What to use instead of best or normal?

[hazchem]

I had a meeting today and a midwife said "breast is best" and I said well no "breastfeeding is normal". One of the other attendees said that she was uncomfortable with the use of "normal" as it can make people feel abnormal if they can't breastfeed and would make them feel bad.

I've tended towards breast is normal because it think it takes some pressure off and suggest that it just something that humans do. I hadn't thought about it making women feel worse.

Has any else come across this? Is there a move towards another term. Natural?

This is a really interesting debate. (I have just read the whole thread while putting DD2 to bed - breast feeding).

I do think that as a slogan "every ounce counts" works really well, or whatever it was that suggested earlier, but without the tesco connotation. It is true without demonising anyone who, for whatever reason, has introduced formula. I think it is very supportive of the struggling new mother, it recognises the importance of bf (in the same way tesco recognises 'every little helps' in these hard times), but without actually promoting ff. Breast feeding is normal and should be the default for human babies, and it is best, but both statements are potentially patronising to the already highly hormonal and emotional newly delivered.

However, this is less about a slogan and more about improving breast feeding rates. The slogan does belie an ideal though so the catchier the better.

Someone up thread posted that hcp support is often rubbish and I'll-informed, and it is. DD1 was very prem and one nurse was fab: happy to let her lie on me, and actually said 'best thing for her and it will promote bf even if she isn't doing it', while the others told me not to feed any more than 4 hourly as they had got her into a nice routine for me and what was she doing out if that incubator again! (She came home ebf on demand, not 4 hourly, fwiw). To be told I was doing the right thing, meant worlds to me, even if I hadn't managed to ebf, because every ounce counts.

I think predominantly bf rates are rubbish because of the many myths about it, that fuel cultural distaste. The 'bf is easy/painless/wonderful' is the one that gets me the most. It is not any of those things until it is established, and anything worthwhile takes a little effort, right? Once you are established you may think it is those things, but if a new mum expects that in the first month, then is it any wonder that they change their minds and immediately think they can't do it? There may be reasons that it is particularly difficult but I think it's easy to say there's a problem (whether there is or there isn't) to absolve the inevitable guilt when the decision to give up is made, and that is really sad - both the belief of can't and the ensuing guilt.

Ok, you're clearly more recently read up than I am - I didn't much bother seeking out new material once I'd decided to continue bfing so nowadays I only read what's pushed under my nose by eg bloggers I follow.

I disagree with you that most people know you can mixed-feed, and about the interpretation of the current recommendations, if not their intent. But I think we will have to agree to differ.

As an aside, I think the waters are muddied by the way we collect data in this country. We are often given figures for breastfeeding rates, but how are these collected? I've only been asked about bf at postnatal appointments to 6w, maybe at the 8-9m HV check if they remember, and not thereafter even though there's a checkbox on the immunisation forms (8, 12, 16w, 12m, 13m etc). I have never been asked whether a baby of mine is ebf or bf at all at six months, which is the figure we are always given.

I think if that information were routinely collected we would get something like "1% ebf at 6m, with a further 5% bm plus solids, and a further 10% bm, ff and solids" or similar.

Yes it's useful to collect the "6m ebf" data because it links back to the WHO recommendation, but the other numbers might make bfing past the very early days look less unusual and therefore more achievable.

Sorry, that last post sounded snottier than I intended. Some to dot through it to reduce the aggression

Deck, if you have not bothered to seek out new material and only read what's pushed under your nose, then it's sensible not to be so certain about your 'facts', wouldn't you say? Makes for frustrating discussion, otherwise.

You clearly don't know the background of UK data collection, either - instead you assume because you were not asked certain questions, then data is collected poorly. In fact, data collection is something we do pretty well in the UK. Obviously not every individual mother is personally questioned on this.

I accept your apology for sounding snottier than you intended :) But I am not going to engage further with you on this topic, sorry.

You can find out yourself how the data is collected, if you are interested. It's done locally (quarterly returns) and nationally (Infant Feeding Survey, every 5 years).

Ah, I do remember engaging in the last Infant Feeding Survey.

So anyway, Every Breastfeed Counts is great and Breastfeeding is Normal sounds judgy. That's my take on the slogans as someone who did everything they could to make bf work and only managed about a week with DS and 3 months witha LOT of effort with DD. I'd have found it really upsetting if soneone told me BF is normal because it certainly wasn't normal for me.

Something like 10,000 mothers are surveyed in the Infant Feeding Survey, which takes place every 5 years.

Quarterly returns are based on locally-collected data, not a survey.

Jayne, I can understand that feeling about 'normal' - it's a loaded word :(

"Breast is natural" is an interesting suggestion at the end of the OP.

On the one hand this is just a statement of the bleedin' obvious.

On the other hand this might go some way towards changing the views of those who think BF is icky, embarrassing or very difficult.

(although of course it can be very difficult - and I agree support for those who want to BF should be as much a priority as PR to convince the doubters).

More controversially, "breast is natural" might get people thinking about the fact that formula isn't the natural thing for their baby to be drinking.

The most normalising thing would be to make breastfeeding more visible - if every soap baby was frequently bf without its being remarked upon by other characters, if those of us who bf did so more often in public and less discreetly, and so on.

At the moment it isn't culturally normal, even though it is biologically normal.

Really interesting discussion. I'm happy with 'breast is best' but I really like 'every breastfeed counts' and if Tesco hadn't got there first I'd definitely be on board with that (although I do have some concerns that it is perhaps lowering the benchmark - e.g. even one bfeed is better than nothing, might lead to a woman (in the midst of cracked nipples and sleep deprivation) thinking, well, she's bfed for 3 days and that's better than nothing, so I feel okay about moving onto formula iykwim)

I think this myth that 'bfeeding doesn't hurt if you do it right' disheartens many women who suffer pain in the early weeks, and it undermines your efforts as it is easy to feel you're 'failing' at bfeeding if it hurts - whereas in my limited experience (bfed 2 dc) it was bloody agony for the first month. I think if you prepared women for what it can really be like in the first few weeks, they'd maybe be more likely to perservere? (no basis for this , just hypothesising)

I also agree with many of the pps that bfeeding rates are unlikely to increase until it becomes commonplace in UK society and everyone knows someone who bfed a child until x age.

I find the statistic that only 1% of babies are bfed at 6 months to be quite shockingly low and it certainly puts paid to a slogal of 'bfeeding is normal' as clearly in UK society it is not normal, FF is.

Maybe an appeal to wallets might help; 'breastfeeding is free'

It isn't bloody free, though, is it?

::glares at special frumpy easy-access bfing wardrobe::

Breast feeding is optimal.

Formula feeding is aptamil.

Deck I think that as you are likely to need clothes however you feed a baby that is a pretty moot point.

thether funny but I feel aptamil like it too :)

Etholeomel I wonder if breastfeeding is a bit like birthing. If you've seen lots of births and think its pretty normal and stuff you are less scared of it and are more likely to have a vaginal/natural birth.

You're kidding me... That's aptamil's slogan?

Jesus. The buggers are more subliminal than I thought. Or didn't think. Or... Wait... What?

When I did the antenatal feeding course thingy the midwives described it as breastfeeding/artificial feeding.

I thought that was quite good as it normalises breastfeeding but in a fairly neutral way?

Doesn't 'artificial feeding' get mixed up with 'tube feeding' though? It certainly has those connotations to me.

Breast is best is alliterative which is why it's better than breast is normal but what about 'babies love boobs'?

'Every breastfeed counts' is definitely a fantastic phrase because it emphasises that however little Bfing the mother manages it makes a difference. Agree it's very empowering.

If they give up saying breast is best then please let them remove all formula ads like the latest sma one

Level the playing field even more won't it

Sadly 'babies love boobs' wasn't true for either of my babies!

thether I think I missed an important word. Let me try again.

funny but I feel aptamil would like it too. I just meant a slogan about breastfeeding which features a formula company would make the formula company happy. And as for artificial I like "Breast milk substitute" because it doesn't relate to the delivery method like say bottle feeding which could be from expressed breast milk from mother or from another woman or a breast milk substitute.

things i think that breast is best works for formula companies because they can use it to their advantage. As in the SMA What's the best milk ad.

If were were honest we would advertising the risks around substitute milks. Not in a nasty guilt inducing way, but clear truthful information about the risks and there are risks even in the developed world. We would be advertising the alternative to direct breastfeeding as follows; expressed milk from mother, expressed milk from another and then formula but then that information doesn't make a nice head line. We would discuss supplemental nursing systems more then mixed feeding.

I think personally "breast is best" doesn't work because no body is always at their best and the there is a huge range downwards from best eg good or great and I think that is where formula companies try to position themselves.

Natural

I volunteer at a breastfeeding support group which is running out of funding despite having helped over 200 women in less than a year. We're currently fundraising and keep coming up against a perception (and sometimes an actual declaration) that breastfeeding is a luxury. THAT'S the truly damaging viewpoint I think. That somehow bf is a luxury that only the middle classes care about.

and don't get me started on formula adverts that use very filters and gloomy weather for the bf shots and switch to sunshine and butterflies once the poor starving baby gets given the formula it so obviously needed to stay crawling and smiling. If it is a true choice or a true necessity then women should be left to ff in peace but if they want to bf in any amount then we as a society need to find a way to support and advise them to make it possible and to stop the negative comments.

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