Do we need a national breastfeeding strategy?

[Tatties]

\link{http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/womanshour/02/2006_19_fri.shtml\This discussion} was on Radio 4 this morning. Think Alison Baum is definitely right in saying that education about bf should start in school rather than ante-natal classes.

i signed the petition mostly because i felt the support in hospital was very poor. were i not a proper grown up with dh support and with clear ideas about bf in the first place, i and dd would be in a very different situation now.
i listened to the doscussion and its really always the same. i am not sure if a national strategy is the way to go, funding always disappears and i think it needs to be part of larger debate on parenting

I heard the item. Don't agree about the gap being in schools.....who's going to deliver this teaching, how will it be evaluated, where's the room on the curriculum?

Look at smoking. Anti-smoking messages are in school from the start. Young women still begin smoking and in fact this is the group of the population that is still most wedded to tobacco. There is a ton of sex education, and we still have the highest teen pregnancy rate in Europe. And what about drugs? Schools are absolutely hopeless at really changing people's behaviour.

Instead, let's just get the message over, and give the support freely and correctly, at the time it matters....not especially antenatally, but starting with the real baby after birth. Make it easy and pleasant to breastfeed wherever and whenever, and train midwives and others properly....don't rely on schools, and don't give any healthcare professional the chance to say 'I blame the schools' when looking at our bf rates.

Most women do start to bf. The fact that a large proportion of them have a crap experience and give up in despair has zero to do with gaps in the school curriulum.

I don't agree with you on the sex education point TikTok. I don't actally think there is a ton of it in school, but if there was it would have to be the right sort of education, aimed at all children, not just teenagers (when it is too late?) I saw a programme recently about how sex education in Dutch schools differs from it in British Schools. Holland's higher teen pg rate has decreased over the last 30yrs or so since measures were taken to teach sex ed in schools with a more liberal approach, and it also started at about 5 yrs old.

I'm not saying there should be bf lessons in school; just that it could be talked about, normalised. Perhaps help plant the seed that bf is something you do. I think you are right sfxmum about it being part of a wider debate on parenting.

AGree it is about education - but of the public generally rather than a need to start 'nagging' 13 year olds to breastfeed if/when they have a baby. Need public acceptance of bfing as normal and natural and not something to be done in stinky rooms next to a changing mat!
I think the issue is as tiktok says, that many many mums want to bf, and try to bf, find it in some way unworkable, lack support or decent advice and give up (I know I did - largely after dodgy advice re nipple agony and having literally no idea that newborns babies could genuinely want feeding every hour!)

Is it more about educating about what to expect from a newborn and what breastfeeding is really like?
I have to say I was worried when I first heard ntl BF strategy as I already felt like i was having breast is best rammed in my face (sorry, sounds harsh, but that is how it felt to me) and all it did was make me feel even more guilty about failing. Now, a few months down the line, I think if a strategy means better advice and support (and that all mums are given MN website address at 1st antenatal appointment!) then it's fine by me ( just don't villify the non-bf-ers - we tend to do that well enough ourselves!)

Totally agree Jessajam - the information given to first time mothers should be much better - not just 'if it hurts you're not doing it properly'. I think that midwives and health visitors should all have training in breastfeeding. The breastfeeding advice/help I received in hospital was shocking and when I got home the health visitor could not help me. I was told to go and see an NHS breastfeeding counsellor, which was impossible as I had an emergency caesarean, therefore couldn't drive, baby was feeding all the time and by this time my DH had gone back to work and couldn't get any time off. What I really needed was practical help at home from the health visitor.
It never entered my head before I had my DS that I would end up bottle feeding and the ante-natal classes I attended just stated the benefits of breastfeeding, not the potential difficulties and how best to overcome them.

tatties - I totally agree with you about sex ed....my point was that there is sex ed in schools, and quite a lot, but it is pretty useless. It's compulsory in all schools at all age groups and we get it so wrong. Schools here are just not good at getting health and behaviour changes across to youngsters - if we charged them with teaching about bf they would probably f* that up as well!

Ideas about planting the seed and normalising it - well, yes, and those whose job it is to look at health and social education, let alone biology, should of course be watchful about this.

But real change will only come when breastfeeding becomes not really 'best' but 'possible' and 'enjoyable' and for that we need a strategy.

Oh yes, I see what you mean now tiktok, if bf were talked about in schools they would probably get it wrong But ideally I would see bf being talked about in school as just another part of it being really 'accepted' in society.

Of course resources should go towards practical support for new mothers.

Most women I know have at least given breastfeeding a shot. But most have stopped within the first few weeks if not the first few days. I think that there are a lot of myths and stories surrounding breastfeeding and clearing these up may help. Things such as "breastfeeding hurts everyone for the first few weeks" (said by a mw at my antenatal classes) and "breastfeeding ties you down" or "your baby will be spoiled and only want his mum" or "you aren't making enough milk and he's hungry". I don't think these specific things need to be discussed in school though.

The medical profession did very little to clear up any of these myths for me. Mumsnet cleared them up!

Much like sfxmum, if Ihadn't had support at home and on the internet, I wouldn't have breastfed beyond week 2. I'm well educated had read extensively on breastfeeding before I had DS. But it still confused me and my mw and hv couldn't answer my questions. I didn't have the confidence to contact LLL or similar.

Oh, my local health authority are starting a peer support thing called breastfeeding buddies. Part of it is to introduce breastfeeders to mums to be antenatally so they have a friendly face to discuss their woes with. My concern at the moment is that the 'buddies' may be expected to provide support on issues that would be best provided by a bf counsellor. But we'll see how it goes...