Do you think 'advertising' breastfeeding on TV would help promote it?

[LadyOfWaffle]

Not in a hard sell way, but more as a platform to get facts across and normalise it abit. What do you think? How come LLL/NCT etc. do not do this? With support numbers at the bottom? Just musing really...

I think it is a brilliant idea, it should be shown more to help absorb it into popular culture.
maybe lll/nct don't have enough money to advertise it? and as it is not a commodity like fomula they won't see any financial return from advertising?

I can see the money/no return thing but isn't it really the core of their whole aim? How much would an advert cost? Maybe the NHS could run one? ()

When you think of the money spent on adverts for stopping smoking - and I mean the NHS service not the nicotine replacement products, it would make sense for the NHS to promote breastfeeding. The only adevrtising I've ever seen are those posters in GPs surgeries. Maybe the breastfeeding coalition could do something?

Why is Scotland just so much better than England?

If the advert has already been made by the NHS, then that's half the 'battle'. Although I would imagine a LLL one would be 'better', with helpline numbers etc. Off to see if it's on youtube...

Is this it?

Surely the NHS could do something...so many health messages around atm re obesity and exercise and I'd have thought breastfeeding would fit right in, best start type thing. Like the Scottish ad.

Yep, it's the cafe one.

In my head (been thinking about this alot!) I imagine a series of adverts, with breastfeeding scenes - newborn feeding, public feeding, older infant feeding etc. intermingled with a blank screen fading in and out with "the WHO recomends breastfeeding for..x amount of time..(etc. etc.)" with the same voiced over, sometimes with a fact about allergies etc., sometimes a hint or tip.... "breastfeeding is supply and demand, the more you feed the more milk you will produce..." something like that (but better obviously!) . It would get such a HUGE audience, much more than any leaflet that is tossed aside etc.

I love this idea - it would make SO much sense. And really piss off the Daily Mail

It's like breastfeeding is a dirty little secret - most people know how important it is (up there with quitting smoking etc. IMO) but it's really become a taboo to draw attention to

A majority of mothers start off breastfeeding and many of these mothers stop breastfeeding earlier than they wish to. (Known from the Infant Feeding Survey figures here)

What breastfeeding mothers need is more support in real life from health professionals, family and friends not adverts.

Yes, but it's to advertise help /helplines etc. mainly (in my had ) First time around I didn't know these existed and no one in RL knew how to help me.

It is a brilliant idea, I have often wondered myself why there is nothing like this.

I have a feeling tv advertising costs £££££££££ though

advertising is expensive...

the gov't spends money on emotive shock tactics to discourage drink drive for example but if a breastfeeding campaign was equally emotive, complaints of making AF 'guilty' and 'breastfeeding muffia' would ring across the land

Tiktok has mentioned before that the charity lines could not cope if ALL new mothers had their numbers and used them for all their queries.

The health professionals who currently see new mums (i.e. Health visitors and Midwifes) are the ones who need training in order to help on the front line as such.

If the goverment had spare money I hope they would use it to train up health professionals to a decent standard including decent weaning information.

It wouldn't be about making people breastfeed, just making more informed choices. No comparing breastfeeding to formula. Or, well, it could be.

There was a TV advert in England not so long ago, 2 women chatting in a park iirc

Seems a shame it's about money. It costs too much for too many people to know about help etc. The NHS need to pull their socks up.I guess if there was good NHS breastfeeding support - specialist support it would b a million times better. Run their own NHS helplines etc.

But why encourage more mother to breastfeed when there is little support for those currently trying !!!

In 2005 78% of mothers started to breastfeed

By 6 weeks this had dropped to...
48% babies having any breastmilk
21% babies exclusively breastfed.

Why try and advertise to the 22% of mothers who are formula feeding, risking potentially upsetting these mothers, when society is already failing to support the mothers who can and want to breastfeed.

We should be helping the 78% of mothers who wish to breastfed to do so and support 100% of mothers in helping them feed their babies in the best way for their particular situation.

Adverts don't help anyone.

Sorry, guess it was abit of a silly idea. I really shouldn't MN whilst tired.

I know some people have huge problems with bf & stop.

But many mums I've met can't be bothered with bf & are happy to be not attached to their child. I don't think anything would convince these mums.

There have been TV ads in local areas, and in Scotland and Northern Ireland, which I see working as making bf acceptable and realistic to wider society - and that has to be a good thing. It will, indirectly, support bf mothers.

There is no way small charities like NCT or LLL could produce adverts.

Advertising the no. of national helplines would quickly overwhelm the existing services, which are all staffed by volunteers....even the Department of Health national breastfeeding helpline is staffed by volunteers.

I really don't think the issue is that women don't know the telephone numbers - if they all did, and all called, then we'd drown! The issue is the lack of trained, knowledgable support from the people who are paid and supposedly trained to offer it - many of the women who breastfeed and who stop before they wanted to, don't get the help they need.