WHAT CAN BE DONE TO INCREASE BREAST FEEDING RATES IN THE UK.

[lissie]

we all know that postnatal care is a huge factor, but what else can be done?

i speak as a failed bf-er who will try again with every baby i have, but supports the mothers right to choose.

weatern baqbies, though....

western babies, even...sorry, keyboard and pc are in the dark...coupled with some red wine intoxication, lol....

'Malfoy .. the only women in Africa who receive formula food do so under supervised, controlled water provisions.

It saves their lives, and the lives of their children. Are you so middle-class that you can't understand that simple truth?'

Desiderata,if you really belief that you are either very stupid or barking.

Possibly both judging by the crap you have spouted so far.

Probably a bit unrealistic but was saying to hubby that it would be good if the government provided BF mothers with an insentive like food vouchers for fruit and veg to make sure we eat well whilst BF. was reading in a book about all of the healthy things are are supposed to eat whilst BF and whilst i thought i was doing quite well started to feel a bit guilty that i have slacked a bit due recently due to less money since being on mat leave.

Also BF education at school and generally to make it more acceptable to feed EVERYWHERE (even though i do anyway.........)

You need to open your eyes Desiderata

desiderata, you know very little - women in Africa getting formula under supervised conditions? What?

You won't read links because you say the academic stuff goes over your head, and because accordinig to you statistics can be used to prove anything.

In almost every post, you reveal your lack of knowledge and your complacency about it.

You harp on about allergies - as if that was the only reason someone might breastfeed. In fact, the link between allergies and not breastfeeding is not all that robust - there are far stronger health reasons why formula feeding has risks.

Face it, this is not territory where you can argue with any confidence in your knowledge.

Re bfing lowering your chances of some cancers.....iirc breast cancer has to do with using the breast tissue for its purpose & how cells grow/change if they aren't....& the others like ovarian etc are (I think) to do with how bfing regulates or spresses certain hormones....cant find links atm...will have a look later, might have some in my faves folder

Really depressing to hear stories of anti bfing comments when in public. Can anyone think of any snappy comeback lines so I'll be prepard if anyone makes a comment. I am hopeless at subtle bfing and end up drawing more attention to my self if I bother with trying to cover myself with a muslin.

Other points I've been thinking of:
I feel everyone I know who breastfeeds have started to top up with formula at night. A few on the advise of health visitors. I have only ever breast feed my DD who is nearly 4 months. She has slept on average 9-10 hours straight at night since she was about 6 weeks, she is also a good weight and on the 75th percentile curve. I realise I am very lucky and keep this very quiet as not to annoy my friends with babies who are not sleeping. But sometimes I feel by not talking about it and worrying it will be seen as boasting I am helping up hold the myth that babies need to be topped up with formula to sleep through the night & put on weight. I wonder how many secretly successful bf sleeping babies are out there?

And can I just say I agree with kama 'Highlight that breasts CAN be used for breastfeeding & sex during the same time period.' It's something I secretly worried about before bfing but would never have dared to asked about.

P.S. embarassed to admit I know this but Charmed had an episode where they campaigned to make a cafe allow breast feeding.

Sorry very large posting seemed to have written an essa! Good thread, would love to help encourage more women to bf.

to answer the Q they need to make it legal tfor people to feed anywhere (or illegal to stop them happy to be corrected) that will help give people more confidence (imho)

in scotland its already illegal to ask a woman to stop bfing inpublic, we need simillar legislation here!

to re-iterate, this thread is not about formula v breast, can i ask that if you wish to discuss the pro's & con's you start another thread.

Hi Lissie, didn't mean to come across as anti formula, I'm not at all. What I was trying to say badly was just the point, that to encourage breast feeding seeing people doing it successfully would help but that personally I have had to keep it quiet because women often feel bad if they can't bf. I have quite a few friends who feel (wrongly IMO I might add) that they've failed when they go onto ff. No one likes a smart alex so I wonder how you show people how well it can work without pissing them off.
Again I'm really not anti formula would just like bf to become mainstream and to not only be done by a small fringe group.

sorry, wasnt aimed at you rumples, just wanted to remind people of the aim of the thread. seen too many bf threads turn into warzones ikwym tho.

Sorry am too tired to attempt a link (up all night BFing baby who is going through a growth spurt LOL!)

There was a study published last year, part of the Million Women research project. It discovered - by studying a million women (quite a sizable scientific sample I'm sure you'll agree) that in cultures where women do extended BFing there is NO breast cancer.

The findings showed that where women strated having children in their 20s, breastfed for two years and had at least five children (i.e. BF for 10 years) - this acts to completely prevent breast cancer and it is unheard of in communities where women lead such a lifestyle.

Following on from that, the benefits clearly reduce if you have children later, have less than five, BF for a shorter time, but the benefits are still there, albeit on a reduced scale.

From the baby's point of view, Human breast milk is the perfect food - designed for baby and contains all the nutrients it needs. The fact that BF babies often don't poo for days or even weeks shows that the food is perfectly designed i.e. there is no waste.

I appreciate that many women cannot or don't want to BF for a variety of reasons, and that is their right. But their right to choose does not diminish the fact that human breast milk is the best possible food for babies. Its a fact, pure and very, very simple!

The OP was asking why people give up Bfing and the evidence from this thread indicated that it is often due to lack of support and advice available, rather than because they wanted to give up at that stage.

foxcub, my ds exclusively bf pood all the time, many babies I care for who are formula fed only poo every few days.

yogimum, that's my experience, too ie lotsa lotsa poo

foxcub, lack of poo in the older bf baby is not an indicator of the superiority of breastmilk and it's just a variation on normal

Yogi - My BF babies rarely poo!! Mind you when they do, its is like an Armegeddonappy!!

Deffo smells better though than FF poo!

you are right about the smell! now ds is on solids I can smell him a mile off.

I do think though that some women are not aware of how much healthier breastfeeding is. A friend of mine recently gave up breastfeeding at about 12 weeks because she didnt feel like breastfeeding anymore. She had no problems feeding and it was not an issue of support or going back to work. She was trying to persuade me that there were no real health benefits in breastfeeding beyond that age. She is intelligent and educated but seemed to think formula was a great alternative.
I do think perhaps we need to make the health benefits to mother and child really well publicised/documented, including eg the info on breast cancer.

LOL @ armagedonnappy

How about Apocalypsanappy?

1. let everyone know that similar happy hormones released when you bf are similar to orgasm. The best thing about waking at 4am for a feed

2. let them know that it will be hard/painful at times but when it works it is really convenient and easy for lazy mums like me 3. more training for all health professionals ( I'm a Dr and have had no training in bf... i just learnt stuff from having 2 boys). i've been embarassed when well meaning colleaugesn start talking rubbish about bf. 4. everyone who is bf get their boobs out whereever their children are hungry and ignore any dirty looks!

just had to lol really loudly, by being described as possibly to middle class to see the truth....I had read the post yesterday and it didn't click (oh the wine, I should stay off it, I really should, lol)....hehe...I am so so so not middleclass...me being common as muck, my mum raising me and my sis on her own and on benefits....hardly middleclass, lol....not sure if I should feel flattered or offended...rofl...sorry bit OT, I know...

how about up maternity pay so you can stay off work and bf,(yes include all mums however they feed) and weaning at the new 6 month deadline by the hv clashes with the stopping of maternity pay for those in work before. am NOT experienced in this, but just thinking about trying to wean and have to go back to work sounds v stressful to me.

spongecake, thats a really good point and one i hadn't thought of!

definately, upping maternity leave to say 12 month on a reasonable pay would be great....
It is so sad that, forinstance WHO and Unicef hd for many years advised the 6 month exclusive bf thing, but it was only made official in Britain as such when the 6 month maternity leave came through....