I really can't see that attitude changing anytime soon.

It's the opposite of hard work. It's walking around with a milk bar on your chest. Takes 2 seconds to whip out a nipple as opposed to all the faff of formula

But it can be hard work though
What if the baby won't latch.
Then you have to stand or sir and feed it and your partner can't join in and do it.
If you want your partner to do the feed you have to express which again is a ballache.

So it can be hard work

If I'm honest Lethaldrizzle I think that was among the reasons I wanted to bf; it seemed so much easier than having to make up bottles.

It's so convenient: hungry baby cries, wherever you are you've got baby's food on tap. What could be easier.

I wasn't that bothered with my partner doing feeds. It's only for a short period of life.

It’s the opposite of hard work if it comes easy, Lethal. There are many stories here of people for whom it was very hard work indeed. I still can’t be sure exactly why it was so difficult for my son. He was extremely colicky but in addition to that struggled to latch (though supposedly no tongue tie). He had to be in a very precise position to do this up till about four months old, and would be almost impossible to feed if he was colicky/angry first. He needed to feed constantly at times yet every time to get him on was a huge battle. We would both be sobbing half the time in the early weeks and months. It was almost impossible to go out with him because I couldn’t get him in the right position when out until he was older, so barely went anywhere.

Of course, with more support and help perhaps this would have been easier and not been as hard for long, but breastfeeding my child was one of the top five hardest, and most requiring of hard work, things I have ever done.

Too many are told that they can't breastfeed, that they don't have the supply. Not just socially but by medical professionals. It would interest me to know the difference between the proportion of women told that they clearly can't produce enough milk and those where this was actually diagnosed as a medical problem. I've known several new mums told that the have supply problems despite milk literally running from them after baby had finished. I was told I had to prove I had adequate supply by expressing all feeds to their scedule, when I did this i was told it still wasn't evidence enough because bfed babies need more milk.

Bf babies are, on average, going to be smaller than ff. All the weight charts are based on bf babies, but the only mothers encouraged to bf are those that can keep up with average ff babies. So our idea of normal weight gain is distorted. I would like to see the weight charts in countries with a high rate of bfing (and similar demographic).

The only support i was given was to express and bottle feed. That's not breastfeeding, and no-one would help me with the pump. It was just it's okay to use formula if you can't pump enough.

Also agree with the misinformation. I will never forgive myself for listening to the paed who told me not to feed her more than every 3 hours or for more than 10 minutes to 'teach' her to feed quicker. This was after being referred for slow weight gain.

And in response to your later comment there has always been formula because of mothers dying in child birth. Normally cows milk mixed with some sort of grain, obviously not as good as what's available now. Also a baby can be weaned at a few weeks if there's absolutely no other option (historically, obviously options now).

Again but waking in the night to feed can be detrimental to some women.

But then again you can bf. Others can ff. We shouldn't judge them for doing either

In fact, posters blithely saying ‘what could be easier’ like Pigs above, can’t pissibly have read these posts or are being obtuse. What could be easier than getting a PhD? What could be easier than being a fashion model? What could be easier than being a lawyer? All of these could be very easy if you have the luck to be academically clever, classically good looking, hard working and smart. But surely you wouldn’t assume that everyone could easily do all these things, when we are born with different bodies and brains?

Well said above pp

Breastfeeding is far easier than formula, and I’m speaking as someone who went through weeks of pain with thrush with DC1. I went on to breastfeed both DC for over a year. It’s cheap, it’s convenient, it’s healthier for mum and baby, it’s better for bonding. I flew to the US when DD was 3 months old, easy peasy when bf-ing. I didn’t care that DP couldn’t feed baby, I didn’t want him to. I didn’t care that I couldn’t go out much at first without baby, I didn’t want to. I did go back to work though during the year, and expressed in my lunch hour. Would definitely recommend bf, it can be difficult at first but it’s worth it.

Well if you did it it must be possible for everyone, Lalliella!

Well done you. Like it has been said breastfeeding don't always easier for everyone is it?

Can I ask why don't you want dp to feed?

I didn't actually say what could be easier than breast feeding per se.

What I said was what could be easier than when a hungry baby cries being able to put it straight to the breast.

I realise that not all women want, or are able to breast feed. However, for women who might be inclined to bf there is little encouragement and little help or support.

Apologies, Pigs - I misunderstood you, then. I know women for whom it has been easy and they have said the convenience was wonderful and in some cases was what swung them to breast feeding rather then formula feeding.

It's the opposite of hard work. It's walking around with a milk bar on your chest. Takes 2 seconds to whip out a nipple as opposed to all the faff of formula

And this is the kind of ignorant comment that sums up the failure to understand why women don't breastfeed. It's lazy and judgemental and ignores the experience of millions of women.

If only it had been as easy as just 'taking 2 seconds to whip out a nipple'. I recall a midwife spending 7 hours with me and DD1 trying to get her to latch on. And at the end she still hadn't fed.

Semster - absolutely. I know culture plays a part in it, and going back to work, and being glared at for bf in public - but if it were easier then ff for many people I’m sure that would make a huge difference. Humans generally do what’s easiest - we tend towards the laziest or most efficient path towards achieving most of our goals.

I know it is really hard for some women.

My DD had awful mastitis when she was bf but she was determined not to give up and so suffered through it when most women wouldn't have carried on.

I'm pretty sure if I'd been in her position I would have stopped.

Easier than ff

Approx 10 of my friends have kids.

9 of them tried bf, out of which 8 stopped after a few miserable weeks for various reasons- tongue tie, mastitis, pnd made worse from feeling like a 'failure' when baby wouldn't latch, baby losing weight from not getting enough milk, baby screaming house down not able to latch etc etc. They all changed to ff and felt it was the best decision for them and baby and such a massive relief.

One of the 9 stuck with it after a very difficult 6 weeks but feels it was worth it in the end and carried on for a year worth both kids (incidentally both her kids seem to always be sick, catch everything going).

One friend decided to ff from day 1. Her experience of having a newborn just seems to have been so much calmer, enjoyable and relaxed and she has a very chilled out toddler who's never sick.

I know these are just specific examples and don't represent statistics or whatever but I can't help but be swayed by the experiences of all those close to me.

My ds was bf. I didn’t have influence of mum who was no longer around, but the mid-wife kept telling me I didn’t need to bother.
I had a GP treat my ds for thrush in his mouth but not explain that I needed treatment as well, so spent several weeks in pain unnecessarily.
Also I was kicked out of numerous cafes and had endless rude comments including “God, that’s a bit mediaeval isn’t it”. I even had some perv peering in my tinted rear car windows while I was discretely feeding at a motorway service station.
I managed 18 months but the UK is, in my experience, bloody awful at supporting mums. I was made to feel like some weird feral Earth mother who was somehow slightly dirty.
I’m quite proud of keeping going but feel for those who have the opposite experience. Can’t understand why mums can’t just be helped to find their own “norm” while everyone else buggers off and minds their own business.

And breathe .....

Agree absolutely Kings.

Oh and if your struggling being told to ff to prevent pnd, and then encouraging your partner to pressure you into it as well.c

And if you choose to persevere being told that your only doing it to make yourself feel better and it's a sign of pnd.

Yes, some people get bfing related pnd, but some of us would just like some support.