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?

Tbh, I don't really care about celeb endorsement, but I do think Dept of Health should invest in some clever marketing just as the formula companies do. Their promotional material is not really designed to change hearts and minds. It's very old-fashioned in terms of communication - assumes people are rational and logical and that feeding your baby is a simple, rational choice. Which it ain't. Also assumes words on a page are the way to change people's minds, ignoring everything that is known about how to influence behaviour. They need marketing based on behavioural psychology.

But as Tik-Tok said, the real issue is support for people who have started b/f, not influencing people in the first place.

link that was posted on another thread
it does tie in here ...they use some celeb endorsement...

In our area there are infant feeding advisors in the hospital & the community, whose job it is to ensure that all the midwives and support staff are trained properly. Whether they are or not is another matter, but obviuosly it's a slow process. But then our hospital is Baby Friendly (babyfriendly.org.uk) - you can look on the website and find out what they have to do to be accredited and if your local hospital is. To be accredited the hospital has to do things like skin to skin & rooming-in & set up and promote BF support groups.

I'm surprised no one's mentioned Baby Milk Action, where you can find out lots about the dangers of FF (especially in the developing world), and the Code on marketing of Breastmilk substitutes - for example it's against the code to market follow-on formulas, but not against UK law Lots about the Nestle boycott too.

Rosy,
lol at Babyfriendly Hospital...I know the intentions are there...but clearly any old hospital can sadly cheat it's way into ebing accepted...just because they call themselfs Babyfriendly saadly does not mean that they are very good on teh support side of things, and that they are not boycotting mums that want to bf but don't find it easy, etc...!
I know the Hospital I gave Birth in was a Babyfriendly one, but it became rather apparent that I as a well enough read mother and 3. time bf mother knew more then most of the staff Now, fair enough, I possibly know more about bf then most people I know (in RL), but surely the staff should be better qualified then, me, lol!
Baby action is indeed brilliant and the website has loads of good info, etc...but I think what we have been pondering here is how to raise the image without making Formula feeding mums feel guilty, as that will alianate a lot of mums and older generations...iykwim.
Incidently me and my family have been trying to boycott Nestle as much as we can....albeit not that easy, cos they have their fingers in so many other products that don't necessarily carry their name, sigh!

I can't remember what I've said before and I haven't time to read the whole thread again.
I personally think that any "marketing" should be aimed not so much at influencing the mums themselves, but society as a whole. I completely agree that most mums already want to breastfeed and what they need is support. But for many mums, part of that support needs to come from the wider community, and that just isn't there at the moment. A campaign aimed at changing public attitudes on the broadest level would be the first step towards that I think.

Hunker - has anyone from Mumsnet towers got back to you? I still think it's a great idea to do a book.

i can't remember who suggested it, but i do think the idea of a massive public breastfeeding - as many women and their bf babies as we can get - is a good one. it wouldn't have to be militant, no placards or speeches. just women, children, perhaps a picnic or two? would anyone be up for it? if we invited the press it would certainly raise awareness of bf-ing.

But why do we want to raise profile, raise awareness, whatever? What is the point of getting more women to consider breastfeeding if the experience they have when they are so persuaded is one that is painful, disappointing, socially excluding and ineffective?

did i hear that the motion put to Parliament to pass the legislation to make it illegal to harass a bf-ing mother in public wasn't passed? was there a reason given? cause personally i would like that to be looked at again. i would love to know why this legislation hasn't been passed and if someone could perhaps furnish me with the actual facts of it then i will be straight in touch with my local MP.

tiktok - i totally agree that there needs to be far more post natal breastfeeding support. i found that the care i got in hospital consisted of a mw thrusting an hours old ds at me and saying "He needs feeding." when i got home (i pretty much discharged myself from hospital) mycommunity mw came and checked my latch, showed me how to feed, burp etc. it was invaluable support.

i think that part of the problem is the huge amount of pressure NHS mw's find themselves under. i can't think of a single appt i had with her that wasn't interrupted by her mobile ringing. she had upwards of 600 ladies under her care and i know she rarely finished a working day before 8pm. i've found mw's in general have a more holistic approach to birth and postnatal care and that it is the hv's who's ideas are outmoded and old fashioned. i'm sure it's been mentioned before, but it's also far more cost effective (in terms of staffing etc) to just suggest ff rather than help a struggling new mother.

so, in my view, a lot of the problems we face can be solved by increasing funding to the NHS. simple. of course, that's not going to happen. so we need to encourage people to self-educate, which isn't ideal but it is a lot more realistic. i'm firmly convinced that it was my own research into bf-ing, from books, the internet and from other NHS sources that kept me bf-ing when the hv suggested formula. the LLL have also helped me, as have people on here!

i think we DO need to raise awareness. not for the new mums out there - too much bias is already put onto bf-ing in antenatal classes - but for the government and NHS bosses. this is why i think a public breastfeed would be a good idea. get the press involved, get our POV across. no-one is alienating ff-ers because they face different challenges to bf-ers.

gosh, i do ramble on. but, for goodness sake, let's stop talking about and do something! (mad hippy activist emoticon!)

also, we need to stop kying to new mums. bf-ing IS painful, mastitis DOES happen, it's bloody knackering and no, your baby weight will not miraculously vanish (i'm still waiting!)

but - you are giving your baby the best form of nutrition, not faffing around with bottles, sterilising etc etc etc.....

too many mums are disillusioned by the reality they face when bf-ing, compared to the perfect vision they were presented with when they were pg. the emphasis put on centiles and charts doesn't help.

oh, i really will stop rambling now....thanks for your patience.

isthisiturban?

or this one?

yes, i've seen them, i'm just not quite clear why the bull wasn't passed. was it because of Parlliamentary time, or another reason??

ta for the links though Tibsy....

the bull....the bill, natch