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?

I don't understand why celebrities endorsing bf should be considered cheesy, rubbish or anything other than mums celebrating the wonders of bf and wanting to share their experiences and educate others about it. Just because they're in the public eye doesn't mean that they shouldn't be given credibility for bf or encouraging others to do the same. After all, we're all doing it, they just have a wider audience. I think it's a bit unfair to imply that just because they're celebrities they don't have the right to talk about it publicly. I don't know why I've chosen his horse to climb aboard but I'm up there so I may as well continue. Anyway, the likes of Jordan, she's been slagged off for being a terrible role model yet 'if' she were to talk about bf?....still a terrible role model? or is it just our dislike of too much make up and short skirts?. Are we our own worst enemies because we're choosing who is acceptable to talk about bf in public and therefore sending out mixed messages.

Personally I'm not a big fan of celebrity 'endorsements' because there is the feeling that they don't really care, they're just getting paid for it but that's generally because they don't choose the right celebrity for the job. I am also a cynical marketer (when I'm not being a bf'ing, paranoid, sleep obsessed, 34 yr old, first time mother with very little body hair and no sandals) and I have used celebrities in campaigns and it's definitely a way to get attention with the media. (which is the only way you're going to reach the wider public) Also, no one is talking about a 'tits out poster advertising campaign' a much more subtle approach with the right person talking about their experiences.

To be honest we could talk about this for eternity because it does depend on what your objectives are. If it's to create new business as it were then we're obviously not the right market because we're either doing it or talking about it so we need to start talking about it with people that don't normally do it or talk about it. But how to?....ah....

I'll get down now!!

I agree with everything Tiktok says.

Support is the issue, support to maintain feeding once started.

You cannot change peoples behaviour by campaigns with lots of info for bf and aginst and ff. This is more likely to cause alienation and resnetment, and make bf into a subgroup activity.

Yes give the info about why it's important and better, with the message that, this is why we will put so much effort into supporting you to carry on even if you find it diffcult. Which you may, as many do, but with help get through it.

Feeding generally should be given more acknowledgment, with on call counsellors and local groups to meet and feed and socialise for bf and ff mothers. So that those ff don't feel judged or failures but think 'yes, you had problems but got through with help, maybe I can do that next time.'

It needs to be supportive of women in general. As Hunker said women can be other womens worst emenies. We need to stop that, acknowledge that bf is best (which I think everyome does) and help each other to achieve that.

Just like MN does at it's best, when someone is struggling with bf. Translate that to RL, without the judgement.

I think you need to send young women in jeans and tracksuits out to greasy spoons to breast feed there.

It's no use doing it in NCT coffee mornings - you're preaching to the converted, and all the poster I saw have mid 30's women in a M&S blouse and Loving Spounce TM peering over shoulder.

That's not my reality, and it's not reality for anyone else I socialised with at the time I had ds1

You need younger people in the posters, and they need to be dressed younger, and poorer, and in younger poorer settings.

Because yes, I would have been comfortable breast feeding in a £3 a cup coffee shop, where everyone else was breast feeding, but I couldn't afford to go there, and breastfeeding in a greasy spoon is something I considered (at the time) NOt Done.

It's not the middle classes you have to convince. You have to put the posters in places where YOUNG wroking class girls are going to see them, and in a format they will understand and relate to.

I've bf in a greasy spoon in variously rough ends of town - and McDs is my regular place for it.

Does that make me a pioneer

I was rather taking the mental picture further down the thread to heart - who has time to shave their legs with a newborn??? And I brush my hair once a week whether I need it or not,

LOL Kif, me too.
Everybody has always been very nice to me but I expect they feel sorry for me. Probably think I can't afford formula.

Hunker, perhaps a good starting place is to carry out some market research and actually ask people why they ff (in a non-Crystalpony way IYSWIM) Shall I start a thread? Shall I!?! Shall I!?!

Kif - I find razors far more effective for shaving than newborns, perhaps it works better when they've got teeth?

Agree completely that support is key. And this is actually something that we could improve quite easily. If the NHS agreed to give all new mums the phone numbers of local bf support (NCT/LLL) that in itself would help massively. With DS I didn't even know that support existed! I had to give up bf him at only 3 months because an ill informed doctor told me I couldn't bf with the medicine I needed to take. It didn't even cross my mind that there was support, and better info available. Also think it needs to be emphasised that the support can be free, as I would have presumed that I would need to pay, which would put some people off asking for help. (Apologies if this has been said already, such a popular thread, I haven't managed to read all posts!)

i only shave to go to the swimming pool !

Cazee, I think that people are given the helpline nos tbh (they're certainly all in my NHS 'the pregnancy book' and 'Birth to five' books which I assume all pregnant women in the UK get) so maybe they either never read the books (unlike myself who reads EVERYTHING including cereal packets)or they just don't think a practical problem can be solved over the phone. I reckon all new bfing mothers should be invited along (officially, by letter like with weaning sessions) to bf groups in their area where they can get professional help and moral support from other mums - maybe if you witness mothers overcoming problems week after week you're more likely to feel that you too can get through them and carry on. Anyway, 'life on Mars' calls......

Has anyone read 'The tipping point'?
It's about how fashions,trends, crazes or epidemics spread and who helps spread them. Very thought provoking and the ideas can be applied to many different situations...

I haven't got Birth to 5, where do you get it from (DD is 13 weeks)? The NCT number may have been in a book I was given with DS (now nearly 7), but it never crossed my mind to phone them for support, and I know many of my friends, who gave up breastfeeding after a week or two, had no idea who, apart from MWs, to ask for support. Maybe some Primary Care Trusts are better at providing the info than others? A genuine problem is that mothers turn to HV first, and generally get poor advice, eg if the baby is not feeding well - top up with formula, if not gaining weight - top up with formila, if crying at each feed - top up with formula (turned out that baby had reflux). There is even a lady on a weaning thread who says that her HV said it was fine to wean at 5 WEEKS!!!

cazee - the woman who said wean at five weeks is negligent in her prof. capacity as a health worker and should either be sacked or locked up or both.

Cazee, I got my book when HV visited me for first time after I'd left hospital, I assumed that everyone was given one. My HVs are lovely actually, even if they can't help me, they never undermine or give me downright stupid advice but from what I've seen on the site and others, I agree, a lot of HVs are doing a terrible job. The department of health really should overhaul the HV system because for a lot of people it is their first port of call.

That's a point. I recently went to a bfc from LLL - round her house, 2 hour chat, cup of tea, follow up phonecall jobbie. HV asked "Will you be seeing her again, or was she too expensive?". Which I first thought was daft - and that hv shiould know better. When I thought about it a bit longer, I realised that it was a natural assumption that a professional personal service would be pricey - just think of the cost of a plumber or a dentist!

I WANT MY BOOK

And NOW I'm worried that when you get it you'll be really disappointed.....

Although you can always use it as a teether I suppose.

Come on people, reassure me that the book that I hold in my hand isn't some sort of optical illusion, surely more than one copy was published?

Whilst I am under no illusions that my HV is the world expert on bf, she did give me a lot of help and advice when I was struggling. It was she, for example, who warned me against trying to express exclusively and encouraged me to get DS back on the breast. I think my HV struck the right balance tbh (although she didn't spot DS's tongue tie which made me , but then neither did the NCT bf counsellor).

Cazee - (slightly off topic) have you had a go at bf in public yet? If you need some support to do it I'm in Bedfordshire and fed both of mine till they were 14mths with no negative comments and lots of positive ones. Hence I know LOTS of good places for coffee

I've got a Birth to Five book but it's just about as bland and uninformative as the rest of the NHS literature IMO. I do dip into it from time to time but inevitably end up looking elsewhere. You're not missing a great deal Cazee (though I'd be miffed to miss out on a freebee as well!)

I'll bring my book to threaten people with if you want

No I chickened out. I felt really bad today as I gave DD her EBM in weatherspoons today. This thread has been really inspiring, "building the brand", such a lovely idea. And there am I, feeding a bottle in public, not giving a good example at all. feetheart, I would love to meet for coffee, but I don't know where is BF friendly in Bedford.

shocking that people are under the assumption that breastfeeding support costs..although not unlogical to think so of course...just sad that those that should know theses things don't!
I know the 0-5 book...got it with ms...never got it with es or ys....possibly depends on the area, maybe....