Breastfeeding demo in schools

[NoHotAshes]

Thought this article was interesting - not so much for what happened with the headteacher cancelling the demo, but for the fact that the demonstrations happen at all. I wonder what sort of effect they have? Would demonstrations of breastfeeding in schools help improve breastfeeding rates?

Persoanally I know I would have found it totally yuck at that age and it would have put me off.
Wasn't until I was older and some of my peers had children and bf them that I realised it was perfectly normal and acceptable.
I don't think whatever I was taught at school would have had any influence.

I know people who have been in and breastfed their babies in front of different aged pupils as part of PHSE lessons in schools. Generally it seems to go down well and the students are curious.

I think it can be useful to show that you can bf without having a lot of flesh on show. I think that is one of the things that can put people off trying if they haven't seen many people breastfeed before.

I think it works best as part of a general "this is a baby" sort of thing - "oh, and she's hungry, I'll just feed her and we can continue talking about babies" - rather than "here is a baby and this is how I feed her, using my breasts".

There are LOADS of people who've never seen anyone breastfeeding so they don't even consider it as an option. Showing it as part of the normal way of looking after a baby is great.

Blame, you say

'Persoanally I know I would have found it totally yuck at that age and it would have put me off'.

Hmm,I dipute that.The earlier people see it,the less weird it seems.I've done this (ie going into school) but I do think what Hunker says is true too.

It does sound from the article like it was a lesson on caring for babies, not just breastfeeding, as the mother was also going to bath the baby as well. I think including stuff about general baby care in schools is probably a good idea actually.