Fewer than 1% of mums exclusively breastfeed for six months nationwide

[hunkermunker]

Are the massively outspoken minority(!) on here making any difference to the MN population? Have we hit (or exceeded) 1% on here?

lo only ever had breast milk til 24 wks and then just had breast milk and solids until stopped bf at 19 mths, she now is not interested in cows milk, i stopped bf when 16 wks pg as got too painful. Most of my friends bf but a lot introduce bottles and formula at 6 mths but i did not want to go down that route when bf was working otu brilliantly for us and was still the best thing for her and so convinent. Really miss bf but will ahve another one to feed soon

I think it depends on how strict we are with the term 'exclusively breastfeeding' and I suppose how important we think exclusive breastfeeding is compared with 'mostly' breastfeeding but with perhaps one formula top-up a day. I breastfed exclusively for 6 months before introducing solids but my dd was on only formula for the first 48 hours in hospital because she was low birthweight and the midwives didn't want her to lose more weight whilst we sorted out bf. But with regard to the virgin gut theory, perhaps I haven't exclusively bf? I don't know. And what about those women on MN who at some point gave formula but then slowly got back to ebf, do they count?

So although the figure of 1 % seems low, there are probably a lot of women out there who aren't included in that figure because either they give one bottle of formula a day, or they weaned early because of reflux but their children ARE still getting most of their nutrition from breastmilk which is surely something to celebrate if we all agree that some breastmilk is better than none?

I think this is always the problem with statistics - without knowing all the background details we can become more depressed (or optimistic!) than is actually warranted.

And Hunker, thanks to you, Mears, Tiktok et al I would have thought the % is a bit higher for MNers.

Yes bf until 15 and 16 mths with ds1 and dd, both were weaned at over 6 mths, I fully intend the same for ds2.

FWIW the reason why?
My mother bf both my brothers and my until over one yr, she tandem fed myself and my db1
My 8 aunts all bf their children openly. My grandmother bf all 10 of her children, at one stage 4 under 4's all feeding (not at the same time )
I would not have known how to ff, to this day it scares me all that faffing, sterilising,mixing/storing/heating baby wiating for it's feed, having to get out of bed in the night - flow of teats etc etc

so for me it was as much breast is easier, than breast is best
Both of which are true....

And I am sure I owe my figure to bf

Major respect to your Grandmother Piffle!! Four under four that's amazing.

I bf my ds (2.1yrs) for 10weeks although for at least 6 of those weeks he was also having formula. I found it very hard that he was so demanding and i didnt really enjoy it - not that that is an excuse to stop. I made up the formula for him in the non guideline way of boiling the water and storing in fridge until it was required.

I now have a 5wk old dd and apart from day 1 when she was given formula to help bring her blood sugar levels up (she was 3wks early and had low sugar) i have exclusivly bf. I feel really chuffed with myself and although it means that i spend a lot of the day with her attached i am actually enjoying it and hope that i can continue for as long as possible. It is so nice to be able to stick her on any time any where and not have to worry about sterilising and getting the right temperature etc etc.

If i do have to stop before the whole weaning process then i wont beat myself up but instead pat myself on the back and know that i have given my daughter the best start i could.

aprilmeadow - wow, congratulations on breastfeeding after a difficult start.

DD is now 19 weeks exclusively bf and I aim to get to 26 weeks. She was mix fed during the first week though as she had jaundice and struggled with bf for the first 5 days.

Everyone I have spoken to since she was about 10 weeks has asked if she's on baby rice yet...and many people have said I would sleep better if I just weaned her. My response is: yes, exactly I would sleep better, not them. I am the one who gets up to feed her so it's my problem and my decision when to wean.

Am almost tempted to lie and tell people, oh yes, she sleeps 12 hours straight no problem, just to avoid the inevitable comments and questions about why she isn't on solids yet.

ManicTigger, I think that any formula at all counts you out of exclusively bfing for the purpose of this study.

From the study, only 25% of babies are having any breastmilk at all at six months and "Three-quarters of all mothers had given their baby milk other than breast milk by the age of six weeks, this proportion rising to 92 per cent by six months."

From that, I'd say it's a rare in this country to find a baby who has never had formula and therefore been "exclusively bfed for six months".

what about (and this is a serious question) a dose or two of calpol?

Dd smiled once a day from about 3 - 4 months and fed constantly, so I started to wean her at exactly 17 weeks and soon I had a happy more contented baby who smiled lots. Ds is 9weeks at present and has had nothing other than bm so far, I am hoping to do it exclusively for longer as he is generally more contented but we will have to see what happens.

We got to 24 weeks on breastmilk alone, but then DS swiped some food - we started BLW soon afterwards. I didn't feel that bothered about not getting to the magic 26 weeks though.

I would have loved to exclusively breastfeed my daughter for six months. Sadly, I had to go back to work when she was five months old so in anticipation of that, I started her on solids a couple of weeks before. She would never take a bottle and I wanted to make sure she would gete some nutrition while I was at work. At eight months, she still won't have a bottle and drinks only a couple of ounces of milk from a cup while I am at work in the morning.

I wonder if, now that women get 9 months SMP, this statistic might change a little? There's no way I'd have started to wean if I hadn't been forced back to work.

didnt for ds1
did for ds2

Does this mean no solids?

DS bf for 12 months, started solids around 3-4 months (cant remember exactly as so long ago)

yes means breastmilk only til 6 minths

no then as HV as I remember had a fit that I hadnt started ds on solids.. I thought you had to start solids around 3-4 months. with HV for her pushiness if this isnt the case.

I plan to exclusively breastfeed for 6 months and have breastfed my other 2 for 12 months and 8 months respectively. However, I still wouldn't come into the 1% statistic because she was cup fed as a newborn and one day I ran out of ebm and gave her formula, and another day my dh spilt my bottle of ebm while I was out and gave her formula instead. So 2 formula feeds in 4 months means I haven't exclusively breastfed her. These statistics are so flawed

Tiktok - I'm sorry to be pedantic but did you read my post of 23:26 yesterday?

Will someone help me out here please or am I going completely mad? The extract I quoted suggests very strongly to me that a mother who follows the current government guidance and weans on the dot of 6 months WILL NOT COUNT in the exclusive bf at 6 months figure. Since there is nothing whatsoever in weaning onto solids at 6 months I am not sure what this particular statistic is trying to say.

If you look at Figure 2.11 in chapter 2 (p50), what this says very strongly to me is the vast majority of mothers wean onto solids at 6 months or before. Of course it would good for the pre-6 months figures to be lower but at 6 months my response is - AND? That is in line with the government guidance! Is it really any surprise that mothers who breastfeed exclusively lose that exclusive status at 6 months by the introduction of solids?!

And I do feel that figure of 1% is misleading. The Mumsnet homepage is now reporting that "less than one in a hundred women breastfeed exclusively for the first six months". Whilst I don't dispute that the figures are low in any case, that is not what this particular figure is saying.

Now come and tell me I'm going mad...

That should have been "since there is nothing whatsoever WRONG in weaning onto solids at 6 months..."

Twinkle, thanks for making me look closely at these stats....I think you are right, if they are counting (as they appear to be) the mother who states '6 mths' (as the time at which she stopped excl bf) in with a group who did not bf excl to six months. I have looked at the questionnaire and the mother is asked to state at what age her baby had something other than breastmilk...and she may well put '6 mths'.

It's a bad question, isn't it, if this is going to count as someone weaning/giving formula 'before' six months?

It really does not mean the same thing.

"i think it's sad for mother and baby when they are set on the path of formula, especially when baby has cow milk from birth.

even farmers know that it's essential to get mother and baby cow together for the first few feeds, otherwise the calf looses the valuable immunising elements that can't had from elsewhere.

if more women (young people) were educated about the human body, women would be more empowered to resist formula companies claims."

You could do with some education about the human body yourself, casbie. Unlike the young of other mammals (eg cows) who are born with hardly any antibodies, baby humans get all their supply of circulating maternal antibodies via the placenta whilst they are still in their mother's womb.

Breast milk and colostrum contain lots and lots of antibodies but these work only in the baby's digestive system to prevent gastrointestinal infection (which is why breastfed babies are much less likely to suffer from vomiting and diarrhea) and aren't absorbed into the bloodstream except in very tiny amounts.

Don't be "sad" for me or my (formula fed from birth) baby - we're both doing just fine, thanks for your concern.