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 breastfed my twins until they were 11 months old- so i wouldnt be included in the until 1 year old stats.

Couldnt do it anymore- i wasnt leaving the house or going to groups because i was embarrassed to feed in public (also pnd)

Luckily now i have been around some lovely mothers who are confident and feed in public so not scared this time

When my lb was in hospital he had to have formula for low blood sugar. Would have been easy to just continue with that when we left the hospital but i tried really hard and managed to get him exclusively breastfed

Breastfeeding in a baby carrier is very subtle.. everyone just assumes your baby is asleep. They cannot see the munching mouth.

Grateful the 'big ahh' thing worked for us.. and we slept together from the beginning so that helps with the tired thing.. you learn to fall asleep nursing (lay down latch) ... and in the end barely stir but to put a booby into a marginally stirring baby's mouth. Is a smooth process where baby continues snoozing.. and the mother doesn't have to wake much. .

Well grateful it worked for us. I imagine there is no other love/bonding process like it.... and i would rather her have my milk than a cow's milk. . . Even if she takes years to be done with it . . . If i were to have had to ff, goats milk based formula would certainly be more appropriate. But still...

As a not rich person, i would gladly have shared my daughter's milk as an employed wet nurse! There is more than enough! Shame it is not a 'done thing' anymore ... well done Nestle and compadres for assisting with dehumanising us!!! ... i think ff vs bf has been highly politicised and it is a shame ...

Twins must be tough.. i have often wondered about that one

And i must thank the two that mentioned ,"the politics of breastfeeding book".. i've just started it and it seems to be a very good book..

NRTFT but rates are low because the power of formula companies. They have millions to pour into marketing their product, whereas who fights the corner for breastfeeding? The NHS don't have enough money for peer support workers let alone a marketing budget. And if you don't believe it, think of places where formula companies don't exist - people breastfeed successfully just fine without the myriad of "issues" you seem to get in the UK.

Maybe just maybe rates are low because formula gives women a choice and they are exercising that choice. Why is that not ok? Why is it anything to do with the government what I do with my breasts? Formula fed babies cannot be distinguished from BF ones and that's the reality. Perhaps we should stop trying to solve a problem' that isn't actually one.

(And I am a breastfeeding mum before anyone accuses me of being brainwashed by formula companies. I have made that CHOICE myself and respect any other feeding choices mothers choose to make. It makes no measurable difference to baby's health and wellbeing, that is determined by other socio economic factors. Even the NHS website admits that studies looking at siblings from the same background but fed differently have no measurable difference in outcomes. Ok bring on the flaming...!)

breastfed babies have mich higher chances of survival when fighting infecion. Fact. The difference may not be seen on the surface, but ... And, of course, formula making companies don't want people to focus on this. Formula is a feeding substitute but I would say it bares no comparison to breastmilk. The enzymes are different, there are no antibodies (and no personalisation of antibodies) and the composition is completely different.. the feeding method does not encourage as much oxytoxin to bond the baby and mother etc... Not only for baby, but the health benefits to the mother of breastfeeding are also highly apparent. Breastfeeding is the biological norm. And it is a wonderful and beautiful thing. I believe formula is too easily shoved in people's faces as a 'safe' alternative and people see and feel the propoganda, not the science and anthropological fact.

I wish there was more knowledge amongst new mothers (in the industrialised world) about the amount of suckling a newborn must do to ensure a generous milk supply from their mother. All they do for the first couple / few months is nurse ! So many people think they don't have enough because their baby is doing their job and slowly but surely (nearly continuously) munching away. (The boob is a lot more work than the bottle) ... personally, if my baby hadn't gone from 9th to 90thg centile, i might have thought the same - as the breastfeeding mother has no way to measure (and no need to measure tbh). But then i wouldn't want to suppliment with formula because i have read too much.

YANBU to think rates of breastfeeding should be improved.

I seriously am considering quitting my last few tobacco roll ups i am down to each day (so shoot me!!) just so i can donate my breastmilk to others as such donations often save lives, where formula cannot. . . And yes, i may smoke a few roll ups a day still and have the odd glass of wine here and there and drink coffee each and every morning, but it is still better for my baby that i breastfeed her than anything else....... that's a fact! I may not be perfect but she still gets the right enzymes and all the antibodies possible from me. Thanks be to God. The system nature has made available to us is not only free, it is truly incredible and it is something no corporation can patent / make money from, so no one is really interested in promoting it to us in baby magazines etc.....

I'm in my last week of pregnancy, first time mum, and I've not been given any information regarding it. I've tried online searching and asking my midwife etc but really struggling to find a 'guide' as such. Also most mothers I know have bottle fed from start (including my own mother and MIL) so they can't help either...

I don't think it's visible enough. I'd literally never seen a breastfeeding mother before I had DS. There is so much pressure to be discreet when feeding in public that nobody gets the chance to see it as a normal non-shameful, non-embarrassing way to nourish a child. I don't know what the answer is to that though. Also without the local breastfeeding support group on facebook I wouldn't have known anything about cluster feeding, tongue tie, feeding on demand to build supply etc. I was under the impression that baby would feed every four hours for about 20 minutes and that is so far from the truth it's laughable.

3 reasons: nct, midwifes, health visitors
nct : breastfeeding as a magical natural experience. no, it isn’t at first. it has to be learned, it will hurt, but you can get there. and then its great
midwifes: mostly no clue about breastfeeding, clinically trying to get a „perfect“ latch even if it works well for mum and baby. utterly clueless when it comes to breastfeeding . obsessed with babies needing to gain weight even if they ars happy and thriving.
health visitors : complete clueless (around here: disinterested waste of nhs money, pushing bottles as a fux ecerything)
i had my first child in europe - what a difference. about a week after gaving my second in the uk i knew why breastfeeding rates are so low...
(sidenote: i worked for one of the biggest formula producers- breastfeeding rates were almost 100%. if you work on formula, you will go a loooong way to breastfeed)

@TheRenegadeMaster find a La Leche League group if there’s one near you, they offer free breastfeeding support to mums even during pregnancy and are so welcoming.

Just wanted to share my recent experience with breastfeeding and the NHS.

So I had an ELCS a fortnight ago, fourth DC so fourth time EBFing. Different area/NHS trust to my other three DC and entirely different experience.

The night I was in hospital DC wouldn’t sleep, didn’t want to be put down and was pretty much glued to my breast. I didn’t mind, he was a few hours old and was probably scared. A midwife on the ward offered to feed him formula for me so I could get some rest and another midwife regaled horror stories of her personal experience breastfeeding and stated “it isn’t all it’s cracked up to be” .

By ten days old DS had lost 11% from his birth weight so slightly over the 10% the NHS expects. We were needlessly sent to the local hospital by the midwife to check nothing was amiss. Spent nine hours there in total. The consultant asked me to offer DS a top up formula feed (!) which I declined. She basically started to claim my BM must not be enough hence why he had lost so much weight then insisted I pump 2oz so they could see DS eating it as if I’d been starving him until this point. The consultant said this as I was BFing DS beside a NHS ‘breast is best’ poster on the wall, ironic I know...

We had to wait forever for the one breast pump the ward had and during this time DS needed feeding so was upset. I was sitting with a screaming newborn not daring to feed him because I knew it would affect how much I could pump. Whilst waiting for the pump DP was told to “give him some cow&gate then you can go home” . I pumped the 2oz in about 15 minutes and fed him it, he then wanted the breast for a further half an hour. They didn’t even record this and started to try and insist we stay over night- fuck that.

By day 12 DS was starting to gain again so all of that was for nothing (as we knew at the time) but the midwife still phoned a consultant to check whether DS was ok because he hadn’t suddenly gained 12oz in two days . The consultant asked whether I had enough time to feed DS with three other DC around! Sure, just been casually starving him because I’m too caught up with my other kids...

Further to this I’ve had my MIL telling DP she thinks BFing is draining me and that we should consider at least mixed feeding. I don’t want to do that and have made it clear. I just feel so very undermined despite the fact DS is now gaining well and is very healthy.

If I were a FTM this experience would definitely have made me reconsider whether breastfeeding was the best thing to do. It’s just fortunate I’m an experienced mum that knows what I’m doing is fine and that DS is definitely getting all he needs. It has definitely dragged me down though and in the hospital made me feel a bit like a failure.

If the NHS wants BFing rates to increase they need to look at experiences like this and learn from it. Some of their staff need retraining.

Hi @Yura I'd be interested to know more about why people that worked in formula companies don't want to use it if you wouldn't mind sharing?

@ArtisticCounsel which sling and position do you feed in? I love your passion for bf - it took me a solid 9 weeks to feel pain free bf but I'm so glad I persevered!

Would be interested to see the 0-6 month figures as everyone I know breastfed until at least then. Also id be interested to know the accuracy of these figures, are they based on reported bf/ff? No one has asked me since my hv came when my baby was 1 month. My baby is 6 months now and interested in food and I'm not about to discourage that interest so she currently breastfeed and has pureed veg/fruit etc. This thread is showing the nasty side of some people, whilst breastfeeding might be 'best', other options will also result in a healthy and happy baby. There is simply no need to get so concerned about what others choose to do. Mothers need encouragement and support, not to be made to feel guilty.

I had a lot of pan while breastfeeding, so i had to supplement with formula after 3 weeks as my DD was still losing weight. I am now mixed feeding her at 9 weeks. The formula allowed me to heal up and took the pressure off. I can't believe nobody warned me of the potential pain, it made me feel like a failure when i struggled with it so badly.

I also think there's a culture in this country of just 'getting back to normal' as quickly as possible. When DD was just a couple of weeks old my MIL was already telling me to go out and join baby groups to meet other mothers. I didn't want to! I just wanted to slob about on the sofa with my newborn. It seems as though just concentrating on your baby isn't enough for a lot of people, so breastfeeding gets rejected as it's more time consuming than a bottle.

I think breast feeding rates massively vary by area. Where I live in Outer London, almost every single mum I met breast fed for at least some time. About half mixed fed. A significant number were still feeding twice a day at a year. Where I live also has one of the lowest levels of childhood obesity.

I’ve just had s look at the figures and they all seem to be about exclusively breastfeeding, I breast fed for around a year with all of mine but they all had a bottle of formula from 2 weeks. I’m not sure why only exclusively breast feeding is included?

Lack of support when there are problems - having that support was why I did bf my first past 12 months and then subsequent children.

Constant family pressure to stop - that was huge - not DH but everyone else.

Would be interested to see the 0-6 month figures as everyone I know breastfed until at least then

That was true in area with my first - most mothers were giving up around 5-6 months as they headed back to work. I've read in US mixed feeding is more normal so perhaps they don't see this drop off.

Then moved to area where bf wasn't the norm - only few made it to six weeks. People can and did make neagtive comments even had GP tell me off as it wasn't necessary to be feeding past first weeks.

When I want help bf with second baby couldn’t access help as had a toddler – that was it can’t go to that group that all we got. Many mothers told me MW and HV told them not to bother trying to feed second child as they’d be too busy – any sign of tiredness oh well that because you're bf you should stop.

I agree with statics collections all mine were fed past 12 months – but I’m not sure that’s been recorded anywhere as we weren’t asked.

I also constantly see low bf rates being blamed on mothers very few look at why more aren’t choosing it or are unable to choose it or why some don't even have it as an option.

No one tells women how bloody hard it is the first two weeks, at that after those two weeks it’s a piece of piss! I love breastfeeding, currently feeding my third but bloody hell its hard, especially day 3 when you’ve no milk and the baby wants to eat all night. Now dd3 is 8 weeks old and she sleeps for a 10 hour stretch at night, every 2/3 hours during the day and feeds only take a few minutes. I don’t have to sterilise anything or worry about taking milk with me - I can have long leisurely afternoons out without having to pack anything apart from a few nappies and don’t have to worry about how many bottles I need to take out.
I’ll happily have the odd glass of wine too!
My boobs have gone back to normal after feeding each child!
I just think people aren’t told how easy it is if you can stick at it for a couple of weeks!

I’m not sure why only exclusively breast feeding is included?

I remember this being a thing with first as if even one bottle of formula be a bad thing. I spent hours pumping so we had bm to freeze so we never needed to use it at all.

I don't remember why .

No one tells women how bloody hard it is the first two weeks, at that after those two weeks it’s a piece of piss!

I'd have said 4 weeks with pfb then cluster feeds were a shock.

With my second it was hard till about three months - I kept being told past 8 weeks it would be easy - it wasn't and I think just past 8 weels that was closest I came to giving up i was so demoralised.

With third she was straight on lost no weight and there wasn't any issues at all not even sore nipples.

I tried breastfeeding , but the baby didn't like it, screamed every time I tried. I was shown so many different ways in hospital I was confused. In antenatal the MW told us that they would come out every day , to help us bf as it was so important.

In reality, once I was home, a MW told me over the phone that you can "lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink". I gave up at that point, after 3 weeks of trying and crying and switched 100% to bottle feeding.

This is a rural area but there was no support at all. There is absolutely no point in them banging on about how breast is best if they won't actually help mothers to achieve it.

Tried hard to do it but my nipples would go flat so dd would start scratching me. Tried nipple shields but dd would grab those off and it was a fight to get them on and start again. I’m shy and couldn’t have dealt with doing any of that in public. You don’t see women using the nipple shields so I was worried about doing it. Expressed but that took me away form holding her. I started resenting putting dad down to express milk and couldn’t manage to do it with her in my arms. I felt like I never had enough time to catch up and express enough milk. Supplemented with formula and eventually formula took over. I still feel sad about it 5 years on.

Based on my own experience it's because people are arse-holes to breastfeeding mothers.

I come from a family and an area where bottle feeding is the norm (luckily that's not currently where I live). People think you are eccentric if you breast feed at all.

I've had family members tell me it's disgusting, regressive, that they don't want to be around me and the baby if we are going to 'do THAT', questioning why I would want to, constantly asking when I'm going to stop, moaning that they can't have the baby overnight etc.

When I went back to work after my first and continued to pump, the I had members of my team shocked that I was still breastfeeding (baby was 13 months old).

I'm lucky, I have a very thick skin and I'm reasonably well educated and stubborn. I imagine anyone younger / less secure subject to the same social pressures and expectations would think fuck it.