AIBU to wonder if this is discriminatory by The Breastfeeding Network?

[MPharm]

Today a friend shared a Facebook post advertising a voluntary opportunity for pharmacists to work with The Breastfeeding Network to provide advice on medications during breastfeeding. This is a large part of my day job so I had a look out of interest. One of the essential criteria is 'experience of breastfeeding at least one baby for four months'. As a childless woman I therefore cannot apply. This role is not peer support, or help to establish breastfeeding. It is a pharmacist role advising on the passage of drugs into breastmilk. I can't see why lived experience is essential. AIBU to wonder if this is discrimination? AFAIK being childless is not a protected characteristic, but is infertility? Sex is, so it's surely at least discrimination against men.

In addition, someone has commented on their post expressing her sadness she cannot apply as she breastfed for less than 4 months. The reply says if she 'breast/chest fed at all' she may be considered. So their language can be inclusive of some groups, but not child-free women?

The role also has support aspects, so it’s clear that experience of breastfeeding is relevant.
Personally I found the peer support worker I saw 100x more useful than my midwife (who wasn’t childless but hadn’t breastfed) for exactly this reason.
Some skills are practical ones and breastfeeding definitely takes practice!

What does chest fed actually mean?

I would have taken assistance off Beelzebub himself when I was struggling! There are definitely ideals but generally with childbirth/breastfeeding related issues I didn’t care a jot at the time, I just wanted successful help.

OP, I agree the personal experience of BF should be desirable not essential. It’s daft to narrow the pool of volunteers with the skills needed and create an exclusive circle around something that would benefit from being the concern of a lot more people than just those who BF.

What does chest fed actually mean?

It means that the march to colonise the bodies of women and render them invisible continues.

@Johnnysgirl

It's a compliance role

No speaking to girls asking about their periods

Hence why a man is just as capable as a woman to fulfill that role

You don't need to have periods to make sure schools are adhering to the new laws and making products readily available

How would they actually know if you had breast fed?
if that was the only obstacle to me applying I would. It’s unlikely you would be asked to get your tits out at the interview so they could look for signs of BF

It’s really not

Utter tosh.

In your example, I’d assume that the male candidate was recruited to the post because his experience and qualifications best fit the criteria for the job compared to the other applicants. A male midwife or obstetrician isn’t expected to have given birth are they?

Refusing applications from men for specific posts seems pretty discriminatory on the face of it, unless they meet the exemptions criteria, which if the job isn’t about providing breastfeeding support, seems unlikely to apply.

The fact they include the phrase ‘chest feeders’ sends my blood pressure sky rocketing. Whoever wrote out the advert is an utter arsehole!

@Hoppinggreen

It really is

Maybe look it up instead of parroting the ignorance on here

I was a bit shocked when a male midwife turned up, but that’s completely down to my own unconscious biases that I assumed a midwife would be a female! I’ve never had an issue with a medical professional being a different sex to me, and afterwards was pleased to have that stereotype challenged. He was actually far more helpful than subsequent female midwives, but I’m under no illusions that had anything to do with his sex.

Tbh @dmask i do find I’m taken more seriously at times about female biology issues by a man vs equivalent woman. I think sometimes personal experience can cloud/colour their view of others experiences. On balance it’s probably more of a personality issue than a sex one but it’s only human to apply our own experiences to others.

Locum not Locus 😂

I did, I read the JD several times
Maybe not be so unnecessarily rude on here

Same! I had a man help me establish breastfeeding while in hospital. No issues from me and I actually preferred him to the day nurses who would just grab my tits and start milking me like a fucking cow

I've breast fed for 5 years. I had absolutely no issues at all. My ability to offer breastfeeding advice would be rubbish, I never even had a sore nipple. Honestly, it's a daft criteria to me.

I don't think it's as simple as you make out OP.

I used to be a breastfeeding counsellor. I saw loads of mums. It is very rare that a mum will present with just one issue. If a mum is being told be her GP that a medication is incompatible with breastfeeding then it is very rarely a black/white issue (with a very few exceptions such as chemo or lithium).

The breastfeeding counsellor or drugs in breastmilk person will be talking through the shades of grey : the dose, how long they are likely to be taking for, techniques for "pump and dump" while the drug clears the system, whether it would be possible to feed then immediately take the medication so it's clear of the system by the next feed, how important it is to the mother/child that the breastfeeding continues etc etc etc.

It's not as simple as giving yes/no answers to whether drugs are OK and there is bound to be a high degree of at the very least peer support and probably some specialist knowledge too. Or you have the situation where a struggling mum is passed from pillar to post, whereas if you have someone with experience and training in BOTH breastfeeding and medication, that one person can deal with the mother holistically.

It's about their ethos I suspect. They want to find someone who has experienced breastfeeding so they know what it means to some mums. They need someone who is committed to supporting breastfeeding mothers rather than someone who thinks formula is a viable option which some mums won't. I have trained with the BfN in the past.

If I was a service I would prefer a woman but not be concerned that she had not breastfed herself.

Just because someone's breastfed for 4 months doesn't mean they're qualified to support other women to do it. They know what worked for them, they don't necessarily know what works for other women. Unless they're going to get specific training about it in which case, anyone could receive that training and be perfectly capable of supporting women to bf.

There is a training programme for this role

Every peer supporter and breastfeeding counsellor gets extensive training. It's absolutely not just "you've done it for 4 months, off you pop".

Yes this was my thought.

I can’t really see the motivation to apply if there’s no experience of breastfeeding either. Happy to be told otherwise.

It's about their ethos I suspect. They want to find someone who has experienced breastfeeding so they know what it means to some mums.

I’m not a pharmacist so wouldn’t be eligible for this role anyway, but say I was…
I really struggled with breastfeeding - after 10 days of going through a daily of routine trying to get DS to latch, failing, giving expressed milk in a bottle, preparing formula to top up, expressing milk again and repeat and repeat and repeat… DS did finally latch after having a tongue tie snip. He still struggled to feed after that due to also having reflux and we combination fed since my supply didn’t quite catch up. We did this for three months, then moved in to just formula. To think that that experience wouldn’t be deemed enough to give struggling women sympathetic ear doesn’t sit well with me. I think for breastfeeding support group their approach is somewhat tone deaf.

But I wonder how many women there are in your scenario. They may have had too many bad experiences of women who don’t feel this way. I’ve often been saddened by society’s treatment of BF and have shied away from talking about it with anyone who hasn’t done it because I can’t take the judgement. I don’t believe all women would treat me badly, but enough have.

You can be an IBCLC without having breastfed, so it’s not about the knowledge for them, but the ability to connect with breastfeeding mothers on a peer-to-peer basis.