Being ‘paid to breastfeed’ - your thoughts?

[SarahMumsnet]

The BBC's reporting this morning that new mothers living in some areas of Derbyshire and south Yorkshire are to be given vouchers for shops including Matalan, Mothercare and John Lewis if they breastfeed their babies. These will be given out as part of a study by the University of Sheffield, aimed at discovering whether “financial incentives” will increase the uptake of breastfeeding in parts of the country where rates are low; mothers will receive vouchers worth up to £120 if they breastfeed until six weeks, and another £80-worth if they continue to the six-month mark.

The scheme, according the senior researcher on the project, is intended "as a way of acknowledging both the value of breastfeeding to babies, mothers and society, and the effort involved in breastfeeding. Offering financial incentives ... might increase the numbers of babies being breastfed, and complement on-going support for breastfeeding provided by the NHS, local authorities and charities."

We've been asked by the beeb what Mumsnetters make of the idea; what's your reaction?

Mixed feeding will work very well for some people but for others it will result in them stopping bf earlier than they hoped - even with all the guidance in the world.

Sorry mini fingers but without formula and frequent supplementation of it my already ill son would have been very gravely unwell indeed, I don't even want to think about it. I am fully supportive of promoting bf, but it is not the best option for every mother and child except in an ideal world.

I don't want to project my experience on to the whole and I accept fully, as tiktok pointed out, that the lack of ff/mixed feeding support I received was not right - but in some cases the promotion of bf has led to no advice being given about other positive choices. That does not mean we stop promoting bf. It means more support for feeding mothers, full stop.

"The team behind the project said bf was a cause of health inequalities, pointing to research that showed it helped prevent health problems such as upset stomachs and chest infections as well as leading to better educational attainments"

Utter tosh IMHO...as implied earlier I am an advocate for bottle-feeding when bf-ing proves too problematic. Let the mother decide without social pressure and ridicullous studies like this, what is best for her baby AND herself...it smacks of emotional and financial blackmail.

As well as good health, my DS15 is an A* student. Am I just lucky?

I agree the money would be better spent on post-natal care and support from HV's.

Nobody says it's the best or only option for every mum, but exclusive breastfeeding would be possible for the vast majority IF it was what they wanted.

It's as wrong to imply that mixed feeding is often necessary as it is to imply it's never necessary. Neither is true.

I agree with you there minifingers - all I'm saying is that every mother deserves support and sometimes, albeit misguidedly, bf can be promoted with no information being forthcoming on other kinds of feeding where needed/requested. It can in some cases (and definitely in mine) be all or nothing. As I said this does not mean I think we withdraw any support at all for bf - increase it, and expand awareness of other solutions to help mums make the right choices for them and their baby.

Well as a mother 11 weeks into breast feeding, it wouldn't have influenced my decision as to whether or not to breast feed but it would have been a welcome helping hand towards the cost of bras etc to make breast feeding easier. It is free to breastfeed but what they don't tell you is some of the equipment like pumps (admittedly not essential but they do make life easier) are expensive so why not help with the cost of these?
Plus people on low income are given milk tokens towards formula isn't this a bit hypocritical if they would like more mothers to breast feed as it is supposed to be best for the baby

I was actually wondering (maybe tiktok will know) - can those on low incomes access pumps for free? Genuinely don't know the answer. If they could rent out hospital grade pumps to all at a nominal cost and to those on low incomes for free, that could be a real help especially for those with supply issues, perhaps?

I think its a ridiculous idea tbh, what's needed is better support and more advice during pregnancy rather than just pushing the breast is best message. All this will do is make mothers who 'fail' at breast feeding feel even worse than they already do.

forgetmenots - free or low cost pump hire is available in some areas but it's not everywhere. Usually if a baby is sick or in NICU, there's a loan scheme, but it is often difficult even for mothers in real need to access one :( It's shocking.

I think pumps for people who need them should be cheap or free, but I also think hand expressing (free!) is under-rated as a skill. Under Baby Friendly, all mothers are supposed to be shown how to do it.

I don't think widespread loan of pumps would make much difference to the stats, though - it would have a marginal effect only, but of course the impact on a few individual mothers and babies would be good.

Supply issues are sometimes helped by expressing, I agree, but there are easier ways to try first.

I thought hand expressing was a joke and unrealistic until I had my 3rd.

Somehow I'd finally relaxed into motherhood as well as become detached completely from the appeal of baby gadgets and couldn't be bothered to find all the pump bits from previous babies and sterilise etc.

I gave it a go in bed and it took ages, and I made myself a bit sore but the practice was invaluable. I learn I could stop and start the milk flow with my mind. How cool is that?

Will bow to your greater wisdom on bf/expressing tiktok. Given that it would only be helpful for a small number all the more reason to make it free to them - what a help - but understand it might not have a huge impact on stats, thanks for the info.

That's amazing Starlight :)

sorry tiktok

Pooka- I agree with you. It is currently only a study.
It is incredible how emotive a topic it is though. I took 8 painful weeks to get the hang of if and a breast feeding consultant (angel) but I wanted to so badly and I am so glad I did. I stopped at 10 months. I loved it.

Money wouldn't have made a difference but all the motivational theories etc are just that theories so we should as measured people at least allow the study opportunity to conclude before we dive in with negativity.

At least something is happening even if it's a bit skewed and who knows what it could lead to x

Its a terrible idea that money or vouchers could change a decision that has such an impact on your child's health - as if mums are that shallow! As if you can put a price on their health in such a crude way, or be given 'vouchers' (vouchers!) for the job of nurturing your baby - its an insult!

If a mum could breastfeed and her culture supports it, then of course she would anyway - if she can't or if its just too difficult, it doesn't matter that much!

Even though I breastfed all mine for ages I remember how difficult it was with my first dc although it got easier. Especially easier at night - I was too tired to wake up properly and on my own etc (and didn't drink or take tablets) so it made sense to just breastfeed lying down in the night, and drift back to sleep. I was also on low income with my first, so it was an essential source of free food, so although I went hungry (no money, long story) and dropped a few stone in weight at least my ds survived healthily on breastmilk and bits of bread for the first 7 months and has stayed healthy too.
But if you can afford to buy formula and be happy, is that better than breastfeeding for months and being miserable?

Either way, none of us makes decision about what is best for our dc based on getting vouchers!!
It could downgrade it so much it will be yet another cultural barrier to breastfeeding.

My son was early and trying to breastfeed was traumatic to say the least. The hospital wasn't interested and the midwifes trundled around with a trolley full of bottled formula like they were air hostesses handing out G&Ts. Sadly, as he was born on a Friday, I was told that there were no breastfeeding specialists within the hospital over the weekend! Surely, the money they are spending on this scheme would be better spent on ensuring that new mums get the help they require early on.

Cossima, why are you saying 'sorry' to me?

Very sad to hear ignorant care cuts both ways mappcat :(

gertrude, make your mind up :)

Line 1 of your post has the decision (to bf/ff) has 'such an impact on child health' and 3 lines later you are saying 'it doesn't matter that much'.

We know that women in areas with low bf rates find it very difficult to breastfeed - the social environment tells them they are weird, wasting their time, that they're disgusting and selfish etc etc etc. The vouchers, in some small way, are telling them this is a worthwhile thing to do, and that their choice matters.

It's a feasibilty study. If it makes no difference or has negative effects, it won't spread.

Just to point out that the money being spent on this scheme is peanuts....really. The vouchers will be supplied by the shops and the staff involved in the research would be paid anyway - if they were not doing this, they'd be doing something else.

It certainly wouldn't pay for extra support in hospitals.

BTW (post yesterday) - formula tokens stopped years ago. Healthy Start vouchers are available to low income women and are exchangable for fruit, veg, milk and infant formula.

Utterly ridiculous policy,thankfully doesn't look as if it is government policy according to Nick Clegg.

If anybody really cared about health in these areas they'd organised free cooking and budgeting lessons along side free books and extra literacy schemes.

Poor literacy and family diet have far more of an impact on child health in this country than a few months of formula.

They may as well chuck £200 notes out the window as it'll be impossible(and expensive) to monitor alongside patronising and all the other negs mentioned.

Tokens aren't a lot of good if you can't read or cook properly.

And I really feel for those women living in poverty utterly loathing bfeeding with perhaps a baby not thriving and an unsupportive partner insisting she continue so she gets the cash.

My son was born in one of the hospitals in the study. I'm an experienced breast feeder so needed no help. Which is exactly what I observed the other mothers receiving during my fri till mon stay. I was told by one ignorant nurse to top up feed because my milk had not come in 12hrs after delivery. Well no hes having colestrum first!
One mother was expressing and cup feeding after unsuccessful attachment. Her baby was screaming in hunger mostly. It was 3 days before a feed nurse came on duty!
The early days are so important to successful breast feeding, the money would be more useful spent on more lactation nurses within our hospitals.

I'm absolutely staggered loss of baby weight and crying isn't on the list of reasons for bfing stopping before 6weeks.

Everybody I knew started bfing and everybody stopped before 6 weeks- worry about wight loss(which according to MN is to be expected) and the continual crying were the reasons.

Yes the agony was horrible but to be perfectly honest up to a point most mums I know would try and get through it.However holding a skinny,miserable baby is far more scary,baby comes first and if they're not thriving ideals go out the window.The pain accelerates that decision but doesn't make it iykwim.

I think they need to do a tad more research.

I haven't read all this thread, and I'm going back 5 years with my own experiences here, but it would seem to me that any breastfeeding budget is best invested in making sure that those who want to succeed do succeed, rather than just getting loads of people to start and hoping some stick at it.

I had awful problems with my first DC and was begging for help, but it was too little and too late. When I had my second DC (who admittedly was a far, far better feeder) 18 months later, they had introduced more breastfeeding councillors who did home visits and could come out at very short notice. I think with that level of support my first DC's tongue tie and my nipple problems would have been spotted and I could have succeeded feeding him.

The breastfeeding start up rate is, as far as I remember, not too shabby. Far better to help those women succeed than continue shouting 'it's natural and best and you should do it' to everyone, then wondering why they don't all stick at it.