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?

No matter how you feed your baby, from the moment you announce your pregnancy, everyone and his dog has an opinion and feels the need to share it or criticise your choices. As a mother, you really can't win.

Also, anecdotally, during the course of having two babies I haven't met any healthcare professionals who have pushed me to BF. First time i said I wasn't interested and wanted to FF and they all said ok and left it at that. Second time I said I was open to trying it with no pressure on myself and they've said it's good not to pressure yourself. None of them have been aghast or tried to persuade me otherwise

I’m glad the message is changing because I have been damaged by it and I have lots of friends who have been damaged by it.

‘Breast is Best’ only guilts middle class mums into BF way past the point of sanity, reason or safety. It seems to have little impact on the communities where attempts to BF are low.

I will never, ever forget the anxiety of those dark days where DD failed to thrive and and I pushed myself and her to the brink to try to make BF work. And was pressured relentlessly to do it by feeding advisors.

Luckily, my husband stepped in before something really awful happened. But I blame failed BF and the terrible support I got from some, quite frankly, over zealous feeding advisors for my subsequent post natal depression.

Why does it matter to you that breast feeding rates are low? Is how I fed my children affecting you at all?

I don't Hmmm.

The vast maj try to breast feed( so no 60 daughters aren't copying 60mothers). Those that continue and break the 6 month mark are often those that get lucky and find it easier and enjoyable.They really aren't relavent.

It makes perfect sense without research that formula fed babies are often over fed from what I’ve seen. Many are fed to a set schedule, and fed until they finish the bottle despite the fact that they are displaying signs of fullness. I did recently see an nhs leaflet somewhere advising people how they can make formula feeding more responsive to babies. That’s the sort of thing they could actually show people.

Cowsparsley2 has it exactly right mixed feeding us surely the best option but it's all or nothing and so manipulative I just didn't bother at all and ff was a dream die the first baby I wouldn't bother trying something new with the second baby

BertrandRussell the freedom thing was huge for me, so much easier to travel, I recall sitting in the car in Iceland feeding DS while DH dug us out of a snowdrift thinking ‘thank god I breastfeed!’ - I realise however that this isn’t a consideration for most normal people

I've just remembered a HV telling me that I need to weigh DS, BF and then weigh again to get a figure for her records.

YY to the convenience of bf. As I’m currently having to exclusively pump, I have none of the convenience and double the washing and sterilising. Such is life!

Lack of support.

With my first I was actually screaming in agony at each feed, phoned all the helplines I had numbers for and didn’t manage to get through to anyone and my midwife gave me details of the local volunteer run service who told me I could go into a drop in group miles away from home in six days time. I supplemented with formula when I was desperate and when I did get through to a breastfeeding helpline the woman reacted like I’d fed my baby poison and I was too embarrassed and ashamed to ask for any other help so I stopped completely.

I managed to breastfeed my second baby because of sheer determination, she had a very severe tongue tie that was completely missed and not fixed until four weeks, we both suffered with thrush and I had mastitis. She would be latched on for 12 hours solid. It was awful. I was prepared for the reality of a newborn having been through it, but if she’d have been my first I’d have given up. I had lots of advice from some mums I know from here on Facebook but not much other help - they had to tell me what to buy to treat the thrush as the GP refused to help as pus wasn’t coming from my nipples. The local volunteer support service had improved massively in the gap between my babies and I found the older volunteers wonderful but I did find the younger ones who were still breastfeeding a bit judgemental, talking about things like how disgusting the poo from a formula fed baby smells, etc. I wasn’t bothered by that point but I know I would have taken that very badly first time round when I was overwhelmed with guilt already.

I managed to go back to work full time at nine months and continue breastfeeding and I’m still going at nearly two years old. Again, I found the local support service weren’t very helpful with advice about being away from your baby who will only drink milk straight from the source, but luckily I had the lovely women of Mumsnet to reassure me, so I didn’t have to panic and wean.

The thing is, on threads like this you always get the ‘support’ and ‘it’s not accepted by society’ arguments. But the largely come from women who did successfully breastfeed so they’re not the ones who need to be targeted. This is why you have health trusts offering gimmicks like shopping vouchers for breastfeeding.

Plus, they’re wrong. An awful lot of money has been poured into providing breastfeeding support and it had very little impact. As far as societal acceptance goes, there have been laws passed. Women can breastfeed anywhere and it is illegal to stop them. People who express distaste or disgust at breastfeeding or try to prevent it can expect an immediate and harsh response, especially on social media. Shops and restaurants display signs welcoming breastfeeding. Groups are set up for breast feeders only and anybody who whips out a bottle will be forced to do a walk of shame from them because they’ll be asked to leave. All our public services officially have a positive message about breastfeeding.

All of these things have failed to improve breastfeeding rates.

This initiative may well make a difference. Removing the negative messages will encourage more women to engage. New mothers don’t want to engage with people who are telling them they are bad mothers who should feel guilty and that they are failures who don’t want to do the best for their children. So they don’t engage. Removing that means more will be receptive to the support offered.

I’ll say it again. We are the only country which promotes breastfeeding by making mothers feel bad. And we have terrible breastfeeding rates.

They are linked.

cowparsley you misquoted my stats.

I don't think I'll ever know if breastfeeding both of mine past 2 years old had a positive effect on their development. I don't even know why I breastfed, really, a mixture of pigheadedness, laziness and a bit of reading around the subject made me dig my heels in and carry on. Maybe if we told women they DEFINITELY SHOULDN'T breastfeed, they'd think 'fuck you!' and do it?

Like others have said, I think it's a lot to do with support or lack thereof. I bf my DD for 9 weeks and struggled emotionally and physically. I felt very alone. I never wanted to breastfeed ever again.
My DS was 9 weeks early and I was strongly encouraged to express for him. I had a breastfeeding consultant spend an hour with me going though expressing, I was supported to express by his incubator, nurses would bring me water and be very encouraging. He was tube fed a set amount every two hours and it was recorded. When he first latched on at 2 weeks, I had nurses support, latch checked etc. When checking pH levels for his next tube feed, fresh milk would often be drawn up from his stomach and you could physically SEE that he had fed. Two more weeks in hospital with the support of the nurses.
He came home with a feeding tube so even though we were establishing bfeeding full time, we had the back up reassurance of the tube and nurses coming out to visit. He's 13 months now and we are still feeding although I'm winding down with the intention of stopping.
It's full on and the nights are really hard without having someone who can ease the pressure (he absolutely refuses to entertain a bottle)

Is there really that much benefit to BF in the UK? Really? I don’t know. I was convinced by the ‘breast is best’ but I’m less convinced now after 2 kids (of which I BF both to 4 months and 3 months).

I know how many lives could be saved in developing countries and it can help sick / very young babies. But if you’ve just got a normal healthy baby and live in a developed country, does it really matter if you BF or FF?

cowparsley2 So you think to look at how to raise a rate we should just look at those that aren't choosing to bf at all not those that have tired and stopped or those that have done it successfully?

Instead of the 'breast is best' simplistic mantra we need more a more sophisticated approach, more support, a more informed guilt free choice and a change of culture because it is about a generational impact. Not as simple as if all 10 grandmothers ff then so will their dd but it does have an impact as can be seen anecdotally on here.
But these are long term changes that I don't think we will see due to cuts in funding
I do wish they would stop 'breast is best' and focus on what is best for the mother and child's mental health

When I had my babies in the 1980s, it never occurred to me not to BF. I EBF them both until,five months and then partially weaned them so I could go back to work when they were six months old. I kept the early morning and bedtime feeds going until they made the decision to stop at between 12 and 18 months.

I never considered it a burden. My job for those five months was to nourish and care for my baby and I was happy to put my life on hold for that time. However, in practice, with the older DC my social life didn't change much, I just took her with me and fed her wherever I was, but it wasn't practical to do that once I had the two. Co-sleeping ensured that there was little in the way of sleep deprivation and both slept through from about six weeks anyway.

Somehow it all seems much more complicated now. I'd never heard of cluster feeding for example and I never had a HV!

If we're talking about 1 year olds then I think it might just be a cultural norm not to bf at that point. Babies are considered big enough to not need breastfeeding or formula anymore.

LeahJack Your post is amazing. Totally agree.

And, I’ll add this- no mother gives a fuck about stats when it is your baby failing to thrive. The fog of hormones and guilt is too thick to think properly. All you feel like is a failure as a Mum because you can’t do this thing that is apparently both vital and easy.

Unless breastfeeding can be shown to make a measurable difference to each individual child, people will not believe in the benefits. People can't themselves tell any difference between breastfed and formula fed babies, and so they don't believe there is any actual difference.

No Hmmm I think we should be looking at those who tried and didn't succeed( the majority). Those who try and find it easy really aren't relevant in these discussions.

Spot on LeahJack

I am still bf DD who is now 13 months I don't know where they get their one in 200 figure. I have never been asked.
I agree with other posts it is a cultural thing. Most of my friends ff. I even had pressure from family members to ff as I 'was making it hard for myself.' There does seem a negative attitude esp towards bf beyond a year.
Also agree that there is not enough support or honest info about how hard it is at the beginning. I felt like I was doing something wrong when DD didn't latch well and was cluster feeding. I have always found bf in public hard to as I was worried about being judged.
Having said all that I love bf DD.

I’ve got a 2 week old. I’ve tried endlessly to breastfeed. I’m expressing and topping up with formula and she’s gaining weight really well. I’m very sad though that I can’t breastfeed as I always imagined that’s what I would do.
I don’t know what else I can do. The support in hospital was great, I’ve attended a one to one appointment with a Lactation specialist and had numerous conversations with hcp.
I don’t know what the answer is.

AssassinatedBeauty

There isn’t any actual difference. Attitudes like yours are what pushed me to starve my daughter to the point of hospitalisation
In the attempt to BF.

Because obviously BF is more important than mothers mental health or the health of the baby. Just keep BFing because formula makes them fat and stupid.

Except it doesn’t.