NHS FB campaign for breastfeeding

[Isit7yet]

So I'm well aware of all the virtues of breastfeeding but this feels like a first! Local NHS running a friendly BF campaign recently with women holding cards saying I breastfeed because..... And today's had "I love my children" . Am AIBU to want to message them and say how offensive that is to me? Surely that implies that to formula feeding is to not love your child enough?

@mayandjuniper there is a serious amount of money is being poured into PND and other perinatal mental health issues, but any type of standard care in the postnatal period such as feeding, formula or breast, not so much funding!

At last. Cab we stop this 'fed is best' nonsense now please? Like there's anyone suggesting that not feeding babies was a reasonable choice.

*can

@faeriequeen quite!

@northernlites that's interesting, I didn't know it was heavily funded. There is little support in my area compared to heavy pro-BF ads. Yes standard care for BF and FF mums is really lacking here too. A trained lactaction consultant on the postnatal wards would make the world of difference.

I do feel though that the money poured into advertising BF is somewhat wasted by the inability to fund actual BF support. The lack creates a wall that once hit, many mums are gonna rebound into PND (influenced in part by the knowledge that they're not doing 'the best thing for baby' as told in the ads), costing even more money. Catch 22.

Oh dear. That’s terrible phrasing.

I’m struggling to see a comment like “I breastfeed because I love my children” as anything other than an insinuation that mums who breastfeed love their children more than mums who formula feed.
It’s something that could be very hurtful to mums who’ve chosen to FF or who are struggling with breastfeeding.

I’ve successfully breastfed 2 DC - youngest DC is 19 months and still breastfeeding several times a day - but I’d have loved them just as much if they were formula fed.

And yes, I realise that advertising campaigns are much more cost effective than real support for feeding or PND.

It's just to get babies the best source of nutrition. And it's free! It isn't supposed to be hurtful but anyone who talks about breastfeeding is labelled as being smug or whatever. As long as the baby is fed appropriately it doesn't really matter. But people can't deny breastfeeding is best. Although I breastfed because it took a while to get the hang of it and I'm so bloody stubborn I kept going for ages!

I think the funding is recent-ish.
Perinatal mental health problems is one of the leading causes of maternal death, hence a drive on trying overhaul this part of service with mental health leads/ specialist antenatal clinics with mental health teams/ more mother and baby units and so on.
It is often the basics that suffer in because another area is invested in, (sepsis is another one, also getting a lot of press & investment)
Our area heavily relies on volunteer feeding support groups & teams to support women.

@Namechange128 I completely agree and would have no issue with a breast is beast type message. But that isn't what it said. The message was about loving a child. My interpretation was that FF where therefore not loved enough (I can see that many posters don't see it that way).

YABU. Why would you think other people's feeding choices are a reflection on you? I think people who feel like this judge themselves more than anyone else judges them!

I think I read that something like 70% of Women who stopped BF really early, or not at all was because of a lack of support, which is really sad.

I was unusual in my area in 1985 when I BF my first, even the MW/HV's treated it as though I was being awkward and should just stop, rather than ask questions. The campaigns that are around today, would have helped my PND and lack of confidence.

The aim of the campaign is to get the BF rates up, not to make Mother's feel bad. If you tried your best then it isn't aimed at you. If you didn't try, then be sure of the choice that you made.

Every campaign the NHS runs, upsets someone, it can't be helped.

I formula fed and hate fed is best. Like a PP said, the alternative to that is not feeding a child, hence why I said feeding a child is the bare minimum. NOT That formula feeding is the bare minimum.
Not at all.
I formula fed because I love my child and for me to breastfeed whilst taking heavy medication would have been dangerous for him. To not take the medication would have been dangerous for me and by default, him.

I think the issue here is that it’s not just personal opinion, it’s the NHS endorsing a personal opinion. If I’d seen this when in the depths of PND, I would’ve become even more anxious about seeing HCPs for fear of being judged.

Personal opinion is fine, we’re all entitled to them. But the NHS needs to be careful with things like this I think. Especially because social media campaigns can reach people when they least expect it.

Just as a comparison, if my midwife had said in an appointment that she breastfed her DC because she loved them, I would’ve been appalled. I’m struggling to work out where the line is that makes it ok for an NHS campaign to say this, but not an HCP?

In the midst of PND the act of breastfeeding was one of the only things that helped me have a loving connection with my son. It was the one thing that I did that made me feel ok. That made me think I did love him.

So yep I breastfeed my son cause I loved him. It reminded me I loved him when I felt numb and angry the rest of the time

Yanbu So fed up of this debate. I think the recent statement from the royal college of midwives sums it it. Biologically breastfeeding is best but if for ANY reason (including just not wanting to) a woman decides not to she should be fully respected and supported.

The emotive language around breastfeeding is totally unnecessary. It attempts to emotionally blackmail women who are at a very vulnerable stAge in life. A more realistic view on the challenges you may face breastfeeding (it’s not easy for everyone), help and support should be the focus. And yes, if you need to top up with formula or find that you have had enough that’s fine.

I’m going to formula feed my baby. Until recently I was too scared to admit to this as it makes me feel like s bad mother. The truth is that I have s long history of anxiety and depression. I think that breastfeeding will demand too much of me. I don’t have s big support network and I think with my first child I’d rather ff. I’ve done really well to stay off medication through pregnancy and want to continue this with the help of my therapist. My mental health and ensuring that I can be healthy for my baby is so important to me that it trumps the benefits of breastfeeding. I’ve a massive fear of pnd and really need to feel like feeding the baby isn’t my sole responsibility. I need to feel like I have my body back so I can focus on my mind. That’s just the way I feel.

I’m not going to lie about this anymore or make up any excuses. This is the right decision for me and my baby. If I have a second child and know what I’m doing a bit more I might breastfeed. But with such big changes ahead and knowing my anxiety triggers I know it’s nit for me first time round. The implication that I don’t ‘love’ my baby by the nhs is disgusting.

Just adding my Voice to this thread to say that I fell victim to severe post natal depression due to being unable to breastfeed my first child. I tried and tried and it just wasn’t happening for us. In the end the midwives had to beg me to try some formula. It threw me into Pnd so badly because i was made to feel a failure by family and even strangers (especially in an ethnic culture which generally doesn’t approve of formula) and ended with me parking my Dc’s Pram up in a safe place where she would be found and me standing at the top of a railway bridge ready to jump and end it all. So yes i feel that this type of campaign message would have made me feel terrible

YANBU but FF mums are fair game for any old swipe it seems.

YANBU. It's shit.

Fed is the standard, hate the phrase fed is best. Britain's breastfeeding feeding rates are shockingly low compared to other countries. They are asking women who breastfeed why they personally breastfeed, and this is what breastfeeding mothers have stated. So now we are attacking the reasons why some women breastfeed... brilliant.

If you formula feed you are in the majority so I don't know why people feel so attacked when people discuss the benefits or their reasons for bf.

I remember my new born and her puking up blood that was from my very painful cracked nipples!
I remember begging for support and not getting any!
I remember thinking if I gave up I have failed and so I ploughed on and I know for a fact it majorly contribute to my pnd.
Which the mental health team went on time and time again for me to stop bf so I could go on different meds as the ones I tried were not working.
Two years later I am better and still bf, looking back now I wished there was more help, that woman are told what problems can occur not just the benefits.
Also that we help and support each other no matter how we are feeding our children.

Yanbu. This still upsets me and my youngest is 18 months. My milk failed to come in after I lost 6.5 pints of blood giving birth. I had so many people massaging and trying to manually pump my boobs. I had my daughter latched on for hours and hours. Still nothing.

It has affected me as I feel I let her down. She is happy, healthy and thriving though and loves all food!

Like many others on this thread, if I'd seen that ad at a particular point in my BF struggles it would have been extraordinarily bad for my mental health. Although I don't think my PND was solely down to difficulties BF'ing, it was a very easy 'failure' to focus on (easier than failure to birth DD properly and failure to immediately connect and love her as I'd expected to).

The perinatal mental health care where I live is outstanding, and I was well looked after. The BF support was a fucking joke. I think with better BF support I would've still been depressed, but it would have been less of a daily reminder of my failure IYSWIM.

So yeah, I think this ad is insensitive and unhelpful, unless you have the NHS promoting FF mums saying the exact same thing. More honest would be 'I BF because my nipples were the right shape', 'I BF because I stayed in hospital for five days after birth and a midwife came over and positioned the baby at every feed', 'I BF because I could pay £500 for 4 visits from a lactation consultant' 'I BF because my local NHS trust had daily peer support groups for new BF mums within a fifteen minute walk from my house'. That's what stops mums, not lack of love for their kid.

@laurG I just wanted to say that you sound awesome and that your priorities are bang on. I wish I'd had that kind of self knowledge before DD was born.

I’m in the midst of struggling to bf my 4 week old. Its not going well at all. I’m very down right now. I won’t lie, this makes me feel really shitty.

@LadyFuchsiaGroan being in the majority doesn't really help when you tried to breastfeed and couldn't, and you see smug people who could telling you they did it because they love their babies (the inference of course that you don't love your baby enough to make the sacrifice they did)

Or the other one saying 'I wanted to give my baby the healthiest start in life' - we will did and it kills most of us that we couldn't.

But hey we're in the majority so who cares how us FF mums feel. Carry on congratulating yourselves and making others feel shit.