Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

Original poster

"Please breastfeed"

111 replies

hunkermunker · 15/04/2009 21:14

I saw the slogan "Please give blood" today on one of their vehicles and it set me thinking - we all know "breast is best" is trite and unhelpful - but what would be a good message?

I like "Every breastfeed makes a difference" - but would the give blood phrase work for this?

OP posts:
knickers0nmahead · 15/04/2009 21:16

I dont think it would, no.

Don't really have a reason why though, sorry

everGreensleeves · 15/04/2009 21:16

I don't think most people would appreciate the didactic nature of that slogan.

thisisyesterday · 15/04/2009 21:17

i'm not sure, cos I think the difference is that people think that formula is just as good as breastmilk.
so, in the case of blood there is no alternative that can be used.
in the case of feeding, there is.

we need to get past that, I reckon, before it'll be successful. iyswim?

or maybe I am going to deep???

oopsacoconut · 15/04/2009 21:18

OOOH Hunker - I like it, can I steal it for my Breastfeeding info board at the maternity unit? please Our midwives are cr*p at encouraging anyone to BF and have given the Baby cafe a board to use to encourage BF. Would also be perfect for our BF awareness week display.

ilovemydogandMrObama · 15/04/2009 21:18

Are you trying to get donations for a milk bank?

If so, 'give milk' works...

oopsacoconut · 15/04/2009 21:20

okay - I'm out numbered! I linked it to the poster we have 'Reasons to be Proud'

oopsacoconut · 15/04/2009 21:22

okay totally read that question wrong - need more sleep.

Shitemum · 15/04/2009 21:24

I think the problem with any breastfeeding slogan is that

  1. It'll upset those who wanted to and couldn't or had to give up before they wanted to
2.The people who are unlikely to even try in the first place for whatever reason will not change their minds because of a car sticker or a poster

I think the only way to increase the number of women who successfully breastfeed is to educate and normalise it from primary level onwards and increase the budget for training breastfeeding councillors etc. Also the media portrays women and thier breasts in such a way that doesn't help.

I dont know.

Original poster
hunkermunker · 15/04/2009 21:26

Hmm, I guess the difference is the health service are asking for your blood, a physical thing they can collect from you in a bag.

So, no then.

Is there anything that does actually "work" well from the pov of marketing bf? I am finding that the reasons for breastfeeding vary so much between women that it can't be boiled down into a single "message" - it's too complex.

I do like "every breastfeed makes a difference" though - it's a factual statement and can be used as an opener for discussion.

OP posts:
StealthPolarBear · 15/04/2009 21:29

I like "every breastfeed makes a difference"
I'd also like to see some myth busting posters
"I don't know how much he's getting and that's fine"
"He feeds a lot but that's normal"
Well I'm not a marketing person (no prizes for figuring that out!) but you get the idea.
I don't see why something along the lines of "Please consider breastfeeding" wouldn't be OK though?

noonki · 15/04/2009 21:36

Please breastfeed is terrible because it sounds desperate or like an order. Neither of which people will respond to.

Every breastfeed makes a difference

is far better as it is encouraging at every stage of feeding.

everGreensleeves · 15/04/2009 21:39

I can see why you want a statement, not a bad idea in itself at all - but "Please Breastfeed" - you know how when sombody posts a baby name they're considering, and someone says "please don't call your child xxx", or on a discipline thread when sombody wants advice and a poster responds with "please don't xxx"? It gets people's backs up every time - and you're talking about women who are at a stage in their lives when EVERYONE seems to be telling them what to do.

I will think of ideas though - and think "every breastfeed makes a difference" is MUCH better - when you're feeding, and it hurts, and you're doing all the night feeding without help, it can be difficult to see how important each feed is. Much more likely to be motivating and encouraging than "please breastfeed" IMO.

DitsyMe · 15/04/2009 21:39

I love these posters:
www.onlynatural.org.uk/common/img/print/bench.jpg
www.onlynatural.org.uk/co mmon/img/print/cafe.jpg

GreenMonkies · 15/04/2009 21:40

I like the slogan on the NCT wrist bands. "Breastfeeding makes a difference" It's short, factual and to the point.

ilovemydogandMrObama · 15/04/2009 21:40

I love the slogan: Got Milk

Rather unfortunately, it was also the big marketing campaign in the US for cows milk, but wonder if you asked them if they wouldn''t mind if it spearheaded a breast feeding drive?

ourlot · 15/04/2009 21:40

Shitemum - I agree with getting it from primary level. I help a little girl I look after give her dolly milk by shoving it's head up her jumper and she then rocks it shushing. My ds does same sometimes.
Celebrities help, but soaps don't, they all seem to bottle feed.

LackaDAISYcal · 15/04/2009 21:41

I like "every breastfeed makes a difference"

It is straight and to the point, and as someone who failed miserably to feed my DS1 beyond 6 weeks and felt a complete and utter failure, it would have helped me get to grips with things knowing that the little I did manage was a very good start in life for him. It wasn't till I found MN four years after he was born that I realised I had made a difference to his early weeks.

Please Breastfeed is defintely too dictatorial.

PrettyCandles · 15/04/2009 21:42

Agree with noonki. Also think that Polar Bear's "I don't know how much he's getting and that's fine" is very good.

I think we also have to find somehing that gets around the idea that anyone 'could not' feed. We know that - what is it - 98%? of women can bf, yet so many start and then end up ffing because they 'couldn't'. How can we express that you can, without coming across as didactic?

LauriefairycakeeatsCupid · 15/04/2009 21:47

I don't believe that 98% can unless we include the ones for whom it's agony and suggest they should persist anyway.

which would be unfair anyway.

How about "Your baby, your choice". With both shown as a half and half poster so that it addressed the negativity surrounding breastfeeding and it would normalise it.

LauriefairycakeeatsCupid · 15/04/2009 21:48

I would just like to see a poster where they were equally celebrated.

I think that would make more people try it, if it became normal to try.

KingRolo · 15/04/2009 21:49

I saw something on a feeding thread here once and thought it would make a great poster. Something like

'If you breastfeed for one day you...'
'If you breastfeed for one week you...'
'If you breastfeed for one month you...'

And so on, outlining all the positives for the baby and mother.

At the time I was in the early days of bfing and remember thinking if I can get to a week I'll have done so much good. And 6 months later here we are!

Jackstini · 15/04/2009 22:15

Laurie, most Scandinavian countries have bfing rates of around 98% so it is physiologically possible.
What you say is important though, because actually a much larger % of mums can't bf without help and that is what is so desperately needed.
Hunker - another vote for every breastfeed makes a difference. I think it's a really good balance - nice for anyone who has managed any length of time bfing whilst encouraging more.

pooter · 15/04/2009 22:24

I like KingRolo's idea, as it gives you a target, that you can extend infinitely and emphasises all the wonderful things BF gives to both mum and baby. Im off to see if i can find it on the net somewhere.

pooter · 15/04/2009 22:29

Looks like someone else is trying to find it too. I haven't come up with anything though.

PrettyCandles · 15/04/2009 22:54

I would like to see KingRolo's idea extended, so that the message doesn't end at 6m, but at 2y.