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 agree there is not enough support. It looks easy but it is not. You have to leave hospital after a few hours then you are home alone. I had engorgement, thrush, tongue tie and colic to contend with at different times. If you want support you have to go and get it yourself, it is not easily available. It is so hard to motivate yourself to look for help with only two or three hours sleep a night. If I hadn't had a supportive DH I would have without a doubt given up feeding my two babies in the early days :(

As with almost everything in life, it's just a balancing act which falls one way or the other for different people. For me the first couple of weeks of bf were hideously painful, then got mastitis which was treated with antibiotics which somehow - through my milk - made my daughter keep throwing up in the most spectacular way for such a tiny baby (gp insisted it was nothing to do with the ABs but it started and finished exactly in line with the course of ABs, so he was wrong).
But I'm extremely lazy and persevered because I couldn't be bothered with the paraphernalia of ff, sterilising etc. Stopped bf when dd was 18 months.

I so agree with everyone on here saying it's the fact no one talks about how bloody hard it is!! The antenatal classes I went to magically glossed over it, as if it's some beautiful natural thing that magically happens with baby latching perfectly.... well that simply isn't true for most people I know. So it's little wonder lots of people give up thinking they are doing it wrong. I had absolutely zero expectation before DS1 that breastfeeding would be in any way painful or difficult. I also had no idea about how long it would take and how I would spend most of the day literally immobile feeding, which was immensely frustrating. I had no idea that I would be on my kitchen floor most nights sobbing my heart out because feeding him was so physically painful for a good six weeks to begin with. We need to be more honest about that. Before he was born, I thought I would bottle feed if I tried breast and didn't like it. But when he came I found I cared passionately about it and so I persevered. I was also lucky enough to have amazing family support when I might otherwise have given up. When he wasn't gaining weight, the health visitors and midwives made me feel like it was all my fault. They were also very quick to insist he needed to given formula, instead of giving advice on how to up my supply. I ended up combi feeding for a period and that saved my sanity but not a single health visitor wanted me to do that or would advise me on how to go about it. The response was no, you can't do that, one or the other. But my son took to combi with no problems. Then when he'd gained weight, I went back to exclusive breastfeeding with no issues. If we had more information on combi, perhaps less new mums would give up. I won't hesitate to do combi with my second child if that's what's needed.

@MissSusanSays what attitude? I'm saying that no one thinks there's a difference! And that the NHS shouldn't try to promote breastfeeding, in fact promoting formula feeding would probably be better as it would bypass lots of the issues that people have raised on this thread. But whatever.

3 babies bf for 5 years in total

Slept ok (incentive for me to get routine)
Went back to work with each
Expressed with hand pump - no mess
Didn’t hurt
But of a bind at times (parenting is still a bit of a bind and they are 10-15)
Father was involved and bonded - quite a lot more to babies then feeding
Ate what I wanted (why wouldn’t you)
Breasts ok after (if bf to 6 months and wean slowly I think milk cells die off slowly and get replaced by tissue)
Drank but obviously not much until they slept through - isn’t that the same for lots of parents
Not attachment or co-sleeper parent
Also think perfect prep looks good
But breasts can also be as perfect!

But still don’t believe culture is breastfeeding friendly. Was with a young relative recently and new mother and heard in a 24 hour period that she should cover up, ‘it doesn’t get any better’, ‘baby isn’t settled on breast milk’ - all different people. Lots of negativity towards bfing.

Does it matter? Not sure. But the general culture is not pro bfeeding. Pockets are and mumsnet demographic is probably the one where rates are highest and guilt looms large.

@RomeoBunny please provide links to scientific research papers that show conclusively that folic acid causes tongue ties.

Pregnant women and mothers of newborns have enough sh*t without people stating it's to do with a water soluble vitamin that decreases the risk of neural tube defects.

Ah, AssassinatedBeautysorry. Miss read your post. Got a bit hot under the collar. This is an emotional topic for me.

Just watched a friend do exactly the same with her DD. Has brought it all back.

Another one here who really wanted to but failed. The guilt when I began mixed feeding and then eventually moved to full time ff (because baby started rejecting breast) was tremendous.

No one had told me about:
Cluster feeding
Feeding very often
How long baby should feed for
That baby may want to be on your breast almost permanently
That you should wake your baby to feed at least every 3 hours (MWs told me this on day 3, too late)

Knowing the reality of breastfeeding wouldn’t have dissuaded me from wanting to do it, it would have forwarned and forarmed me.

Instead all I got from NHS info and breastfeeding workshop was

• the benefits of breastfeeding
• do skin to skin
• Feed on demand, here are feeding cues, crying is a late one so if they’re crying basically you’ve missed the other cues or they’re crying for something else

Nothing about mastitis. Nothing about cluster feeding etc. So I was a bewildered new mum, with very little support around her, a squalling baby who had trouble latching on and would only feed for a minute at a time then scream and scream, midwives trying to teach me to hand express when I found it the most excruciating thing ever, and yes the offer of support groups that I could never get to because the baby was always demanding to be fed and I wanted to encourage her as much as possible. So I would miss the group each time and the next one would be a week away. Gave LO a formula top up and she was content for the first time since she was born. I found that really tough.

Anyway. The NHS are definitely getting the message across that breastfeeding is the best thing in an ideal world for the baby. They are persuading women to want to do it. But they are not preparing them for the reality, which does make women give up.

From my perspective, I think that the antenatal sessions I attended only ‘pushed’ the positives of breastfeeding. No talk of how much it sodding hurts at the start (“if it hurts then something is wrong”- bollocks IME), cracked nipples, no support when you’re worrying that you’re ‘doing it wrong’ at 4am. I had an awful pregnancy (HG), but my mental health wasn’t looked after at all during pregnancy- by the time DS arrived, I was mentally and physically broken. I just couldn’t face breastfeeding for more than a few days. The relief when I stopped was immense.

So many women end up giving up because there is not enough publicity on the realities of breastfeeding. The cluster feeds, the feeding every hour, the baby only sleeping on you etc

@Kraggle Abso-freaking-lutely. I ended up feeling like I must be doing something wrong or didn't have enough milk because of the frequent feeding and cluster feeding, as these were never, ever mentioned in ante-natal class or the BFing session.

Thankfully it all settled and we are happily still BFing at 8 months but I didn't think we'd last 6 weeks.

Having read this thread and thought about this topic on and off for the last 5 years (after failing at bf, but I will be perfectly honest and I did enough of it to be sure it'd be painful, difficult and my house would be in a tip, at least in the short term - so I stopped for me and not for any other reason)… isn't it obvious that the time to learn a tricky new skill is not when you've just given birth and you've got to learn a bunch of other new skills from nappies to unfolding a pram?! It's amazing anyone manages, really.

I think bf rates would go up if the NHS and everyone else butted right out and there was just quiet, low key but well funded support for those who wanted to bf and everyone got an A4 sheet explaining how to prepare formula safely, to cover the food poisoning issues.

It's distracting massively from the much more important issue of what DC are fed AFTER they're a year old.

I would also like to see more resources going into avoiding birth injury, post birth physio, mental health support and also advice on safe moving and handling as so many women seem to end up with back/tendon/joint issues. Basically I would like to see health and wellbeing of the mother treated as equally important to that of the baby.

UK has a weird attitude to breasts - page 3 etc. I think a lot of husbands/partners find breastfeeding unpleasant and aren't supportive? I have found this in my own circle of friends.

Also postcode lottery: DD born with severe tongue-tie, breastfeeding was nearly impossible. Couldn't afford a breast pump and none were available. Couldn't afford to get tongue tie cut privately (£200!!) so was left with no other option but to FF

Magpie said what I wanted to. In a far more articulate way!

I didn’t breast feed because I just didn’t want too. I just didn’t fancy it.

Ithink we should be looking at those who tried and didn't succeed

🙌🙌

Crap post natal "care". Women being left alone in pain to solely care for a new born in hospital. (Not that I'm still bitter years on).
I don't think there's a culture of looking after the new mum tbh. No care in hospital and sent home as quickly as possible. BF isn't easy but it's made harder with lack of practical help.

UK has a weird attitude to breasts - page 3 etc.

Have you seen a German tabloid newspaper? Up until a few years ago Bild had topless women on the front cover every day. And up until earlier this year Bild had topless women throughout the paper, not just on page 3. Some German tabloids still have them I believe.

Germany has great breastfeeding rates.

I think that more women work these days and so have to be able to hand off the feeding to someone else. The best thing about breast feeding is the contact and so if you are expressing milk but are not the person getting the cuddles I can see why it would lose its appeal.

I didn't try to bf either of my dc, quite simply because I didn't want to. No incentive, amount of information or pressure was going to persuade me to try. It was totally out of the question. My ff dc have done, and are doing, just fine. I couldn't give a shiney shite how anyone else feeds their baby so whether rates are low or not just doesn't interest me.

I think @meglet has hit the nail on the head.

Oh and the sodding NCT, who told us all not to get some formula in as it’ll make us more likely to give up. A room of educated adults who wanted to breastfeed. Several Dads ended up on midnight dashes to the supermarket to try and work out formula and the associated gadgetry when overtired and emotional. I really don’t think that having a bottle of ready-made in our home would’ve made me ‘give in’ any faster. It just would’ve saved a lot of upset.

I think it’s catch 22.

We need more people to breastfeed, so more people realise what is “normal”. 90 odd % of parents only reference is a bottle fed baby, so advice is passed on based on that.

My mum, and all her friends bottle fed. Her experience is feeding every four hours, sleeping through by 6 weeks, knowing exactly how much the baby had had and knowing exactly the content of the milk. When my baby seemed to be always feeding, still waking at 6m, runny poo, she was constantly worried that the baby wasn’t getting enough, my milk wasn’t “rich” enough, something was wrong.

Saying all this to a new mum can be confidence destroying. Several of my friends gave up because what if their mums were right? And the baby was starving and that’s why they couldn’t go more than 2 hours without feeding?

Of course many found out after that the baby was exactly the same on formula, by which time there was no going back to breast.

Plus there is a lot of pressure and being made to feel selfish for not allowing others to feed the baby, for trying yourself down, that you should make sure you get time to yourself or the baby will have separation anxiety until he’s 30.

If more women breastfed, more could help other women, and pass their knowledge down to their daughters. I know bf babies feed all the time. I know they don’t gain weight as fast as bottle fed babies. I know their poo is runny and i know it’s only temporary and by 6 months you’ll get a bit of yourself back.

Then there’s the lack of support. Again many m/w themselves won’t have bf, and they are so understaffed the solution to a bf issue is give formula. I was offered formula right from minute 1- i had a traumatic birth and my baby was given formula so i could “rest”. I was then left alone and gave my first feed with no help. 3 days in hospital and everytime someone saw me feeding (constantly) they would offer to get me formula so i could have a break. No attempt at helping or reassuring.

I do agree with the new advice on bottle feeding. I think if women could stand up and admit that they just didn’t want to, or it was hard and bottle feeding easier, we could avoid women feeling they have to justify themselves with reasons as to why they “couldn’t”. As above i have heard tales from many women about not having enough milk because the baby wouldn’t feed four hourly or sleep through, or the baby was 9lbs and “everyone knows you don’t have enough milk for a baby that size”. I have heard women telling other women on post- natal wards that “the baby needs a bottle, he’s hungry” to mothers with fractious babies.

AIBU to think the rates need to improve?

YABU. Why does it matter to you what the rates are? I found that women who were so over-invested in what I was doing were the ones who had found breastfeeding easy. They were the ones who assumed that their experience should / would / could be everyone's experience and insulted me with suggestions that I should try harder / had been brainwashed by marketing campaigns / was letting my baby down.

That formula feeding is such a faff and breastfeeding is perfect if you're lazy just highlights the divide between those that breastfeeding works for me and those who nearly kill themselves trying.

Someone also mentioned Germany upthread as good because they keep women in postnatally for 3 days if she struggled feeding.

3 days post natal support wouldn’t be helpful if it’s still couched in the current ‘bad mother, you must do this right or you have failed’, ‘you have to here until you do this properly’ language that is being moved away from through these recommendations.

Because if you keep a mother in hospital for several days to be told off and bullied she will just give her baby a bottle so she can go home.

"...we could avoid women feeling they have to justify themselves with reasons as to why they “couldn’t”

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.