NON personal discussion about breastfeeding rates <no mud slinging allowed>

[JingleyJen]

Instead of personal stories and family circumstances I am really interested in the potential reasons why in this country are breastfeeding rates so much lower than in other countries?

Surely in other countries boobs are sexual things as well so it can't just be that.

Is it that ever downward spiral that as fewer women breastfeed that it is hidden and therefore fewer women feel comfortable with the whole thing?

I don't think it is the availability of formula

Have there been studies done on this? (sure there have but don't know where to find them)

Is the success rate of mothers who have chosen to breastfeed truly dependent on the support network around them - or are there really an increasing number of women whose milk doesn't come in - and why could that be the case?

This is NOT a thread for the wrongs and rights of breastfeeding vs formula it is more a question of how things have got to this stage.

Anyone?

Helenelisabeth - there is alot of money going into the production and marketing of formula - Probably it is closer than it ever has been to breastmilk.

Really don't want this to turn into a slagging match - suggesting only uneducated people formula feed really could trash an open discussion

edam, your mum's experience could have been my mum's....she had a normal delivery, yet was separated from me for three days, told that her nipples were "a bit inverted" (not true)and one nurse commented "oh you're a sucker for punishment...." when she saw her breastfeeding me.

After some of the really horrible posts on this topic earlier today, can I just say how nice it is to read a thread on this discussion board that hasn't decended into a full-blown punch-up (I know it's early days .

So are there FF'ing Mums out there whose Mums BF? seems there is a definate pattern.

Or vise versa?

this threads making my boobs tingle! Sob milk disappeared 2 days ago as ds is too nosy to feed!

mommafg glad you had positive effect on your friend

I think community and extended family has a lot to do with it.

Both has diminished over the last 60+ years. Peer support has been sorely lacking, and, as was mentioned further down, many natural processes were medicalised in the 40's and 50's.

Childbirth was completely taken over at one point, with women being made to shower, have an enema, be shaved, and their legs shoved up into stirrups whilst laying down on a bed to give birth (and often given an episiotomy too whether needed or not ). Formula milk took hold at this point too.

Whatever the motivation behind it (i'm not going to get into feminism and misogyny this late at night ), women were slowly made to feel as though they couldnt do something that nature had allowed women to do for hundreds/thousands of years entirely naturally. They were made to feel as though they needed assistance and intervention, and in fact told that intervention was better.

I'm so glad things have reversed and childbirth and infant feeding has reverted back to more natural, less medicalised ways.

MFG - does that only work if you are around people for whom it isn't a nightmare? ie if your experience of friends / family BF is a traumatic/sleep deprived / house a mess blah blah blah would that not make someone think twice?

My Granny FF (she tried to BF but was told she didn't have enough milk).

My mum was determined to BF, got a lot of support from the NCT. Granny kept telling her to give us bottles but that made my mum all the more determined to BF.

I assumed I'd BF but it went horribly wrong with dd and I ended up FF. My mum gave me a huge guilt trip for "giving up" at the time. Now I'm still BF ds at 9 months she thinks it's a bit odd and must be very draining (we were all weaned by 6 months)!

oh, and lack of good role models and those who are "educated" about breastfeeding to support new mums. I know some people think they can't bf, and others start out with bfing but for one reason or other, they think they don't have a good enough supply or have issues with weight gain so they have formula top ups. And I'm sure we all know what happens when you start topping up with formula, it soon becomes all formula (for one, less bfing means less supply, not more!), so soon bfing is a thing of the past.

If breastfeeding is to succeed in the UK, I think mums need to be told more about it. So they know it's natural for babies to go through growth spurts and want to feed all the time for perhaps a few days and that they'll settle down again - it won't be like this forever! But I know of mums who think it means their baby isn't getting enough and so they add formula, when really the baby just needs to have lots of feeds for a few days and get more milk coming in etc. Having done extended breastfeeding with my 2 children over the past 2+ years, I know that breastfeeding goes through lots of different stages, so to speak ... but oops, this is meant to be a non personal discussion!

I think alot of it is down to the pressures placed on women nowadays. For example higher mortgages, cost of living etc so many women have to work and therefore might not see the point in breastfeeding for a few months before maternity runs out and they go back to work. Breastfeeding is very time consuming and could be considered hugely restrictive and with the freedom that formula offers i think that has alot to do with it. A womans place is not solely in the home anymore, washing, cleaning, cooking etc and i think perhaps formula milk has provided an alternative. I personally breastfed all of mine and wouldn't have had it any other way but then again i didn't have the stress of returning to work or any hangups about feeding in public.

My mum couldnt b/feed my older brother apparently, so he was f/fed. But she b/fed me and my other two brothers.

In fact she b/fed my youngest brother until he was about 15-16 months old. She'd get many derogatory comments from her own mother and sister about it, so I'd say she was particularly supportive about it for me.

good point marshmellow. I tried to express milk for odd feeds but was highly unsuccessful, this would make some mums give up i guess

Yes, you can't underestimate the support other women in the family can provide if they have bf as well, to your own successful bfing.

I did not bf (expressed for about 3 months) because to be quite frank I didn't know what to do to get it right.

Additionally, terrible bf 'support' in hospital to the detriment of ds' & my own health; scared me off really. Very isolated after giving birth & no female family on hand to advise.

And I don't think my tale will be unfamiliar to other women who tried but did not successfully bf.

Yes, Rachelinscotland I agree - I think the readiness to advise women to use formula top-ups by health care professionals who do not understand the basic physiology of breastfeeding has a lot to answer for.

Am I the only one who doesn't actually know what the breastfeeding rates are?
Where does one find that information?
How is it calculated?
How accurate is it?

I recall people being very surprised that I wasn't topping up with ff, and wondered what i was doing wrong...