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?

Mostly, I think down a lack of education or support both in terms of the right educational message being given to us as a society and post natally.

Just for example take my cousin in the U.K.. Loads of milk. Couldn’t get the baby to latch on. Neither could the midwife. Result: formula fed.

Then take a woman, who gave birth in Germany. Several nights stay postnatally. Unable to get baby to latch on. Result: baby fed breast milk. Mother given extensive help, lent a pump, mother and baby helped so that baby was able to latch on from 2 months.

Replicate this scenario and many more and you get low bf rates.

If I’m entirely honest (prepared to be flamed) I also don’t think a lot of people buy into ‘breast is best’ all the studies supporting the benefits could probably be disputed by the fact that breastfeeding parents are more likely to be middle class, follow guidlines, less likely to reach for a convienient option ect so the studies of better kids resulting from breastfeeding, may not actually be down to the milk itself. I mean when you really think about it, if you line up 10 kids in a class could you tell which was breastfed?

So I think for a lot of people the supposed benefits aren’t outweighing the negatives.

What should be done to increase breastfeeding? Nothing, it makes no difference either way, it's the individual womans choice how she chooses to feed her baby

And why do so few women end up breastfeeding? Because they can if they want. In the western world it make little to no difference

AIBU to think the rates need to improve? YABU. It's a great thing that women can chose either way

Mumsnet is very weird indeed about breastfeeding. If I was a first time mother unsure about how to feed and came on here for information, there is no way I would choose to breastfeed. Any positive story is massively outweighed by horrors. It’s a shame really, because here of all places we should be helping other women make properly informed choices.

Why does is matter? So long as baby is fed and mother is happy, it shouldn't matter whether that's breast feeding or formula feeding.

I CHOSE to formula feed and did feel there was a pressure to breast feed. I didn't want to so I should never been pressured to, not even 'just to try it'.

Two words.... Tongue Ties.

Most if not all babies are now born with some degree of tongue tie and lip tie. This is due to the excess amounts of folic acid we all have to take when pregnant.

• Tongue tied babies struggle to latch.
• They can fail to thrive.
• Mothers think they're failing so give up within hours/days/weeks.
• Medical professionals are NOT trained to spot them correctly even though some have basic training.
• The answer by the NHS is 'give them a bottle' instead of clipping it asap, and making families wait weeks and months for them to be resolved when it is too late.

A tongue tie clinic can see you same day to assess and treat within a 20 minute window for most grades of tongue tie. But the NHS can't provide the same service

A number of 'colic' cases are actually just hungry fucking babies screaming the house down - because they have a tongue tie and can't latch properly but the mums think they're getting enough milk and the HV hasn't spotted the problem (because they don't even know it is one!)

To speak from my own experience, the nearly 4 months that I have been BFing my son have been one of the hardest things I've ever done (physically, mentally, emotionally). I've nearly given up numerous times. I know that FF would have been easier in so many ways and just gritted my teeth. The hardest bit of breastfeeding is the bit at the start and it takes a significant number of weeks before it flips around so it isn't painful, you and baby can do it fairly easily and it is more convenient, but that's hard to convince a sleep deprived mother and I wouldn't blame anyone for throwing the towel in. Even when you're doing it right, it can feel like you're getting it wrong and baby isn't satisfied, which is very hard. The amount of support is also so inconsistent - I was lucky to have family support through the cluster feeding marathons and loads in my local area in London (LLL, BF cafes, lactation consultants on hand), but I felt completely unprepared at the birth. They would do better to have much more focus on giving real info about BFing at the antenatal stage; the birth is just one tiny bit of the baby experience. Finally, I feel judged all the time for feeding my DS in public but I'm not going to shut myself away when he needs feeding so often in the day; but you do get eyed weirdly all the time so you need a whole new wardrobe as well... it's all quite a lot of hassle.

Agree, Loonon - my child was ready at 11 months to wean. It was really for myself I was doing it for the last month and would have been silly to do it for a year just so a random government statistic counts me as a success. It’s just possible we are all different and what suits one baby (breastfeeding for longer) doesn’t suit another! Anyway, from someone else who was a proud 11 month bf-er, a big high five to you!

In my city there is a HUGE stigma related to bottle feeding. I have been told to my face that I'm not fit to be a mother, shouldn't have had a baby if I couldn't be bothered to feed it properly, told I was feeding my baby poison and shit on several occasions. I desperately desperately wanted to bf. I wanted to be one of those mums who were bf and proud! I had a LOT of support but it wasn't meant to be. My 'failure' to bf sent me into a really dark place and it took a long time to heal. Then I had my second and I bottle fed and realised that actually, bf doesn't work for our family. So I'm more than happy with our choice now but so many people are going through the same.

The message is being delivered in the wrong way. We need honest balanced facts to do with feeding and less judgement. And support needs to be better quality. It was easy to get where I live but the actual advice was really basic stuff, so more training would help too.

Theres hundreds of reasond why people dont bf.

My dsis regrets seriously regrets bf. It ruined her bond with her dc and as a result had terrible pnd and struggled as a mum. She said it was the worse thing she ever did. 8 years later she still regrets it. It was only after a year she gave up she started to love her dc. She begged me not to bf. Ff is the best thing i ever did. If i have other dc i will ever ever bf. Ff so easy, simple and perfect for our family. Dd has amazing bond with both dh and i and best of all no Pnd. However everyone is different. Who cares how a baby feeds as long as they get what they need. X

I live rurally and everyone I know bf'd. Don't know anyone who stopped before a year and didn't get any negative looks in public. Not rich or anything, but it seemed from my pov that ff had really taken a backseat.

Romeo - that is very interesting! How does the folic acid cause the tongue tie?

I also think that some of the press around BFinf sit ins don’t actually help. They present the view that women who feed in public are regularly challenged and must be incredibly anxiety inducing.

I had no negative experiences at all. People noticed or commented but ok. That’s alright. One lady chastised her husband for looking in my direction as “the lady is trying to feed!” And terribly dramatically turned her back to me. I could have chosen to be offended. I wasn’t. She thought she was helping and I felt sorry that she couldn’t relax.

One young man in a weatherspoons told his girlfriend that it made him feel uneasy. But he didn’t say it in a goad way - just how he felt. All I can hope is that his girlfriend looked at me nursing a three week old while managing to eat my burger, tend to a 4 year old and gulp an occasional slug of wine and though “that looks ace”.

Generally speaking though I saw people’s eyes drift over the baby and then slide away. That’s it.

“Most if not all babies are now born with some degree of tongue tie and lip tie. This is due to the excess amounts of folic acid we all have to take when pregnant.”

Is there any evidence for this?

“Breasts are for sex and showing off”

Ahh. The Instagram generation. Is this what the world is coming to? Less breastfeeding because obviously our breasts will droop and not look so good in selfies. Such dilemmas as will it cost extra to buy the contouring makeup to mask the droop?

I returned to work for both of my children at 9 months and still breastfed for 2 years.

OP I think there are so many things at play - the formula companies are a massive factor, myths around breastfeeding (you can't drink, my baby isn't getting enough milk etc.), more support postnatally.

Cost.

Time is money, breastfeeding takes more of my time as a mother e.g. I've had to turn down work as too awkward with feeding. That cost me a lot.

I bought a pump, maternity bras, some bf friendly tops, bottles, paid for a private lactation consultant, paid for lecithin tablets, vitamins and breast pads and sterilising bags ok not the actual milk but i needed to eat more and better to produce it.

One of the benefits is supposed to be that it's free! Still glad I did it though.

I think advertising formula should be banned, and the formula makers banned from advertising to new mums in hospital literature and magazines.

It's also what you're used to - I fed all 3 of mine until they were 1+ and went onto cows milk. My eldest DD has also fed her 3 babies. She didn't ever consider formula, as to her BFing was normal.

Support post birth makes an enormous difference. I went home 12 hours after having DS, the 1st midwife who visited on day 2 didn’t even really check how feeding was going, she phoned on day 3 instead of visiting and when I said I was in total agony she told me to express and give DS colostrum on a teaspoon. My amazing DH sat up most of the night with me cuddling me and rubbing my shoulders when it hurt so much I cried. On day 4 my own midwife visited, she was amazing, had breastfed 3 of her own? She gathered me up, helped me make a cosy nest on the sofa with good support, helped me position DS and latch him on (and showed DH how to help!), over the next week she made sure that either she or the other good local midwife visited every day, they helped me trial different ways of feeding in bed, showed me how to loosely swaddle him so his arms were kept out of the way etc. I also had help from a local bf counsellor, my mum and my MIL had both breastfed and expected it. Within a few weeks it was easy (but relentless!). Without that help I would never have got off the ground. Most of my ante-natal friends breastfed but for many it was a much more difficult start as they didn’t get nearly such good care in hospital as I got from the community team.
Interestingly I am now pregnant with my second, I have the same lovely midwife. When she mentioned breastfeeding I said yes, I’d definitely be doing it again and she actually reminded me of how hard it was at the start and that feeding a newborn again is nothing like feeding an older baby who can latch themselves on and sort themselves out and to be prepared.

Women in the UK (regardless what it may feel to us) are used to higher level of independence in many aspects of life, and therefore have more to lose if they go down the breastfeeding route - we feel entitled to a night out very early on ( well I did with first dc). In other countries sitting to breastfeed is part of the more home-bound routine and also more social.
Here breastfeeding is quite isolating.
Where I lived with dc3 ( ok developing country so different story) it was so normal to even just breastfeed 18 month old getting fractious while waiting at the bank or wherever.
You didn't feel like you were being anti social breastfeeding over a certain age.
Here it is less common so I became much more self conscious once back in the UK and would find a quiet spot it go home to feed.

Because it's less common it is more isolating, which in turn makes it less common. Viscious circle I think!

Queen your obesity hypothesis is tosh. The vast maj are formula fed. Obesity is caused by lifestyle choice i.e. you eat pies and sit on the sofa you get fat. Formula hasn't caused the obesity epidemic. Crap diet and lack of exercise has.

Your NHS link fails to say how much would be saved re gastro if more bottle prep training was given and also how much increased support to get increased bfing stats would cost the NHS.

I suspect if you took into account admissions for dehydration from bfing,the cost that increased bfing support would bring and the reductions of gastro treatment if you increased bottle prep training any alleged savings would be greatly reduced.

How many mothers breastfeed up to 6 months?

I don’t doubt what you are saying, but I think a lot of women stop at 6 months when they start weaning and start preparing to go back to work.

That said, I found breastfeeding the easiest thing in the world and had good HVs that were helpful at the start.

To add, I really really didn't fancy the idea of bf before I had a baby, but it just happened and that was that. Annoying expressing at my work, rubbish having all the stupid things like thrush and mastitis, but it just went on until she was one and she lost interest. I wasn't doing it under pressure, and I did move on to formula for follow on milk.
I guess if we're all just doing the best we can for our baby then who cares what anyone thinks ff or bf. If we're not doing the best for them on purpose, that's on us.

And also, I would add, because it is less common it has become more of a science, with big sessions providing instructions and graphs and diagrams with different names for different holds etc.

Obviously this is necessary as women need to be given information, but I think in many cases (including me with dc1) it builds up in your head as a really complicated challenge that you have to overcome, especially if you don't have a family member who has breastfed.

It means breastfeeding causes anxiety and that anxiety is not conducive to producing milk and going with the flow.
At least that has been my experience.