Reasons why women don't breastfeed

[ohthegoats]

Today's breastfeeding 'news' from Brazil. I finally heard a sensible comment on the story at about lunchtime today - a woman saying that there shouldn't be surveys on whether or not it's a good thing to breastfeed, because everyone knows it is. The research should be into why so many women don't do it, or don't stick with it.

Here are my reasons why I don't like breastfeeding - has anyone got any to add? Or ideas to mitigate the issues?

After being so out of control of your body during pregnancy, being poked and prodded and 'nanny stated' out of your mind, you want control back.

Little help available when you have problems - I know this isn't true for all people.

Having to wear such unflattering underwear in order to be able to get your boobs out easily. Why hasn't this been sorted out? Why so few underwired options that actually work without causing duct blockages? Why so expensive to get even a crappy underwired one?

Having to wear clothes that are mostly unflattering too. I have one reasonable breastfeeding top out of the 10 I have bought - H&M for a tenner in the sale, not been able to find it again. They are all either too plain coloured, too low necked, horrible material, too tight in other places etc etc.

Getting stared at in public for doing it.

Being confined to the sofa for days on end.

Waking up covered in yoghurt for reasons you don't understand.

Boobs squirting milk during sex.

Think that's my starter list.

I'm 5 and a half months into ebf with my baby... plan to start moving away from it at 6 months. I've done it because it's the 'right' thing, but I've mostly hated it.

I will not be able to breastfeed because I had a breast reduction. I couldn't live in agony for years just for the possibility of being able to breastfeed.

Parental IQ, education, and SES predict intelligence far better than breastfeeding, anyway.

Heart, I can happily tolerate a different point of view: I'll even accept when I'm wrong and have made an honest mistake.

Solas said What the bf extremists never want to admit is that women were practicing dry nursing and other means of reducing the obligation to breastfeed long before formula was invented.
'bf extremists' DO admit this: I think we all know about wet-nursing and substitute milks. We also know that, in the absence of sterilisation, clean water etc, FF was not a panacea but was actually very dangerous. FF is now safe where the water is clean, the instructions are followed and the formula itself is not contaminated (recent cases in China, anyone?).

FF is a valid choice, and for some women it's a necessity, but the science indicates that BF is best for the baby. That doesn't sound 'extreme' to me.

Great post, mehs. You can't disagree that the science says bf is better for the baby. It just is.

Obviously there are a whole myriad or reasons why women can't or don't bf. And more support needs to be given to these women. But the reason it gets pushed so hard is because it's better for your baby, if you can.

my dd1 was very prem. she just wouldn't latch and i wanted her to be discharged asap. so after 7 weeks in scbu we gave her a bottle. never regretted it. my son was full term and after a traumatic birth i really wanted to breatsfeed. did ok in hospital, although i remember one midwife syringing milk out of my boob even though i had my baby with me? never understood that!! when i got home i struggled. my nipples were bleeding and i just didn't expect that. i had absolutely no idea how hard it was going to be i called a helpline but they never got back to me. have so many regrets. i kept trying to feed him for weeks even though he was on formula. did eventually manage the odd feed with nipple shields before my milk dried up. wish i had had the shields from the start.

Thanks postchildren. I just feel that it is deeply wrong that people think breastfeeding is somehow gross or repellant. If it was very rare for people to feel that way, then fine, that would come down to personal idiosyncracies, but it isn't.

And the lack of honest chat about it doesn't help either - firefly's post is one of many where a lack of honest information seems to be a big part of the problem.