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.

No it exists so babies don’t die and mothers have a choice .

It’s your truth, that doesn’t make it a universal fact. I breastfed my first baby to 18 months and currently breastfeeding my second baby, it is not incredibly difficult now.

The first I would say 3 months through cluster feeding, baby learning to feed effectively, your body learning, are hard and intense. From 3 months on, I have found breastfeeding honestly totally effortless really. That’s my truth, and the truth of lots of other mums who breastfeed, everyone has a different experience.

It's about the physical ability to breastfeed. Obviously, there are other external factors that may stop some women breastfeeding or make them choose to not breastfeed.

Personally, I think breastfeeding has been massively overcomplicated and made to seem so difficult and daunting that fewer women want to do it. All the pumping and "lactation drinks/snacks" and topping up with formula until milk comes in. All that's really needed, in most cases, is to the put the baby on your boob A LOT for those first few weeks.

I found it incredibly hard. I had flat/inverted nipples and a planned caesarean which meant my milk didn’t come in for five days. When baby was tiny my nipples were raw and bleeding. Part of one of them went black and fell off.

Still glad I did it.

Exactly. I am the least earth motherish type you could imagine and after a short period of tenderness, it was absolutely fine and felt very natural and easy.

As an ex midwife, I would say its extremely unlikely that 97% of women can breastfeed.
Whilst it can be rewarding I don't think it should be forced or mothers made to feel uncomfortable at not wanting/ being able to breastfeed.

And it can be painful which is disenfranchising. Mums have enough on their plates without the extra burden of being forced to perform by those who think they know better. Babies can be raised perfectly well on formula so don't stress.

Agree. I know some women have problems but I didn't at all. All 3 of my children were breastfed and I genuinely found it much easier than bottles.

Not judging anyone for not bfing but just saying many of us don't find it challenging.

The study actually says that 97% of women surveyed in the Hunter New England Health District just north of Sydney, Australia were able to breastfeed their baby at least once. It was an opt in survey of 713 women who had given birth in the past 6 months in 2021, who had good English literacy and they were asked based on having previously opted in to health surveys. It's an area with solid income and education and breasfeeding is strongly encouraged and normalised. Those study parameters would favour women who had postive experiences. Even then the study doesn't say that 97% of women had enough milk to successfully feed a baby or that their babies achieved a good latch or were satisfied after their feed. It just said they breastfed their babies at least once.
Before formula and other modern infant health initiatives the infant mortality rate was enormous and also, it was very normal for women to feed other babies if their mothers didn't have milk - they were called wet nurses. That's much less common now.
I think supporting breastfeeding is important but not at the expense of the mother's health or baby's health. We do have to resist formula being pushed on vulnerable mothers for profit, but beyond that, fed is best.
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11913757/

Uh-huh. You think that’s what Nestle was doing in developing countries in the 1970s?

It can be. It absolutely isn't universally. After the first 48 hours when I was struggling to get a latch then we figured it out and it was absolutely easy. Never understood what "establishing breastfeeding" meant. It took just those 48 hours with DC1 for me to feel it was all sorted and straightforward and less than half an hour with DC2.

My experience is not universal by any means by neither is the one that says it is traumatic, hard, painful and exhausting

80% are mixed feeding by 6 months. I strongly suspect Norwegian mothers don’t run the gauntlet of exclusive breast feeding being pushed above all else on struggling mothers like it is in the uk . I suspect far more in the uk would continue for longer if the guilt mongering re any formula wasn’t so prevalent. It’s ridiculous. The hysteria and pushing of breast feeding is so so wrong in this country. A far more relaxed approach is needed.

I couldn’t care less. Many of us want a choice and babies to have safe food when struggling .

I understand what @10namechangeslater is saying, if we push the narrative it’s easy too much when women struggle they think something is wrong and stop. I found BF terribly difficult, hated it for so many reasons, the pain, the mental side of it, but I beasted it out for the health benefits. I know you don’t want to scare women off trying, but there needs to be a level of expectation setting that not every woman glides through it or that having issues doesn’t mean it’s not working, when I was BF less than 5% of women were still BF at 6 months.

Course they can. Other countries are proof of this. Evolution is. Until the multi billion dollar baby formula machine started their grift women were managing just fine. Now women’s bodies aren’t good enough. The message never changes. Patriarchy.

Not the experience of the vast majority of mothers I know.

You couldn’t care less that countless babies died due to corporate greed? Well, aren’t you a treat?

It’s about context. If I was breastfeeding in 1026 I probably would have no problems. I will have grown up watching every woman I knew breastfeed. If I was breastfeeding in Sweden in 2026, again, it would be easier because of the culture.

My difficulties breastfeeding were because of when and where I lived. That includes the historical context of my family, my in-laws and my society. The difficulties women have are mostly systemic; not individual.

I have no idea of the figures, but as a GP I hear of lot of explanations for stopping breast feeding that are frankly incorrect.

If people don’t want to breastfeed then that’s obviously their decision. But there are some myths I find frustrating, and the commonest is that mums think they’re not producing enough milk because their baby wants to feed all the time. Breastfed babies will often want to spend hours on the breast. Of course if that is not something that the mum/family can manage, by all means switch to formula. But it’s wrong to say the Mum wasn't making enough milk.

The other myth is that it’s fine to top up with formula and continue breastfeeding. This works for some people, but a lot of mums will find that their breast milk starts to dry up if there is lack of stimulation. Certainly in the early weeks.

Also, the latch/position can be difficult. I was fortunate (well unfortunate really, but it’s swings and roundabouts) in that DS1 was premature, so he spent 10 days on SCBU. This meant I had lots of help with breastfeeding, unlike mums who are home with their baby after less than 24 hours. I’m sure that more prolonged and intensive support would enable more latch problems to be resolved.

I’m talking about formula in this country. Very much wanted and safe.

Of course they can. We simply wouldn’t have survived as a species if women couldn’t breastfeed. Those babies who couldn’t would have died.
I had a micro preemie. I pumped for months so I could get eventually bf. She couldn’t do it.I did my best and she still had breast milk for 8/9 months. I donated lots too. I still maintain bfing is best

@elliejjtiny If a substantial number of women can't breastfeed, what happened during the 100,000 years or so that modern humans have existed? How were babies fed during that time?

Another lactating woman in the tribe would feed the baby. Bit like wet nurses but not paid

I pumped for two months while my eldest baby was in ICU. Once he could feed orally he was exclusively breastfed. He was never given a bottle. My second was breastfed from birth because he did not need surgery, ECMO, a ventilator, a feeding tube etc. I believe that the vast majority of women can breastfeed. However as human beings mothers deserve just as much bodily autonomy as anyone else. I breastfed my babies until they were nearly three because I wanted to, I think it was in their best interests and I think it is better than formula. I am entirely comfortable with my choices.

I did my best and my baby ended up in SCBU because of breast feeding being pushed above all else. Paediatrician saving her life was heard ranting how damaging the breast feeding culture has become in this country .

Very difficult to work out as wet nurses were used.