To think that "97% of women can breastfeed" is a load of crap

[elliejjtiny]

I've been seeing this phrase a lot over the years, about how 97% of women can breastfeed and all the rest of the people who say they can't just need support.

I would guess that 97% of women can probably produce milk (although I wouldn't be surprised if it was lower) but there is so much more to breastfeeding than the mum producing milk which never seem to be mentioned. Mums with disabilities/medical conditions, babies with disabilities/medical conditions, babies who are born prematurely, mums separated from their babies and mums on medication that means they can't breastfeed.

When people gaily spout that 97% of women can breastfeed I find is so annoying and inaccurate. It's usually the same people who want the number of c-sections reduced as well and think that everyone can give birth with no interventions, they just need to stay mobile and ignore the nasty doctors.

It's a criticism on the lack of effective multifactorial support, culture and expectations, rather than women.

Were you able to breastfeed?
I am not sure how this could even be measured.

That research was about the physical ability to breastfeed, essentially the ability to produce milk. Yes there are other factors that reduce the number of women who do breastfeed, but the study isn’t really about that, it looked just at the production of milk I believe.

The same research and comparative studies do all acknowledge that breastfeeding success is more to do with healthcare & support than the physical ability to produce milk.

Having never given birth myself I’m certainly no expert on breastfeeding but from an evolutionary biology perspective the ability of female mammals to lactate & feed their young in infancy is pretty fundamental. Individuals who couldn’t would not be passing on their genes to future generations because the babies would not survive so natural selection would strongly favour those who could lactate successfully.

Would that evolutionary pressure be enough to push the figure up to 97%? No idea. 🤷🏻‍♀️

That seems too much like common sense for the ‘fed is best’ crowd.

I can (probably, never tried)
I don’t/didn’t (my/our choice)
I don’t care. Nor does anyone else.

The one who cares the least? My crazy, healthy, happy kid!

I don’t know the answer or if indeed much is known, but I’d be interested to know historically, before formula was available, what the rate of BF was. How many children died from malnutrition through insufficient BF. Obviously there won’t be much data out there, but I’m assuming there must be some information out there in terms of social history and understanding of BF troubles.

It's the percentage of women that are physiologically able to produce enough milk to fully feed their baby. I'm not sure why you're so angry about that. 85 -90% of women are able to give birth vaginally. They're just facts. It's good to know that the majority of women are able to if they want to IMO.

Women on medication that's not compatible with breast feeding should be aware of that, often people will pause or change their meds if they really want to breastfeed. If they have a disability (very, very rare for a disability to mean you can't breastfeed) then I'm sure they'd be aware and if you're separated from your baby for some reason it's not going to be a surprise to you that you can't breast feed is it?

I'm not sure what point you're trying to make with these odd random examples. It's just sounds like it's you with the issue tbh.

I could, yes, but one of my babies couldn't.

I pumped for 5 days post partum whilst he was in icu to ensure I could breastfeed. Doctors said it was incredibly rare that a NICU baby receives 100% breastmilk. If you want to and you are supported, in the majority of cases it will be possible.

Wow that is one major drip feed.

I don’t know what percentage of women can breastfeed, but I know that I didn’t because I had no milk. I was devastated. It was a very difficult thing to accept. The support was non existent and the criticism was everywhere. The worst was when a woman on the till at Sainsbury’s thought it was a good idea to tell me how bad formula is for a baby and how she was pleased that I wouldn’t get any Nectar points for the formula I was buying.

So I can understand why the OP is cross about the ‘97%’ report but it’s really just the same as everything else with women and childbirth. It’s all underfunded, unsupported and we’re left to get on with it. My baby is now a strapping 18 year old, so the formula didn’t do any harm.

Your interpretation of this data seems a bit disingenuous. Approximately 97% of women are able to lactate. Of course women can't breastfeed babies from whom they are separated, of course babies with developmental or physical barriers to breastfeeding can't be fed this way. And so on, as per your opening post. I think you're labouring a point nobody claims to have made.

This. If we didn't live in a formula centric society, that vast majority of women would be able to breastfeed. The human race wouldn't have survived otherwise.

Which keeps you in the 97% then.

Sad that those doctors said that as NICU babies are the ones who really should be having breastmilk either from their mum or donated.

Yes exactly this

I'm not sure this is necessarily true because for most of human history we lived in social groups where both a lot of women would have been lactating and there was a high infant mortality rate, so someone would have been able to feed a child if the mother couldn't.

I couldn't produce milk. Couldn't get more than drops, pumping or feeding.

Baby screaming so much the hospital advised formula lapped from a cup until my milk came in but it never did, despite hours of attempted feeds and nipples so sore they cracked and bled. The midwives said there was nothing wrong with his latch.

I did have low iron and they thought that could compromise my ability to make milk.

In the end we gave a bottle and he went from screaming constantly to a well fed, calm, happy baby who slept through the night from a couple of months old.

I'm not sure how many women there are like me, because I think there is judgement if you cannot breastfeed and a lot of pressure to do so.

As other people have said, why do you think we have breasts? They have developed to be able to feel the young. Survival of the fittest, the young who aren't fed die. Therefore, I would fully expect the number of women able to breastfeed to be in the 97% region which is proven by the study.

These days there are other routes which some women choose, as is their right.

I suspect better help, guidance & education would be able to increase breast feeding rates. Ultimately if there wasn't another option I suspect 97% of women would find a way to feed their baby. The other babies would die in infancy (or be fed by another mother depending on the issue).

Some women find it painful, difficult etc and want to switch to formulae. That's fine but does it mean they can't feed a baby? No

Also a paediatrician had a go at me when he was 6 years old and said I should have tried harder

Breastfeeding is incredibly difficult. I’ve just finished feeding my 3 year old. She self weaned. It has been gruelling and relentless and one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. She also insisted on feeding multiple times a night for most of that time. I did all of this with no help whatsoever from anyone else. She wasn’t interested in a bottle and only wanted me. There is nowhere near enough support for woman to breastfeed successfully and it’s going to take me years to recover from the lack
of sleep and the toll it’s taken on my body. I completely understand why woman don’t even try.

I had to fight to get support to breastfeed my twins.

A midwife told me I was a bad mother because one of my babies wasn’t feeding well - I was told to switch to formula or I’d be starving the baby.

A lovely Mum at Twins club gave me wonderful advice and I exclusively breastfed both babies for 18 months.

Not everyone can breastfeed, not everyone wants to.

But most women should be able to with the right support. It’s cheaper, it’s easier (once you get the hang of it) and it’s the best food source for the baby.

The UK is dreadful at supporting breastfeeding Mums. As society we should be ashamed.

Mums with disabilities/medical conditions, babies with disabilities/medical conditions, babies who are born prematurely, mums separated from their babies and mums on medication that means they can't breastfeed.

None of those things (aside from the medication) necessarily prevent breastfeeding. Please stop spouting crap that premature babies can’t be breastfed, they absolutely can with the right support.

If a woman produces milk, they can almost always breastfeed if they want to and are given the right support. I think there absolutely needs to be the message that the overwhelming majority of women can breastfeed if they want to and way more resources pumped into helping them. What would you prefer the message was “you might not be able to so don’t bother trying”?

97% of women do produce milk, that figure was around 25 years ago when I had mine. Of the 3% that don’t they are either due to surgery or extreme preemies typically. Many more women find breastfeeding challenging whether that’s because of lack of support, logistics, need to work etc but if those were solved they technically could feed their babies - my friend was very physically disabled (electric chair, hoist, catheter etc yet breastfed because bottles are far harder!)

if you have chosen not to breastfeed because you didn’t want to or doesn’t fit with your life that is absolutely fine but don’t imply you couldn’t. Even if you have low milk production you can mix feed while building supply. I support right to choose but not the claims so that so many women can’t when it’s actually lifestyle related not biology