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 think the key to building the brand is, as others have said, making it the norm. I remember my mum talking to me about how much she enjoyed breastfeeding me and my sister and then I watched my step-mum bfeed my brother (who is ten years younger than me) so I couldn't have imagined not bfeeding my ds.

My dh is a vet and all ten of the women who work at his practice have breastfed their own children. I wonder if that has anything to do with the fact in that environment it is absolutely the norm at work to be surrounded by animals suckling their young. I was helping with some stock taking the other day and discovered two tins of dog formula powder gathering dust on the shelf. They have sold about one tin in the last year.

My mum didn't bf any of us and was really curious. In her line of work (social work) she has to advise young parents and yet had never come across bfing before (that's bloody scary in itself).

But once she got over her initial reluctance to ask, and did lots of questions and observed me feeding a few times, she agreed it was a really great idea.

I've been volunteering at my local maternity unit, going to the parentcraft classes to demonstrate bfing too - they were doing it with a knitted tit (you can just imagine the WI meeting where they made that ) and I've heard back that it's really helped because lots of people (me included) have never seen bfing before they start.

I agree about the easy point (as in portability), that is definitely something which should be emphasised. It should also be emphasised how natural it is - and that if you trust your body it can do it (so many women seem to stress about whether they are producing enough etc and they are probably doing fine).
Also I think there should be a bit more education around how to get it started and not to worry if it isn't immediate - a lot of women seem to panic if they don't get it right away, but as babies only get a bit of colostrum to start with I understand they are unlikely to starve it it takes a bit of time to get going.
Also, I think it is important not to dwell on the difficulties too much. Someone told me recently that she wouldn't even try to breastfeed because she knew someone who "had a big baby, not been able to produce enough milk and then got mastitis on one side and so gave up - breastfeeding is too difficult." When I said it wasn't always like that and I hadn't had any difficulties she was very surprised and said I was the first person she had met without a horror story, which is sad really.

On a slightly different tack, I can't help wondering if we just need to plaster great big pictures of naked breasts everywhere to stop them being such a big deal. It never occurred to me to feel self-conscious breastfeeding but that may be because I was forever getting my breasts out on the beach anyway. If women don't want to breastfeed (as opposed to not being able to), is that sometimes because of their own atttude to their body/British society's attitude to breasts in general?

Well today i went for a family day out (at a beautifil sea side resort, nice day and mobbed!) and LO was demanding a feed whilst DH was waiting in a cue for food.. i lifted her from the pram, latched her on, then continued to push the pram down the street whilst feeding. I noticed people notice then "talk!" like they were surprized and shocked at the same time, i felt so extremely proud, i certainly will be promoting bfing in this way again... i will help makke it the "norm!".

LETS PROTEST!

when preg with ds1 i bought alot of those parenting mags and am thinking back now about the adverts in them- none to promote BF.

Maybe companies like mamas and papas should get involved, they can promote thier bransd on adverts written by laleche or NCT or something.
or even the government can fund adverts or informative articles.

IRRC the article isaw were informative but incredibley sat on the fence- i presume so as not to upset formula companies who advertise in the mags.

Proper inrfmation presented nicly in a shiney mag may help- and in newspapers, i don't often read mirror/sun etc, but when i do i looka thte problem pages etc, neevr seen an article about breastfeeding- maybe saturation of the media will help..

and benastalk, i am not too far from you, though have stopped feeding ds2 now- but if you need a coffee partner, let me know- i'll set ds2 on anyone who looks at you funny if you BF in the cafe

Oooh - good idea MrsJohn - get some private (as opposed to govn) money behind campaigns.

My 'idea' - not that I've any experience - is I wonder if this kind of thing would work as a viral/word of mouth campaign. Apparently a lot of big companies are finding poor return fir the money from normal advertising, so are trying more insiduous methods. I read one trend for recruiting paid agents to 'spread the word' - sounded like a modern day avon lady - but I think there was some subtelty where the person had to actually buy the product to comply with advertising standards, but were then exoected to drop references into conversation.

Now, it wouldn't apply directly - but you see where my thoughts are heading. For example, a buddy scheme to pair up pregnant ladies and ladies with babies who'd bf.

Or, you could do something like those catalogue offers, where you get £10 off your next order if you introduce a friend. Imagine like a postcard that I could give to any pregnant friends I know, to ask them to fill in their names and address and post it. They'd - say - get an information booklet; or an invite to a bf support meeting; or a bf supporter phonecall the week their lo is due. That's only repackaging services already offered, but people may be more likely to engage with the pamphlet/meeting/phonecall if they feel they;'ve 'requested' it. The postacard could have a bf image/bf slogan. It could also have a sponsor logo. We could be incentivised to do this by - say - 100 clubcard points for every postcard with my unique barcode received. Not so hard to persuade sponsors to stump up this reward - methinks - because everyone wants thise lovely mummy pounds in their shops. The main benefit however, would be that it would make contact between people who had some personal experoence of bf and pregnant people, in a very credible way, since it would be people you already knew and trusted. I presumably knew plenty of mums who'd bf while I was, but both of you would feel a bit forward just starting the conversation. A little gimmicky icebreaker might quickly lead to 'so, you bf'; 'yes, it was tough at first, but I'm glad I bothered' etc etc.

Phew - long winded - did it make sense?

The other thing - I've seen some celebrities 'papped' while bf. While its obv not nice for the person involved, the images are actually often quite good promotions of bf - looks relaxed and natural asscoated with glamourous face. Perhaps more posed versions? There's one in particular I remember of an actress bf her son walking to her car...

I think Hunker knows some of my views on this one, but one thing that has been mentioned several times here is convenience.

This was one of the things that struck me as most unhelpful in my own particular circumstances. Because when you're having real trouble with breastfeeding it is very far from the most convenient option. The fact that it may be convenient 3 or 4 months down the line is little comfort when you're up at 3 in the morning struggling to feed a screaming hungry baby who will not latch, or when you spend hours expressing enough milk for a couple of feeds because feeding is so difficult that you daren't attempt it in public.

If convenience had figured in my reasons for breastfeeding I'd have been using bottles within the first week!

Yes, that's a point I'm struggling with atm, TM - it's all well and good saying "ooh, you'll reap the benefits of the convenience when your baby's 3mo" - wtf good is that to a woman whose nipples feel like they'll fall off after each feed and 3m is still 2.5m and YARDS of bfeeding time away.

It's like there needs to be different support and Good Reasons for bf at different stages.

So to counter that with some positives, I think getting celebs in on the act would be great. And to include it in soaps and other TV programmes as well. It wouldn't have to be a big deal - just having extras in the background breastfeeding, as opposed to bottle feeding, would send a useful message I think. As other people have said, the aim is to make it seem just "normal", not a big deal.

At the risk of contradicting myself (am actually that I'm about to write this) I actually think that possibly the only way to promote breastfeeding to mums-to-be and very new mums IS in fact to put the empahasis on the risks of formula feeding. Because it doesn't matter how many wonderful things you tell them about breastfeeding - if that is not their experience they may well come to doubt the other information about the health benefits, etc., especially if they and their friends were brought up on formula.

But I don't mean the earth-shattering claims about links to every cancer known to man, heavy metal contamination, and the like. More the day to day stuff like babies being more prone to infection because they don't get the benefits of mum's antibodies, digestive trouble, higher risk of allergies, etc. as a result of not being fed the food that nature intended. Things that sound like they would be a hassle/upsetting for mum and a misery for baby and which would be fairly immediate, not a long way in the future.

emphasis, even

Sadly, I think Twinklemegan is very right. In general we parents are far more likely to act on a "scare" and stop doing something than we are to act on news of something we can do that has a positive benefit.

Help with weight loss could be a helpful angle...

Sorry I haven't read all the thread - in haste as dd2 is trashing the room -

but you know what strikes me about mumsnet is the vast array of different experiences of breastfeeding we've had.

Even the "good" stories are different from each other. It would be a pity to promote a "brand" that suggests there's just one way to do it.

I think we should put our heads together and write a mumsnet book of breastfeeding using all our stories. Short bits about how we felt beforehand, the first feed, the first week, what kept us going (or what made us stop), how different bf is at 5 days, 6 weeks, 4 months, 9 months, 2 years.

Something that a bfeeding woman could dip into and find some reflection of their own experience; but also that anyone could read and get a sense of how it's just a part of life and each bfeeder fits it into their life in their own way.

I think getting MILs to support bfeeding would help...

It's really interesting hearing from people who haven't had the best bf experiences what they think would work - TM, I think you're right re the immediacy of problem thing.

twinkle - agree in principle but trying to emphasise the negative aspects of ff could be downright dangerous - these are multi-nationals with a huge amount of money at stake! Actually, hang on, maybe a high profile assasination of someone from LLL would do the trick!

I know Malaleche - I suspect that's why it isn't really mentioned in the promotional material at the moment.

Ah, yes, good point, WM - the diversity of experience - bf is NOT a homogenous experience.

I will email this thread to MN Towers to see if there is a possibility of a MN book of bf.

FWIW I agree with a previous poster that formula should be a medical-type product available at chemists and clinics. I for one would have still had to use it, but it might discourage some. Sadly though, that'll never happen.

I want the advertising of follow-on banned - in fact, I want follow-on milk banned altogether.

Totally agree. Even though I am now a "formula-feeder" I have never used it and don't intend to. Normal formula to 12 months and then cow's milk for my DS.

Happy to help with the donkey-work of a book if MN towers are keen.

I'd have loved to have read something like that when pregnant - something that normalises the whole thing.

Must run - well, must wobble, am still a bit post-op...

my friend who ff both her kids was surprised when i mentioned formula was cows milk the other day wtf did she think it was made of! she's really hot on giving them super healthy homecooked food organic if poss and was shocked that i'd taken my ds to mcdonalds

Me too. I know I'm coming from a different angle but I'd still be really keen to be involved.

As someone who found bf very difficult and painful at first I think a book of stories of actual bf-ing experiences is a fantastic idea.