Breastfeeding rates in the UK

[Faerie87]

It’s just that really, been reading up a lot on this recently and the statics show that our rates are not as good as other countries, so what is it that other countries do differently?

I currently feed my LG a combination of breast milk and formula, I express for her, unfortunately I was never able to get her to latch properly but would have loved to have been able to feed her directly. I know this can be quite an emotive subject so I thought I would share my experience to show I’m not in one camp or the other regarding this, I’m just curious to find out what is the general consensus on why the Uk does have low breast feeding rates?

I think it’s nice to share experiences of feeding baby’s whether it be formula feeding or breast feeding, and for those ladies who have tried to breast feed but not continued what made you stop? And if you were to have another baby would you do anything differently?

Lack of decent healthcare support and family who formula fed and are therefore unable to help with latching or think the initial cluster type feeding is a problem. Those seem to be the two main reasons. If you are really interested, Scotland recently changed their campaign and I understand that it was very successful, so if you can see what they did differently it will tell you what some of the big factors are.

Various factors, I think.

Lack of funding for support in some areas. It can be a bit of a postcode lottery if you are in an area with a good breastfeeding support worker or have a health visitor who can help.

Cultural attitudes, particularly inter-family, where breastfeeeding is seen as unusual. This can flip the other way. In my family, breastfeeding is very much the norm - my six nieces and nephews have all been breastfed, but they were breastfed themselves, as was I. But unsupportive partners or family members can take their toll. Partners and/or family who don't help in those early weeks when cluster-feeding and pain from breastfeeding tends to be at its peak can really damage a woman's self-confidence and desire to continue.

General lack of education about how breastfeeding and milk supply actually works. Women giving up because their milk 'hasn't come in' when actually they're just unaware and have never been told that milk doesn't come in for a few days after birth and that colostrum, although it doesn't seem like much, is so nutritious that a tiny amount is filling.

In some quarters, fears about breastfeeding ruining the shape of your boobs or not liking the idea of breastfeeding. I suppose this comes under education and cultural/societal.

General defensiveness about the benefits of breast v formula and a reluctance to call a spade a spade for fear of upsetting women who don't or can't breastfeed. While women who can't breastfeed should never feel guilty and should be 100% supported, that support doesn't have to leap to 'fed is best' instantly and 'just use formula, a happy mum is a happy baby'. There are lots of steps between 'having trouble breastfeeding' and 'switch to formula' to explore.

I think in other countries, breastfeeding is much more a cultural and societal norm and is really the default way to feed your baby as opposed to a conscious 'choice'. I imagine there is also better funded support in some healthcare systems for lactation specialists.

No warning pre-birth about how difficult it can be so a lot of women stop when they see how demanding it is becsuse they wrongly assume it’s not working/going well because they haven’t been told about how shitty it can be.

Cultural pressures - bottle feeding is the norm now and breast feeding is somehow shamed and criticised.

Woman wanting their freedom and not wanting to be tied to the baby.

Dad’s saying they feel left out and want to feed the baby.

Complete lack of support for women who are having difficulties.

I personally think that formula being the cultural norm and the lack of support is the biggest factor in why Breast feeding rates are so low.

Lack of information and support. Sending mums home from hospital once they've managed to feed twice. Misinformation of the hcps that are supposed to help. Prejudice against breastfeeding by an older generation who were seemingly discouraged from doing so and pass the falsehoods they were fed on to frustrated and anxious new mums, often succeeding in guilting them into using formula.

The above is based on my own experiences, BTW. I'm not suggesting that this is true of every older person.

As a society I don't think BF is viewed as the "norm" and as PP mentioned a lack of education about how it works; some give up as they think their milk isn't enough for the baby as it is feeding so frequently etc. People's comments about that don't help at all so society would need to change it's attitude but sadly I don't see that happening in a hurry.
Support is wonderful IF it's available. I had a student midwife sit with me to help when DD was a few hours old then a great BF support group in the children's centre a 5 minute walk away which educated me on how BF works. Sadly this support isn't available equally so people do give up.

I mixed fed from 2 weeks post birth. It was sooo difficult to get breastfeeding going and I had lots of support.
I felt strongly because of the data.
My only piece of advice is to use the NUK tears as they are slow flow and more like the Breast flow. It meant I could Breast feed for 2 years.
I don’t think there is enough family support in the UK. And mix feeding isn’t encouraged at all.

Memory what you say is so true. My uncle was a rep for a formula and baby food company and at one time they were allowed to promote the benefits of formula to mums with babies a few weeks old (obviously this doesn't happen now)

I think a lot of women just don't want to, tbh. That was my reason, I tried breastfeeding and just found formula feeding easier and more convenient.

Also how statistics are reported and applied. If you ever, even once, feed your baby with a bottle, even if this is expressed breastmilk, you are classified as a "non" breastfeeder by WHO. I assume this information is collected and reported by mid-wives and health visitors.

Personally I think this is bizarre and shows a lack of attention to modern lifestyles. Why shouldn't you be acknowledged for providing breastmilk for your child in whatever delivery method you choose. Why shouldn't a father be able to bottle feed his baby, or a mother who has returned to work but providing nursery with breastmilk. What exactly is the issue with mixed feeding? Most mothers I know did a mix of both.

I breastfed both my kids for over 2 years yet was never asked at any appointment about this. It makes me wonder who they do ask and when.

I realise statistics don’t ask everyone obvs but i think it is very easy to ask everyone, as everyone has the routine checkups - 2 year review or immunisations

In conclusion I really don’t trust these statistics.

Fears about breastfeeding in public are a factor too. In many parts of the U.K. it’s unusual to see a mum breastfeeding out and about, yet you see loads of mums bottle feeding, which can make mums feel that bottle feeding is normal and breastfeeding is somehow weird or strange.

Probably also linked to formula being more affordable to us than families in countries with severe poverty, no financial support from the state and limited access (so relatively much higher cost) of formula. We are fortunate to have the option of formula.

What I find very interesting is that breastfeeding rates are so much higher in the US. Given the awful maternity leave entitlements in the US (many women are only entitled to 12 weeks unpaid, and some don't even get that so have to go back to work within a month of giving birth or lose their job) I would expect that breastfeeding rates would be correspondingly worse as so many women have to go back to work very early. But that doesn't seem to be the case.

I think everyone has kind of summed up my thoughts already.

It’s only since having a baby that I have really understood how damaging the old rhetoric of ‘if it hurts you aren’t doing it right’ can be. We need to start being a lot more honest about how shit it can be for the first few weeks so that women are able to adequately prepare (mentally and in terms of arranging support) and don’t give up because they think it’s not working.

I think there are a lot of factors, but I would say that the main ones are:

Lack of support at hospital in early days

Lack of understanding - in particular cluster feeding, my LO would feed for 5 hours straight every evening in the early days! My poor hubby had to be to hand to get everything including dinner! And I often got comments like “you must not be producing enough”... which I was! It’s common and as much comfort as anything

And opinions of others later on... I still remember my dad being shocked when I said in passing about BF DS at 6 months and him saying “STILL?!?”

In fact I think a lot of my family think like that in some level as my sister gave up quite early with both of hers and it seems almost like a shift in culture uk wide... but he’s now 12.5 months and still going and I love it. He doesn’t feed half as much, but I think at the moment it’s important to both of us

Nothing else to add. Most posters have explained it very well already.

It’s only since having a baby that I have really understood how damaging the old rhetoric of ‘if it hurts you aren’t doing it right’ can be.

Yes to this. I BFed my first son son for 13 months and now that I’m establishing with baby no 2 it’s all still fresh in my head/muscle memory.

His latch is good. He’s cluster feeding all the time. Lots of nappies. As glade as I can tell it’s going really well.

I’m still in agony!!

Also FYI I’ve never had any problems with pain (except when he got his first teeth and decided to bite but he learnt that wasn’t a good plan very quickly!)

For me personally, I’ve grown up with breastfeeding being the norm. My great nana breastfed my nana
My nana breastfed my mum
My mum breastfed me
Etc
So for generations in our family it’s just been the done thing and I didn’t really think about it. I suppose it’s the support of those family members which has made my breastfeeding journey easier when there have been hard times. Not everyone is so fortunate and that’s a shame if they want to breastfeed.

I have massive boobs and inverted nipples so said I didn't want to bf (embarrassment). Looking back I wish just one person might have asked why or tempted me to try. I don't even know if it would have been possible but not 1 person suggested I try so I didn't and that was that. I wish I'd have been braver looking back.

Nobody says that it hurts, explains cluster feeding or frequency of feeding beforehand. If they did I think it would help.

Also that bottle feeding is the norm, you buy baby dolls and they come with bottles, which reinforces that as the norm from a young age.

Nobody said to me that it's hard for the first few months but then becomes as easy as breathing. Dc1 was mix fed as it was such hard going and I had no idea whether it was going well and I worried he was hungry. Dc2 is ebf and as I knew what to expect, it has been mentally so much easier this time. Much easier than mix feeding as I don't have to wash, sterilise and make up new bottles, or plan how long I'll be out for. If someone had just said that to me then dc1 wouldn't have been mix fed as I would have been more confident.

A cultural change with regards to what is expected of PP mums would be helpful too.

For me, both times, getting BFing going has been a 24 hour a day project. If my husband wasn’t happy to do pretty much everything else (cooking/cleaning/fetching) plus do most of the care for our toddler this time around it not sure how successful I’d be at getting things going. All I’m doing at the moment with a 1 week old is feeding on demand with short breaks when he naps on me.

Visiting well meaning guests and expectations of women to get out and about or just perform normal household tasks can be disruptive of this process.

If the norm was that new Mother’s were expected to sit on the sofa pinned down by a baby for a couple of weeks this would be much more conducive to getting things going.

I suppose it’s the support of those family members which has made my breastfeeding journey easier when there have been hard times. Not everyone is so fortunate and that’s a shame if they want to breastfeed

My nan tried to breast feed my mum but failed. She also tried to breast feed her second baby (my aunt) and failed that time too.

My aunt tried to breast feed her baby and failed.

My mom tried to breast feed my sister and failed and failed with me too.

When my sister had a baby and breast fed it they were all really critical and tried to get her to bottle feed. They made her feel ashamed for her decision to breast feed.

When I had my first baby and breast fed my family were then very critical of me, told me all the things that were ‘wrong’ about breast feeding and why I should bottle feed instead etc.

Absolutely other people use their own experiences to encourage (or not, in mine and my sister’s cases), breast feeding women.

"OlderThanAverageforMN

Also how statistics are reported and applied. If you ever, even once, feed your baby with a bottle, even if this is expressed breastmilk, you are classified as a "non" breastfeeder by WHO. "
I don't know about who but for the English stats this isn't the case. At your 6-8 week check you should be asked how you are feeding your baby, breast or bottle. While exclusive and partial are both reported it's the combine figure that is of interest, ie any breast milk.