Bf rates uk vs us

[Silkyanduna]

Just found out my American sil is expecting and she said they only get 6 weeks maternity and that’s pretty standard for the US. This made me think how much I would have struggled to breastfeed past this point if I had had to go back to work. With the uk in comparison having pretty good maternity leave AIBU to question why the Uk breastfeeding % is lower than in the US ?

MariaNovella

the benefits to babies are doubtful

Have you got a link for this?
So all those peen babies have NG tube fed BM is not beneficial and neither is donor milk?!

Exclusive pumper here - unfortunately not out of choice but due to latch issues. I have a great supply so luckily all ok.

NHS policy is sadly not always made by experts. I know some people who work in the area and they have no healthcare qualifications at all. Unfortunately the NHS often gets things wrong and management is atrocious. You can’t just trust everything that’s NHS policy.

It’s a correlation effect or statistical anomaly. One Sibling study showed that breastfeeding correlated with slightly higher asthma rates. Doesn’t mean breastfeeding causes asthma. Just happens to be a statistical quirk in that study.

Breastfeeding correlates highly with education and wealth. That’s what is causing the results (as sibling studies comparing like with like) show.

@droningtraffic spot on.

Then every health body and trust in the world must not employ experts then, because they all recommend breastfeeding as preferable to formula. You will never and can never prove long term benefits to children from breastfeeding. It’s obviously impossible because of so many confounding factors. I’m not sure why people are so hung up on it anyway. Of course the difference to things like IQ and obesity would become negligible when other lifestyle factors are involved. I’m surprised in a way that that sibling study showed a difference to IQ at all. There are benefits to women, and certainly babies, and it’s vital for premies when newborn. IMO all they can do is continue to study breastmilk as a substance, the actual mechanics of breastfeeding (it’s now thought that the bacteria from the mothers skin the infant ingests is as important in building the immune system as the actual milk), and how to best help mothers who want to breastfeed. Also, a bit of common sense must be at play here. It’s obvious that the biologically normal food that adapts to an infants needs is going to better for them than powdered cows milk with vitamins added (and different vitamins at that depending on where you live in the world). The other thing I’m wary of is when people say that re, gastro illnesses it only makes a difference in developing world. I’m willing to bet good money that lots of infant gastro illnesses here are caused by the unsafe use of formula (making it up with cool water etc). I’m not sure if this has ever been studied or if any data are collected. I know are occasional very bad contamination’s from the factory that do get publicised.

I breastfed to over a year in the UK and went back to full time work at 2 weeks. It is not mutually exclusive! YOu just express at work and then feed just before you leave home, as oon as you get home and every few hours to morning and of course back to normal breast all weekend, holidays etc.

Where I lived in the US it was a rural area where I and all of my friends didn't work once babies came along, once in school/preschool many got part time work. Breastfeeding rates were high, most going over a year.
I was part of La Leche League, and all income levels were represented.
Those (low income) using WIC vouchers brestfed as long as possible, they got support at the voucher collection/weight in appointment and through LLL. If they were breasfeeding, they got vouchers to use for themselves, most used them for the whole family, for fresh fruit, veg, dried beans, fruit juice and more. I always thought it was a great program.

I think that does sound like a good programme troel. Wonder why they don’t do something similar here..? Cost?

I don't understand why everyone is so bothered by how others feed their baby. I chose to breastfeed my child for as long as it worked for me and then I switched to formula and I feel that this is nobody else's business. Although the official government stance is currently 'breast is best' the accuracy of this is widely disputed and debated among medical professionals. This campaign which is bombarding new mothers to breastfeed is awful, in my opinion. It puts added pressure on new mothers in what is already an emotional rollercoaster of a time. It makes women who can't breastfeed feel horrific. It makes women who need to go back to work early and stop breastfeeding for practical reasons feel terribly guilty. This whole thing about measuring how women choose to feed their babies and judging their decisions needs to STOP, now. Even threads like this which don't mean any harm are adding to the problem.

Because, despite all the talk about breastfeeding nazis, formula feeding is our cultural norm and most people are suspicious of breastmilk being enough to nourish a growing baby.

most people are suspicious of breastmilk being enough to nourish a growing baby.

Absolute bollocks.

Are the WIC vouchers dependant on breastfeeding? In the UK there are the Healthy Start vouchers for those on low income which sounds similar.

@KathyS901 can I ask how the NHS is bombarding new mothers - what form does this take?

I had a baby not too long ago and there was a distinct lack of bombardment! At a clinic I had o go to for suspected GD, they asked a group of us how we were planning to bf. Everyone said they would or wanted to try to bf. The midwife specifically said that they support women HOWEVER they want to feed and had advice on ff as well as bf.

Tbh, I found the advice on bfing quote lacking when I actually had my baby, but that’s another story.

I must admit I wasn't convinced breastmilk alone would be enough for DD, I think because many of our generation were weaned much earlier. I was pretty impressed by how fat she was at 5 months.

I don't agree with it, but most of what I hear when mums switch to formula is that they weren't making enough, baby wasn't putting on weight or they have a really hungry baby. None of this isn't true, but obviously they don't think breastmilk os enough.

You have to be careful as well though, as one of mine had to be tube fed for a bit as she wayou s very poorly and could not feed. If anyone had said “you’re fine, it’s normal” to me, I might have ended up starving her. Yes, it’s normal for babies to lose weight or not to gain a lot to begin with, but it’s important not to plough on TOTALLY regardless.

We did manage to keep up bfing after that, but it was important that she went into hospital to be tube fed ebm and formula while she was so sick.

@yabbers

It’s not that the ‘posh’ flats are in one area with its own playground, it is all one development where they have social housing in one block and private in another. That’s how I read it anyway.

Yanbu op. I just don’t really understand why they thought this was necessary tbh.

Oops! Wrong thread sorry^^

A lot of the assumption that a woman isn't producing enough milk is surely because as a society many of us don't recognize normal breastfed baby behaviour and expect good sleep periods and 4 hourly feeds.

I do find it pretty depressing when people say things like they wanted to breastfeed "but the baby was feeding every 1-2 and MIL said I must not have enough milk".

Are the WIC vouchers dependant on breastfeeding?

No, there are three different voucher schemes. FF recipients get free formula for the year. BF mothers get generous food vouchers. There’s a mixed feeding package as well.

WIC is executed by the state, so there are regional differences.

I do find it pretty depressing when people say things like they wanted to breastfeed "but the baby was feeding every 1-2 and MIL said I must not have enough milk".

YY, that is obviously not right. But I would like to hope that isn’t what most good midwives would advise.

There's a fine balance I think. Obviously (or perhaps not) you can't expect a breastfed baby to feed like a formula fed baby. It is normal for new babies to lose weight and BF babies generally gain more slowly. That's all fine and normal and hopefully good midwives should be helping mothers to know this.

On the other side of the coin you have some mums and babies for whom BF is clearly not working who plough on regardless when actually it's not best in that particular case for a myriad of reasons. You then end up with babies who are dehydrated, jaundiced, or who don't grow and receive the nourishment they need. I was recently on a fb group where a mother had a four month old who was tiny, not growing, and had been admitted to hospital three times. The mother was so doggedly determined to keep breastfeeding because she loved it she was completely ignoring the very sensible advice from the doctors and other mums to supplement baby. "What could be better for my baby than my milk"? Well, adequate calories for a start!

Where we were WIC did all three too.
I had foster babies and they got formula vouchers each month, once they were 6 months I got food vouchers as well as Formula vouchers. Then after 12 months all food vouchers which covered milk, juice etc, unless they had a medical need for formula.

@kathy totally agree re the unacceptable pressure in the NHS to breastfeed along with the pseudo science (if you’re breastfeeding she’s automatically getting all the food she needs, etc). If breastmilk really does have all these magic ingredients, why don’t we know what they are? If you can’t prevent diabetes and obesity with breast milk- why aren’t we?

It’s a correlation effect which is not shown in studies which compare like with like. What’s really harmful is the pressure we put on new mums though in the uk with no support. That needs to stop.

I had my baby 8 weeks ago and I have to say I didn't feel bombarded by BF literature or that it was being pushed. In fact the hospital were very keen to push formula when my Colostrum wasn't coming through.

I often hear that Breastfeeding is being pushed on mums but I haven't experienced this nor have friends and family with small babies. And that's across London and Newcastle.

Many of the mums I know switched to formula and didn't feel judged....