To think it’s disingenuous to say breastfeeding is free?

[Jerrui]

When pregnant encountered lots and lots of breastfeeding promotion- often it’s cited it being free as a benefit.

I have personally found as soon as you actually have a baby and are feeding it there is absolutely zero support. In my area there is no infant feeding team etc just community midwife who told me to substitute BF with FF at two weeks old when baby failed to regain birth weight.

I have spent hundreds of pounds on lactation consultant, double electric pump, milk storage, trying to keep breastfeeding going.

I have added formula top up and was shocked how cheap it is. We got bottles for free in those Emma’s diary type packs, and Aldi formula costs £2 a week.

I think trying to promote breastfeeding as a more economic option to pregnant women is stupid.
I feel actually public funds would be much better spend on training and recruiting to provide actual support to mothers trying to breastfeed, rather than health promotion with misleading, simplistic and dumbed down messages.
I feel it’s no wonder breastfeeding is mainly the preserve of the middle classes when you have to invest so much money to get any help!

@Chasingaftermidnight - are lactation consultant’s cutting tongue ties?

Plantagenous, I always thought of it as free

I have breastfed for a combined total of 10 years and still counting. Financially, it has saved me a fortune on formula and bottles, etc. Obviously, I have had to invest my time, but, I am happy to. I am very fortunate to have a job I can do around my family. I never needed any support above and beyond a peer support group with my first. Certainty not middle class, my dad was a postman!

I agree op. Breastfeeding comes at a cost, in time, energy and money if doesn’t come easily. I breastfed both my children until they were around 3 and looking back, although I had no issues, there was a personal cost to me. It was tying, and exhausting (particularly when I returned to work). I’m glad I did it but it certainly didn’t come at no cost.

Well, it was free for me. I didn’t use a lactation consultant, whatever that is, or a pump, or bottles or anything. I didn’t need any support or help. I wasn’t expecting to find it easy but I did, and pleasant. No pain at all. I suppose I bought a breastfeeding bra and breast breast pads, so that was it.

Lactation consultant?! What do they do?

It can be free (or close to it) though, whereas bottlefeeding can't.

Across 2 DC and 5 years of breastfeeding, I bought 2 tubes of lanolish and a handful of packs of breast pads till I discovered reusable ones. 2 packs of nursing vests, 2 breastfeeding dresses from ebay, and 5 or 6 bras (mainly uniqlo brallets) - total cost maybe £200? Never bought a breast pump or bottles.

I would have spent close to £1000 bottlefeeding 2 DC for 2 years (I did £8 x 52 weeks x 2, assuming a tub of formula lasts a week?)

I FF my DD and always found it cheaper than my friends who bf and vv easy. They spend £££ on help and other bits. I was always shocked.

Not sure if it’s been mentioned, but the amount of food I ate while breastfeeding was obscene - very expensive to eat that much.

@EmiliaAirheart

I’ve also heard: breastfeeding is only free if a woman’s time is worth nothing.

Good point. I’m going to start tallying up all the days/ weeks/ months/ years I’ve spent breastfeeding my kids so I can produce a bill, including interest, on their 18 birthdays. Actually, I can count any time I’ve spent with them surely? I’ll make a mint!

Genuine question why @monkeysox did you need a pump and bottles if you could feed successfully?

@RussianSpy101

Lactation consultant?! What do they do?

Usually a midwife who is particularly knowledgable about breastfeeding, a lot of them will have certifications etc.

Not sure why they're being spoken about with such derision in this thread, if the midwives and lactation consultant provided by my NHS hospital gave me dodgy and unhelpful advice, why is it foolish for me to seek the advice of a qualified professional in a private capacity?!

I breastfed both of my children until they were around 2.5 to 3 years old. I did not need any equipment or any support. At a few hours old DS1 was moved to a hospital that had no maternity unit, and therefore no midwives, or indeed anyone who knew anything about breast feeding. DS2 was a huge, healthy baby so he just latched on and fed.

I wanted to put another positive experience on the thread. A PP points out that they wish there had been more information about the difficulties some people face. On the flip side, I worry that threads like this give the impression that almost everyone finds it very challenging. It is not just the lucky few who can breastfeed.

Unless all the women who breastfed and are saying its free had massive amounts of weight to lose or ended up underweight, it literally cannot have been free. Food costs money. You need to eat more when you are breastfeeding. Breast milk takes extra calories to produce - this cannot be disputed.

I'm not saying it's not cheaper than ff but it cannot be true that it is free!

Well, bfing was free for me - I fed ds for 3 years and dd for 2 years and had absolutely no problems. So no one size fits all; everyone has different issues/experiences. All I had to buy were bfing tops and bras. And there was plenty of bfing support locally to me, should I have needed it. Maybe this is patchy too across the UK.

Well I think it depends on the situation. If breastfeeding works well for you and you don't need anything but your boobs, it is free.

I have breastfed 2 boys and the first was quite literally about £20 for the entire process.

With the second we really were on the breadline as DH lost his job when he was weeks old and it 100% was a cheaper alternative for me. Baby never latched, spent hours screaming at my boob. I bought a good quality double pump (£135) and bottles from amazon (£10 at most) a basin (3dhm so less than £1) and Milton. I had a million of those little freezer bags cannot for the life of me remember what they cost but did get a lot from a friend who had bought but hated pumping. I cut holes in my cheap sports bra. Not a glamorous time but needs must. Admittedly all the time I spent pumping I could have done an extra shift a week so made a bit more money! However having had to go back when baby was 12 weeks old pumping was at least some way to sit and spend some time with him

@solbunny I wasn’t mocking them. I’ve genuinely never come across one and I’ve had 3 babies.

In some countries formula feeding is just for the rich. It's even seen as a statement of wealth. Only rich women have access to the clean water and can afford the expensive formula.

Poor women breastfeed because it's free.

I get it, when breastfeeding doesn't happen quite how you wanted it you can feel very angry. That anger wants to find a home and I feel OP's anger has found a home with breastfeeding is free.

My DD was EBF with zero issues. Feeding her really did cost me nothing. I enjoyed the time feeding her.

By contrast my DS was combi fed with allergy and weight issues. We were lucky that his formula was on prescription. If not it would have cost us £35 a tin! That's def not free!

@UpDownRound so your food bill counts towards breastfeeding. I honestly can’t say I ate loads more whilst feeding and I’ve had 3 healthy babies who all fed well. 3 meals a day plus snacks as usual?

@RussianSpy101 sorry I wasn't trying to imply you were, I was just answering your question but referring to other posters about the mocking issue. Sorry for the confusion, I didn't make that clear!

I exclusively breastfed - no pumps, bags, consultants required. But I’m one of those “lucky cows” with huge overproduction, all my baby weight was gone in two weeks and I was down to 8.5 stone (when my pre-baby weight was 9 stone) after a couple of months. I needed to eat about double my normal amount of food and still couldn’t retain any weight until my babies started solids. Paying for all that extra food didn’t come cheap. For me, bf is really important though and worth the effort.

@UpDownRound

Unless all the women who breastfed and are saying its free had massive amounts of weight to lose or ended up underweight, it literally cannot have been free. Food costs money. You need to eat more when you are breastfeeding. Breast milk takes extra calories to produce - this cannot be disputed.

I'm not saying it's not cheaper than ff but it cannot be true that it is free!

I didn't buy any more food that our usual weekly shop.

You don't have to eat loads more because you're breastfeeding. Our food bills only went up when we started weaning.

@solbunny no, it’s fine! I haven’t read the full thread so hadn’t seen many other comments on them to be honest.
Definitely a postcode lottery when it comes to maternity services.

Running is a "free" sport too

Baby 1:
Nursing bras- already bought in 5 sizes as I grew through pregnancy
BFing tops- I had to buy new tops anyway as my 5 cups bigger breasts did not fit in standard clothes. I also had to buy a new set of over the bump maternity trousers post-CS as my under the bumps rubbed the wound, and a couple of sets in declining sizes to get me back to normal size.
Breast pads- a few boxes for the early days, had some given
Bottles/steriliser- had to be bought anyway. Went cheaper as I intended light use.
Breast pump- tried a £10 manual, then a £50 electric when he was 10m, but he staunchly refused to take bottles and my body didn't like expressing. Another flurry of useless bottles that he had no interest in.
Support- muddled by on the initial help in HDU and a bit from HVs. Mainly from online discussion. I didn't hear much about lactation consultants (2010)
Prescriptions- free

Baby 2:
Washable breast pads- supply was far higher
Medela breast pump- it did get something out, not that this one took bottles either.
Tube of lansinoh
Everything else was reusable from baby 1.

It turned out that DS1 had cows milk and soya allergies/ intolerances so if BFing hadn't worked, he'd have ended up on neocate, which buying additional quanities off prescription was incredibly expensive.

Over BFing for 13m and 20m, BFing was the cheaper option and the vast quantity of the outlay from baby 1 covered the needs with baby 2.
Truely free? No, but many of those start up costs would have had to be covered if I'd FFed anyway.