Is breastfeeding seen as a middle class thing?

[Thandeka]

Am genuinely curious. Just heard a local children's centre in a deprived area refused to have a breastfeeding support group in it because only the middle class mums would go.

eh?
And I have heard elsewhere that breastfeeding levels are much higher in the middle classes,
Could it linked with education levels?

I have a feeling in other countries people of all classes breastfeed so why not in this country?

Am not posting this to be controversial or anything and apologies if it has been done to death already- I couldn't find anything before but I just wondered if mumsnetters thought it was a middle class thing? and know any reasons why this is?

I heard from a social worker friend that they find it easier to 'guilt' the middle class mummies into bf so focus their attention there as it makes their statistics look better.

Hope it's not true!!

I find it totally weird go to other countries and breast feeding is the norm yet you have to 'guilt' people to breast feed here

I don't know but I live in a very middle class area and I don't think I know anyone who hasn't breast fed for considerable periods of time. Actually, I've just thought of one person. But that's one person out of lots and lots of people I've met at various baby groups.

I think it is middle class and is to do with education. Back in the day only common folk bfed, the middle classes would have farmed out to wet nurses. And then formula came along, expensive and scientific. So the middle classes moved to that. And the peasants had ideas above their class, so they moved to formula too. Now that bfing is trendy again will take the commoners a while to catch up.

I think it is a middle class thing simply because they can stay at home, they tend to have the money to only have one income or have long maternity leave, to sit there being sucked away on all day.

Where as the poor need both incomes so have to find a relative or someone to baby sit ASAP, while they go back to work to earn a living, most people simply do not have the time.

Don't get me started on the supposed liberation of women allowing them to work just creating more work as now we are expected to work to the bone at home during the traditional role and work for living as well.

Ime (family working class, work colleagues middle class) wc are willing to bf, but perhaps have less support.

My mc friends have accessed support from nct, books, lll etc. Where as my wc family have mostly had outdated advice from other family and therefore given up, or not established bf,mostly due to worries over supply.

Now i am bfing and genning up i hope to be able to help with future babies in the family.

Ryoko wc are more likely to have income closer to statutory maternity pay and so less likely to need to rush back to work to rectify a gap in pay. Also they are less likely to have a job that pays enough to make it worthwhile paying for child care when(or if) they go back to work, not that this matters as smp is for nine months when i believe most babies require only part bm, and are flexible about this.

I live in a middle class area and most of my friends have breastfed. Many have done it even though its hard, because they know its best for their babies, a few pregnant friends have said recently want to BF as they think their child will be cleverer.

Maybe people in deprived areas don't care about the benefits as much.

I don't think its to do with staying at home / long maternity leave, more that its time consuming, and draining.

Hard to do if you are looking after older children without help. Hard to do as a single monther without support. Mistaken belief that would be bad idea to drink and smoke whilst bfing. etc

I don't necessarily think it is a middle class thing.

I am working class and had my daughter as a teenage mother 15 years ago. I breastfed exclusively for 3 months and only gave up when I went back to work FT. Less understanding re expressing in the workplace back then so dd went onto formula.

Iirc the mothers who formula fed from my antenatal group (a mix of people, I lived in a relatively affluent village however there was about 50% middle class mummies, 25% army wives from the marines base, 25 working classes) came from a range of backgrounds, and the main reasons for giving up breastfeeding was pain and exhaustion. Not one of us started with formula - all at least attempted breastfeeding.

"Ryoko wc are more likely to have income closer to statutory maternity pay and so less likely to need to rush back to work to rectify a gap in pay. Also they are less likely to have a job that pays enough to make it worthwhile paying for child care when(or if) they go back to work, not that this matters as smp is for nine months when i believe most babies require only part bm, and are flexible about this."

Well my SMP is £127 a week I think which is just over half my monthly wage, my pay is £6.75 an hour which is only about £1 more then the NMW, now if I was on my own paying all the bills (in London) if my pay was only £10 more then the SMP that would be a very much needed £10 as I would have no savings and would likely have debts anyway (thankfully DF earns 23k).

Child care payments are a maximum of £140 (or is it 160?) a week, which will not go far in London or probably any other big city where the majority of us working class and truly poor people live.

I don't think its a middle class thing I know plenty of WC who breast feed ...they do actually care about the benefits of bf

The figgers acctauly say it's related to your education level and your age. Older mum's who have a degree are far more likly to still be BF at six months. Then mum's who left school and had children early.

I suppose you could relate this to MC women but you don't have to be MC to have been to higher education it's just more likly.

I went to an NCT group of mostly middle class women and out of the 7 attending I was the only one who breastfed past 2 weeks most didn't feed past the time in hospital and the others did the first 2 weeks and gave up as it was too much hassle and they wanted to head out to dinner parties and the such like without their little ones. Our local childrens centre runs a BF support group and our main attendees are working class and/or young mums who have realised that it is best for their babies and for their pockets.

MumNWLondon I find the following comment insulting.

"I live in a middle class area and most of my friends have breastfed. Many have done it even though its hard, because they know its best for their babies, a few pregnant friends have said recently want to BF as they think their child will be cleverer.

Maybe people in deprived areas don't care about the benefits as much."

Are you insinuating that 1: us WC don't care about our children and 2: that we are stupid?.

or 3: its something else for the MC too be smug about

Perhaps NWLondonMum thinks the working classes are stupid. Bless her.

"Maybe people in deprived areas don't care about the benefits as much."

It has been established fact for many years that poor people don't love their children very much. It's nothing to do with lack of education, opportunities and support. As we all know, there is only one way to raise children, and it's the method used by the middle class majority in your postcode. If you are not using that method, you are doing it wrong, and the only reason for deliberately choosing to do it wrong is lack of love for your child.

it's simple really, when you follow these ideas to their logical conclusion.

Isn't something I have really thought about to be honest. I am WC and come from a WC background, I wasn't breastfed but tried my best to breastfeed my DD and will do so when this one comes along.

I also know MC mum's who didn't even attempt the breast as they wanted to return to work quickly, as would you believe some of them even though they are MC are also single parents, shocking I know.

Not sure, it is pretty posh around here and I am starting to get comments along the lines of still breastfeeding, asking if I am going to give him some baby rice soon, not to feel bad about using the bottle if I get fed up etc.

colditz. Cracking post.

That's what i mean ryoko. I know people who have not gone back to work ft because it would mean one wage basically paying for childcare, which makes no sense (unless work is important for your sanity).

However i know mc people that have had to go back asap as they have a big mortgage.
I am lucky that as we have always been on the skinter end of the spectrum (both on just over min wage when we bought our home so cut our cloth accordingly and haven't moved as we know what ever happens we can alway pay for our house by waiting tables!) So now dh is paid slightly better, me being on sma (i'm now se) means just going without some stuff rather than me rushing back to work to make up a shortfall, iyswim.

My friend who is single with no family nearby cannot even contemplate going back to work when her mat pay is over. It simply does not add up.

I'm just saying it is not my experience that wc (as defined in economic terms in your post) 'rush back to work'. No doubt some do, but for my wc friends and family ft is not an option. At least not till they have a free nursary entitlement by which point bf is immaterial.

Hilarious Colditz. Total MC area here and lots of bf going on. Know noone that didn't even attempt it. Nipple blister stories a plenty.

How weird then that the Children's centre manager vetoed it.

Hmmm worth having a go at him methinks!

lol at colditz!
that it needed to be said. You'd think the middle classes would be more enlightened and socially aware. Don't they read the guardian?

But MoonFaceMama there has been a massive increase in grand parents looking after the grand kids in recent years and as the poorest in society are more likely to be unable to move out, well you know where I'm going with this.

I'm lucky DF earns 23k and I am on a zero hour contract, I'll be going back to work for 1-2 days a week if they will have me so I can have a break, no point even applying for child care costs if you have a zero hour contract IMO, not worth the hassle.

(I am not BF because I simply do not want to BTW).