Breastfeeding in the news this morning

[Jackieharris]

From what I heard on the radio a Brazilian study has linked breastfeeding with intelligence & 'success' later in life.

I've not read the study or seen any details so not sure about validity/is it applicable to UK/how long the sample bf for etc.

But I did also hear that in Scotland the bf rate at 10 days is less than 50%. I'm quite shocked at that. I'd have guessed it would be more like 70-80%.

Can't see this study/news changing that though.

What are the chances of GO announcing spectacular new investment in bf support in today's budget?

Read the study. It's clear you haven't. Bankers and lawyers not mentioned! Study not telling anyone what they 'should' do, except to exhort governments to support bf education and training.

Yeah, this study is part of a capitalist conspiracy. The elites want us to become bankers so they get their scientists to make up ways to convince us to stop using expensive formula (especially less affluent communities here and in the third world) and breast feed instead. I've got it all worked out.

"really this isn't helpful to women world-wide" altered

Just quick one to say that in general being a breast-feeding advocate is potentially very helpful to women world-wide.

The increase and promotion of FFing in developing countries has sadly caused unbelievable levels of infant ill-health and tragically death of babies and young children.

The FFing industry has plenty of advocates as seen in advertising campaigns around the world (fortunately regulated in this country - though recent campaigns seem to be getting round the regulations through the follow-on milk loop-hole)

We are indeed fortunate to have many choices in this country, such as the possibility of safe FFing as an option through access to safe clean water, and clean kitchens. We should never forget that we aren't the majority world.

I breastfed three children to almost a year. I should feel proud, I should be an advocate.

But having just given up feeding my third and last baby (and yes feeling sad about that) I feel completely put off by the so called campaigning.

This thread has only heightened this feeling. I've been patronised (accused of having not read the study) and belittled (who said anything about conspiracy theories) for merely having a different opinion.

And you think you're supporting women? I felt guilty for stopping feeding recently because the goal posts keep moving. Now extended breastfeeding is the goal. Nothing is ever fucking good enough is it? And most women are just trying the best they can.

Well I hope you'll choose to continue to be a BFing advocate altered

And personally I do think I'm supporting women by being one myself, yes

I'd aim to support anyone whatever their circumstances and choices (in this context obvs)

Hope you can keep on feeling proud both for your BFing experience and your other parenting experiences.

Good enough is good enough

I just find it very weird that because some women feel guilty that they didn't breastfeed for long enough they think its acceptable to close down the debate/the discussion/the research on the benefits of breastfeeding.

If I smoke and feel guilty about it, would I want to stop all discussions about smoking? Er no.

I didn't breastfeed for very long, never really got on with it with DC 2 and 3, don't feel guilty about it at all. Why would I? Its up to me. I made informed choices that suited me.

alteredbeast, I didn't 'patronise' you or 'accuse' you....I stated that you cannot have read the study. I apologise if you have read it, and just not understood it. That probably sounds patronising as well, sorry, but I don't know how else to put it!

Really, you know, it's not about you. A study in Brazil does not move the goalposts for you - why should it? If anything, the study should be added to the body of work which supports better help, training and education around breastfeeding, which is a message to governments and other agencies, not individual women. I say the same about WHO recommendations on exclusive breastfeeding - the WHO does not speak to individual women but to governments, employers and institutions, to enable the choice to breastfeed.

If you feel this study is somehow moving your goalposts, and making you question yourself and your decisions, then lets hope your common sense and confidence return shortly, when you're not feeling quite so sad about it all...and you'll appreciate the breastfeeding experience you and your children have had - no need to feel guilty about any of this. Trying not to sound patronising in any way or belittling - but honestly, dismissing research because it doesn't ask the 'right' questions or because it somehow strikes an emotional chord with you, and saying it 'doesn't help women world wide' and is therefore no help....all that deserves a robust response :)

tapwater you sound like a loving and conscientious mother who has given her little one everything she could, and it's paid off, so don't let these feelings get to you any more

I think there is a massive difference between personal experiences of breastfeeding and the bigger global picture.

Everyone who has given birth has a personal story about breastfeeding, for some that's just a personal experience, for others it is clouding their views of the global picture.

There are guidelines. Most people don't look at these as having clearly defined right and wrong.

For the majority they are just information to use. They will adapt it to fit their lives and make informed decisions that best fit them and theirs. In some cases they might not even breastfeed at all.

Campaigning takes this information forward so other women will have access to the information and make their own informed decisions.

There are those that dismiss campaigning because of their personal feelings of guilt and there are those that push campaigning because of their personal feelings of smugness. Both of these are counter-productive.

Good post, tomandizzymum :) Nicely put.

Same to you tiktok

Sorry I just don't buy the guilt thing.

I have never met one mother ever who feels guilty re ffing years after.

A few years of motherhood puts not bfing hugely into perspective.100s of far bigger daily issues to feel guilty about.

I don't think all, prob not even most, mothers feel guilt for any length of time. Plenty of women feel relief if bf has been going badly and they switch to ff.

But some women do, or they feel a mixture of relief and guilt.

I have been a breastfeeding counsellor for a long time, and I have had women in their 50s, 60s and one woman, in her 70s, tell me with sadness and sometimes tears in their eyes about their feelings at not breastfeeding. Some women do blame themselves and feel guilty though I would say the guilt does abate. It's not at all unusual for mothers with a more recent experience to feel it's all their fault.

Perhaps we should just tell these women to pull themselves together, and that it will only take 'a few years' before they start to see things in perspective??

You deal with the extreme who sorry do need to get things into proportion. I speak as an IVF,C/S bottle feeding mother.

Sorry but the vast maj of bottle feeding 70 year old mothers are far more worried re the pain of arthritis,avoiding the big C etc to give a second thought to Ffing.To infer an epidemic of guilt ridden mothers is utterly wrong.The numbers of guilt ridden bottle feeding mothers in their 70s will be tiny.Having lived through a life time of challenges including death,illnesses,children worries,retirement etc most will have far bigger guilt fish to fry.

The vast maj of mothers ff and don't feel a shred of guilt.I know that disappoints many bfing mothers but it's just the way it is.

LePetitMarseillais why would that disappoint bfing mothers? Why do you word it like there is some kind of competition? I do find this attitude towards breastfeeding in general and bfeeding mothers in particular all very odd. OK so it's not guilt, but whatever it is, it's clearly an issue stemming from somewhere.

How does the first sentence of my post lead you to say I think there is an epidemic of guilt, LPM? When I state the absolute opposite?

I hate the idea of women being sad, disappointed and guilty.

Why is it an issue? They don't care,only posters like you care?

Don't be ridiculous. I don't 'make' people care! You're right - for many ppl, if it's an issue, it passes over. Some women - women on this thread - feel sad, failures, disappointed, guilty etc. and later get over it (even you said it can take a few years). A few feel it deeply and for a long time.

Why is that so hard to accept?

'The vast maj of mothers ff and don't feel a shred of guilt.I know that disappoints many bfing mothers but it's just the way it is.'

So why do so many of them get all het up about the 'breast is best' or 'breast is normal' message. Why do so many get upset when a report comes out saying the norm is better for children? Why do so many say 'you are just trying to make me feel guilty'?

A few is just that a few. The maj couldn't give a shit.

Re getting irate,ime people get irate with stat twisting and scaremongering.They have a right to.

'Stat twisting'

How does a cohort of only 3000 odd (only this number replied to IQ test) prove anything?

It's hardly the gold standard randomised controlled trial. Yet it's plastered all over the press and internet like it's fact.

Respectable and actually large number for a cohort study.

It's a study that reported it's findings.
I can't see where there was any stat twisting and scaremongering, other than on mumsnet!

And a randomised controlled trial is a different sort of study. You will never have an RCT for infant feeding. And if you did in some unethical universe you would not have three thousand.

I echo lepetit. I know of no self-flagellating FFers. I do think the 'Breast is Best' brigade have an agenda that says FFers are a tormented lot. It couldn't be further from the truth. We get to sleep all night. With our husbands. We don't need to wear absurd slings. We get to put our babies down. We can return to work whenever we like