Breastfeeding - building the brand - ideas?

[hunkermunker]

The media shorthand for "breastfeeding" seems to be "hairy legs, weirdy sandals, dubious personal hygiene inc. unshaven armpits and a laissez-faire attitude to discipline of children".

What would you like to see in the media to promote bf? More women bf in soaps? Celebs talking more about their experience of bf? Ordinary women who work and bf talking about how they do it (so many times I read women say "there was no point bf, I was going back to work full time when LO was 4/5/6/7mo")?

So much of the bf info out there is kinda clinical - which is fair enough because it's written by the Department of Health. But should there be more from an emotional pov, more written by "women like me" - not the hairy-legged hippies that it's so often written by (NOT slating HLH btw - some of my finest friends could be described thus ).

Just musing, really. Formula manufacturers have HUGE budgets to build their brand awareness and BF relies on volunteers - I know there are marketing people on MN and I wondered if they wouldn't mind giving a bit of input into this?

Sigh . .

that woman (in the youtube thing) has real problems. Its unfortunate that she has to inflict her own hang-ups on her son.

OK, haven't read the thread properly. I think the scottish ad (one of these women...) is what I mean. Alot of literature about breastfeeding, understandbly, is about how to breastfeed. However, the image of a woman with her shirt open and bra showing, while perhaps giving an idea of what you are doing, doesn't really portray what most people look like when they are breastfeeding. The other day I was in Starbucks and there was a fashionably dressed woman sitting, chilling out, reading her magazine with her baby tucked into her arm feeding. They were both contentedly doing their own thing together - no bottles to fuss with, no faff, just having a nice time. I think thats what I would want to get across.

god i feel like punching that woman in the you tube thing - she not only has a huge chip but is setting up an innocent little boy for a life time of chiphood.

ds absolutely adores watching babies, rarely sees any bf babies in public, but when he does he goes right up to them and stares at mum and babe, until i have to go up and apologise to the poor mother who is being stared at by a toddler and say "sorry, my son loves babies" !

Quote from FromGirders: I've met lots of mums who wouldn't consider bf-ing, and just close their minds to the idea - "it's not my kind of thing".
This is something I just don't understand! Was conception and giving birth their 'kind of thing'? Is wiping bottoms and giving cuddles their ' kind of thing'?
I appreciate that many women have problems bfeeding and that some give up because of it but a first time mother making a deliberate decision NOT TO? That is just sad.

I'm not sure you can 'market breastfeeding' because that makes it seem like just another lifestyle choice. I'm with Tiktok (women who breastfeed should be given massive ACCURATE support) and the person who said that formula should be a medical aid rather than a consumer product. I find it laughable that the government claim to encourage breastfeeding but then give financial support to people on low incomes to help them buy formula - it's insane.

Anyway, perhaps we shouldn't even be trying to persuade people and should just offer huge support to those having problems who would welcome help (speaking as someone whose friend has just had baby with dreadful weight loss/feeding problems and is fed up of 'nazi midwives shoving the bfing message down her throat' I think sometimes we just have to offer help and then back off)

But anyway, what an interesting thread it's certainly kept me awake whilst I express!
(Obviously, being awake at nearly 5 am is NOT a good advert for bf although in my defence I am just building up a supply for fabby night out).

Not read through all posts, but sounds like a fab idea to raise the acceptability of bf, but more than that to make it kind of cool. Nice one Hunkermonker. People like Zoe Ball, Jools Oliver(not cool, I know!) Sarah Cracknell (st etienne) Charlotte Church (agree MrsGrumpy although didn;t know she had a baby/is she pg?) Anna Friel, Kate Winslet et al. doing a bbc style perfect day ad, "I bf my baby because I want what's best for him/he's my world etc etc". All those pop stars and models we aspired to in our teens and twenties must be having babies now
Can't imaging effing idiots like posh and jordan bfing, especially since they're rumoured to have their babies 'ejected' about 8 weeks early to reduce the weight gain.
.

LittleMonkies - not everyone thinks using celebs to endorse bf is a good idea. Read the rest of the thread for the arguments against it

Miffy, you can exchange the vouchers in loads of places - I have just checked.

healthy start page allows you to put in your postcode to find the nearest place. I did so, and got a zillion places including my local tesco supermarket.

See, if the government was really serious about encouraging bf they really wouldn't be mentioning formula feed so casually on that website for Surestart would they? (wishes there was a despair emoticon) Surely they'd be emphasising how the money could go towards healthy food for a breastfeeding mum?

TBH I think I should probably stop posting on these forums because I'm starting to get a bit fed up and irritated by it all RANT ALERT!!! On a slightly tangential point I'm fed up of mothers posting 'Am I a bad mother .... to ff my child from birth? Yes in some people's eyes you probably are but get over it,you made the decision and if you ask the question you have to be prepared for other peoples honest opinions which you may find upsetting. Maybe I'm a bad mother for sitting with my LO watching Shaun the sheep and Neighbours when she's less than 3 ys but I'm not loopy enough to actually seriously ask strangers on a website what they think of me doing it (because actually watching S the S whilst bfing IS a lovely way of passing the time). I'm getting fed up of being made to feel militant for thinking it's a good idea that bfing is encouraged by mws, for even mentioning the nct or the lll or feeling that to be supportive of friends I have to murmer that yes bfing is shoved down our throats too much (whilst inside I feel resentful that I'm going against my real views) RANT OVER!!! (puts tin hat on and goes away to listen to Jeremy Vine)

(See that's what getting up at 5 am does for you, you no longer have the energy to sit on the fence)

Well said manictigger - obviously I too have not had enough sleep!!!

"posh and jordan bfing" - i doubt it

even if they did, i would have little admiration for them as they are not to me female role models. i think it is really important that if you are going to do a celeb. media hype about it (which i don't agree with any way, as i don't think it works) that you at least try to have women in there whom most of us have some respect for

also agree that women who have very early elective c-sections because they are too posh to push or worried about weight gain or the size of their vagina after the birth, would not be the sort of women whom i would aspire to for ANYTHING in life let alone bf

Molly - do you think an early night is in order? (not in a hopeful hubby kind of way obviously)

Sorry MIlly, I really am losing it today - must go and eat M and S flapjack nibbles in front of Neighbours.

tiktok, I haven't read all the posts, have tried skim reading, but brian cpacity seriously reduced by lack of sleep!!

I personally would find an advertisement featuring 'aspirational' role models breastfeeding condescending and irritating, and it certainly would not encourage (or discourage for that matter) me to breastfeed. I am 34 years old, am educated enough to know that bf is abolutely the best thing for my child, and am probably, like most of the posters on this subject, not the type of person who would be the target of such a campaign.
Celebrity endorsement, whilst undeniably cheesy would have the effect of promoting and publicising bf to many people who may be influenced by clebs. However, I agree entirely that proper support systems and help for bf women is far more important.

I had difficulties feeding DD1 and tried to get help from a midwife in Staffordshire where my parents live, and she told me that in her area she ses a bf woman about every 2 weeks it is that unusual. There is a huge problem in this country actually getting people to bf in the first place, and as an ex quitter and potential future quitter myself, the support isn;t adequate for those who do want to stick at it, but that's a different story!

i agree,LMM. "Marketing" bfing, though understandable,will never work in the conventional sense. Celebrities bfing will however, no matter how bfing campaigners may turn up their noses at this! It'll take a concerted effort from organisations such as the NCT in tandem with the NHS to work with high-profile new mums to promote bfing.

celeb. promotions aren't worth a monkey's if there is not enough KNOWLEDGE re. the benefits of bf and proper support to maintain that knowledge when things go pear-shaped (mastitis, thrush, bad latch, no latch, etc)

i had one father tell me a few years ago when i had just had ds that he thought bf was a waste of time and that he had no probs. when his wife came home a week after a c-section and announced that she was going to excl. formula feed as they bought thought formula had all the "things" that bm has

with that sort of comment going around, and i don't think he is the only one in the country that thinks that, i have seen surveys that seem to indicate quite a high proportion of first time parents don't have basic knowledge about the benefits of bm, the nhs and everyone should be aiming to hand out basic info. and raise awareness while women are still pregnant

I had to pay £150 for dh and i to do an ante-natal NCT course to realise that bf was my best option, because though i am far from being under-educated, i just didn't know anything about bf and wasn't interested until i became pregnant, also had no role models in my own family who tried to convince me re. bf

people say "ah, i know breast is best", but do they really KNOW, or is it just a slogan and they aren't that bothered ?

Still waiting for any example of a successful campaign aimed at changing people's behaviour, especially parenting or health choices, led by a celeb....

I am not turning my nose up at it! I am in favour of anything that works to improve and support bf.

I would add that encouraging 'target group' mothers to bf and then have them find they are thrown out of cafes and let down by people who are paid to give them good information and support risks a lot of disappointment.

So what if we do get a rise in bf, because some girl band or other endorse it publicly (and getting the right celeb is gonna be tricky, anyway)? The target group breastfeeds more, and then stops because the support is not there. The target group feels pissed off, and then even a bit guilty - 'cos they're still reading and seeing that Famous Girl Singer is telling them it's best for their baby.

Get the support right, and then think about encouraging people to do it.

the best role models are grandmothers, mothers, sisters, aunts, cousins, i.e. family - most of us lack this in the UK

in countries where bf is the norm and has been throughout history they wouldn't be having this sort of debate re. celebs.

god,you're demanding tiktok! Was this your thread? Don't remember! Must go now.

Actually I wonder if celebrity endorsements might put women off along the lines of 'it's alright for her, she's got nannies to clean the loo, prepare healthy snacks, do everything else for her' kind of thing.

Not at all sure about a celebrity-led campaign, in part because celebrities aren't viewed as "normal" people. Being back in your size 8 jeans within 6 weeks of giving birth is not something that many of us can aspire to (it took me at least 10 weeks !) It runs the risks of breastfeeding appearing to be the preserve of the idle rich, as something beyond the reach of mere mortals.
And of course, all the endorsements in the world are uselsss if the proper support for breastfeeding mothers is not readily available.

OTOH, I do think that having more breastfeeding women in the media could help to "normalise" breastfeeding and counteract the bottle-feeding culture which is prevalent. I'm not talking big storylines here - it need never be mentioned. Woman has baby, depicted breastfeeding thereafter. That sort of thing. No need to make a big story about it.

Lucy, this low-key mention of breastfeeding by celebs happens all the time. I think it's nice to see, but I don't think it makes a big difference to people's own choices, though it does contribute to the normalisation of bf, which is good.

Every new mum interviewed in Hello! or heat or wherever will mention something about feeding, and by far the majority are breastfeeding.

Off top of head in past few years (yes, I read rubbish newspapers and mags...)

Geri Spice
Kerry Katona (who stopped early on, though)
Penny Lancaster
Madonna
Gwynnie P
Kate Winslet
Kate G from daytime tv
Britney
Kacie thing, Little Mo from EE

and have to go now, but there are loads of them!!