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?

Winestein, while I agree with you that the normalisation of bf is an excellent goal, the difficulties of bf are also normal and to an extent need to be normalised.

I think it's a real problem that at the moment women who have difficulties (and as mothers of a newborn are vulnerable in any case) feel abnormal. They think something has gone wrong, their bodies are wrong, their baby is wrong because they can't do this natural, easy thing.

Women have to be taught to bf, given support, made to feel normal if they have problems. All the bf Charlotte Churches in the world won't help that.

Aw thanks!

I'm really glad I've found this place, and hope to be around for a while!

Welcome, MACC! Your DS sounds v sweet!

Shona, it shouldn't be either/or - we need positive role models AND support.

Strangely, the most balanced view of breast feeding I have seen in the media lately was on a program called 'space hopper' on bbc3

It's a weird comedy sketch thing - and it was showing, what if they teenage pregnancies were teenage boys?

On lad whipped the baby onto the 'breast' and carried on talking to his other teenage dad friends. Then he wincedm and the other dads said 'teething?'

"Aye" he said, and carried on talking.

But the breastfeeding wasn't the subject of the sketch, it was incidental to them being the parents left in charge, and I really like how it was just - there.

I really believe HV should be better educated in breast feeding. I about to finish the la leche course to become a counsellor, because it struck me that I had never met any moms that BF in real life!! and the ones that started gave up because of lack of support.

More moms that breast feed should be on tv to talk about all the positive aspects

I would be really interested in any ideas you may have to market Bf as we start doing this for our group soon

Hunker, that's what I meant. But I suppose it wasn't really relevant on this thread which is about the positive promotion bit.

Ok, more positive. What about leaflets/posters that said: "I can't breastfeed because...."

-my mother didn't have enough milk for me
-I'm on antibiotics
-I'm on antidepressants
-I smoke
-I'm going back to work
-I'm too busy/I don't have time

etc etc

And then do some mythbusting

Sorry, maybe that's negative again!

I work within an organisation who have one of their targets around supporting breastfeeding and raising the number of women breastfeeding in the local area.

However, at a recent conference, we were working in groups with a representative from another local organisation which supports teenagers who are/or are on the verge of falling foul of the criminal justice system. When the topic moved to breastfeeding, his reaction was "well that's nothing to do with us".

We very quickly made him see that it is absolutely to do with him. The teenage boys in his care are the parents of the future, and their attitudes to breastfeeding will have an enormous influence on their partners. We've arranged to work with this organisation to help them provide better information about breastfeeding and support any young people who become parents while they are involved with the organisation.

I was hugely saddened recently to hear a conversation between two very young mothers (both about 16), where they basically said that if their babies had been girls (they both had boys), they might have considered breastfeeding, but as they'd had boys, their partners wouldn't have liked it.

I agree completely that breastfeeding needs to be presented by "normal" looking people as well as celebrities. Young people need to see people like themselves breastfeeding in order to be able to imagine themselves doing it.

I worked with someone who was pregnant at the same time as me who was dead against breast feeding as "it's just weird".

I don't think women who think this way could ever change their minds and I actually felt sorry for her. She didn't even try it. I went through the list of positive things health-wise with her, but even other reasons like "it's free" and "much easier to lift up your top than faff about sterilising and counting scoops" etc... wouldn't change her mind.

Not that I was bullying her you understand, this was during a tea break at work and she was asking me about it.

The women to target IMO are the mums willing to try it but struggle, and in this case support would be better than seeing Charlotte Church or anyone else talking about it in a magazine.

Good topic, hm

I have some knowledge of marketing from my RL.

There have been a number of campaigns which look to me to be fairly good - reaching out to mainstream mums to enable them to think of bf being a possibility. But I have not seen any evaluations, so who knows if they have made a difference or not? Publicly-funded bf campaigns are never formally evaluated - crazy. You can be sure the formula manufacturers spend a lot of money finding out the effectiveness of their marketing, and amend it accordingly.

Plenty of celebs bf and talk about it - I really don't think it makes a difference one way or the other. It also happens from time to time in soaps. Does it make any diff? I don't know. This is not shoes, or hairstyles - which people do, for sure, copy - but for many, a change in attitudes.

More importantly, in my view, is changing the context in which women bf, to make it a realistic choice for them. That means making it illegal to prevent someone from doing it away from home; improving the education and training of all who come in touch with new mothers so problems cease to be problems; educating young men so they are supportive.

It is, I think, wrong to direct bf campaigns at young women, without working out how to support them and enable them. Campaigning risks driving a wedge between women, and mightily pisses off the women who wanted to breastfeed, but found the support and the practicalities were not there for them.

Message withdrawn

I've had two bad experiences publicly bfing - one an old lady kicked off and I very calmly mad her regret it (in a doctors surgery ffs!) Secondly, my DD came off when I was first bfing, in starbucks and the milk shot across the room and into the coffee of the chap at the next table ]

But I think it's about exposure. I had never seen anyone breastfeed before I had a baby, I know my SiLs did it, but never around me and no-one else in my family did. I think all of those who bf have a duty to do so publicly if they are comfortable. It has to become as normal as talking to your baby.

I also think some mws go too far the other way with tales of doom (if you don't breastfeed your child will be sick stories were told to me - which isn't helpful).

Perhaps it could be marketed by GSK as the latest diet drug for post partum ladies?

One of the main issues we need to examine is why we choose to breast feed. I bf not through a choice, but because its what I wanted instinctively. I vividly remember seeing my aunts bf'ing my cousins when I was a litle girl, and my mom used to tell me stories about bf'ing me.
Bfing is an everyday event, I do not feel like I am doing anything out of the ordinary.
Maybe this is the true issue.
FF is seen as normal and everyday to the majority of mums, so women follow the majority trend. We need to make this true of bf by getting rid of the myths and stigma that many people build up around it by bf'ing when and where needed.
I recently found out that one of the other mums and dds school bf her ds till 3yrs. I only found out because I mentioned that I am still feeding DS at 19mnths. It was a breath of fresh air to talk to another mum with the same experiences as me. Breast feeding mums are made to feel guilty for doing the right thing. I refuse to feel that guilt .

Good thread HM.
The key, as well as more marketing slebs etc like you suggest, is that I think more NHS money needs to go into providing trained, properly paid bf counsellors on the labour wards/community that have the same professional status as mws or hvs.
She would be attached to the team of community mw's and so follow though from ante-natal classes, delivery and post-natally with home visits.
Most people I know who said they 'tried' bf gave up in the first few days because:
'they weren't making enough milk'; or
'the baby wasn't getting enough milk due to not latching on properly'.
1 is tosh as we know and 2 is because yes it takes a while to get the latch sorted in most cases and even then it will be painful - for a while!
People I know in RL and some of the posters on here have obviously not been given the correct support at this early stage and have ended up ff when they were mentally prepared to try bf.
I think this aspect is a key area to sort our because no matter how much bf gets promoted in mags etc and more women are encouraged to try it, if there they fail at the first hurdle the bf rates will never improve.
Sorry for long post.

Very funky Polarn o pyret or \link{http://www.polarnopyret.se/Pages/FlashPresentationPage.aspx?id=339&epslanguage=EN\POP

sorry try again Leoness....Here We Go try POP clothes soon to be online

Wrong thread I'm posting on God where's my brain Breastfeeding is no goo fro my marbles - that would not be a good marketing angle..... Sorry girls

Great thread, Hunker.
I quite often have to write bf articles for parenting mags and have to say that it's always a nightmare.
One of the main probs is that bf experts often disagree (nipple shields are great vs. nipple shields are invention of the devil, for example).
Or they are so anxious (understandably) to promote bf that they won't properly address the struggle some mums do have with bf in case it puts new mums off trying.
Also, mags are very reliant on formula companies for advertising - which rather hampers a totally honest presentation of the facts.

Maybe you should market how easy it is. I mean breast are so portable. I used to breastfeed while getting a blowdry for instance ( I love my hairdresser he is wonderful and always makes moms feel comftorable breastfeeding in his salon. He has a special pillow and everything) You could show women doing diffrent things while breast feeding that might be more ddifficult bottle feeding.

I haven't read every word on here but what about pictures of night feeds next to each other? One woman cuddled up in bed breastfeeding and one woman downstairs in a cold kitchen warming a bottle? I know it's not always like that, but from a marketing POV maybe it would work?

Yes Tamum, exactly.

I'm such a lazy arse that with my two I didn't even express that much cos couldn't be faffed with all the sterlising malarkey!

I like this sign , and think they should have it alongside or instead of the bottle ones in changing and feeding areas.

One nice thing I have had though is recently, women have been coming up to me and saying well done when I'm bfing in public - which is a tad weird but it does help a bit I guess?!

Perhaps we should start giving free chocolate to every woman who we see bfing her child?

I'd vote for that!