The UK has a breastfeeding rate at 12 months of 0.5% apparently - worst in the world.

[minifingerz]

Whereas 99.4% of women in Senegal, where there is widespread poverty, double the UK average family size, no maternity leave and minimal medical or midwifery support for postnatal mothers, are still going.

Those statistics are mind-boggling, given that most of the 82% of women who start off breastfeeding in the UK state medical reasons for not being able to continue breastfeeding.

Does beg the question - how is this possible?

here

[NorthernLurker]

Pain and discomfort should be possible to resolve with the correct advice. I don't have metal boobs myself Particularly with dd1 I had to work through that.
Exhaustion - breastfeeding supports the mother's recovery after the birth. If it's mucked around with or mums aren't able to rest as needed then yes you will be exhausted but that's not because of breastfeeding per se. In fact the relative accessibility of breastfeeding makes less work for mums. We just need to get away from the idea that you can feed a newborn for 15 minutes and then get on with your life for 3 3/4 hours 3 days after the birth. I think a lot of people assume frequent feeding means breastfeeding is failing but that isn't the case.

[minifingerz]

"I'm happy to be living in the U.K. Where that's a valid choice"

There is a valid choice not to breastfeed in other developed countries too, but women don't seem as keen to exercise it as we do here in the UK.

[minifingerz]

"Why, so you have even more of a reason to bash women who don't agree with you round the head for their failures?"

I don't bash people for stopping breastfeeding.

"Why women stop breastfeeding is none of anyone else's business."

If that was the case it wouldn't be reported in newspapers and medical journals.

We all have the right to make our own choices.

But infant feeding is a public health issue and so will sometimes be discussed in the public arena and on internet forums by people who are interested in, um, public health.

[ForgetfulNess]

On child number four now so am well practiced in the act of not giving a fuck. But with babies 1 & 2 had an absolute barrage of negative comments if I mentioned bfing a baby over 12 months. Gave up at 14 months and 16 months because of the sheer number of people - including HV, MIL, folk that worked in childcare - who thought 'it was more for the mum' or 'something wrong with it.' Bfeeding an 18mo at the moment with no shame and getting plenty of snidey comments. You need so much mental strength, and good support from others who think like you to go against that - no surprise to me that figures are low.

[Technoremix]

I was asked at the MMR vaccination whether I was still breastfeding and that was recorded in the red book ( there was a tick box that asked) so maybe that's where they got the statistics from?

I am really really surprised that the number is so low though- I would say at least half of my friends were still bf at 1 year and about 25% were still bf at 2 years.

[scrivette]

So many people I know say that they gave up because they didn't know if the baby was getting enough or they thought their supply might be dropping.

I often see people on here whose families are not supportive of breastfeeding.

I think that a lot of the reason is a lack of support for breastfeeding mothers and therefore the lack of confidence in believing that they can do it.

I found Mumsnet really useful in providing support and information when I was feeding DS1 and would love to work as a breastfeeding support worker to pass on the knowledge and confidence I was lucky enough to gain.

[Stevie77]

Because there's no support. If you're not determined st finding that support (le leche, local infant feeding advisors), you'll give up if coming up against difficulties.

Also, I have a collage who's currently pregnant and her attitude is that it's too difficult and that she's being bullied into it by midwives. She thinks that by bottle feeding, it means sharing more baby related tasks with her husband. Instead, she should realise that b/feeding is a great opportunity to sit down and boss her DH! Also, you can share every other task, so... Anyway, I think the approach of med staff is not right. Plus, until it's more fashionable in some circles things won't change.

I stopped feeding DC2 at 14 months and really wish I didn't. I miss it so much :(

[minifingerz]

Forget - it is really fucking galling how bothered other people are by women breastfeeding older babies. I had a bit of that too: 'You're not STILL feeding that child?'. It comes from the belief that breastfeeding has no real benefits, therefore if you're breastfeeding an older child you're clearly doing it for your own enjoyment. You perv! Ironically, 'happy mother, happy baby' only seems to be a valid argument if you're justifying not breastfeeding....

[Elllicam]

Also still (literally currently) feeding at 18 months and no one has ever asked me either. Maybe in the UK not many folk get asked? I'm trying to think when the HV would have the opportunity to ask, I wasn't seen after the 5 month weaning visit.

[bimandbam]

I am hardly surprised to be honest.

I know a new first time mum who was advised her tiny 4 day old baby was just doing it for comfort when the mum asked the midwife if it was normal to want to feed through the night. And if mum was tired then to get dad to give formula from 10pm until 8am so mum could get a good sleep.

Unsurprisingly baby is now ff. I have absolutely no problem with women making decisions about how they feed their babies. But not when that decision is influenced by hcp to formula. Or even to breast. Hcp should be able to advise the pros and cons of either method and help the mother make an informed decision and be unquestionably supported in whatever decision they make.

[Stevie77]

So many errors in that post...

[minifingerz]

I was surprised at the figure too.

[genome]

I would have been happy to feed my two dc till past 12 months, but both self-weaned at 10 months. They refused the breast repeatedly when i continued to offer for over a week and never asked after that. In my case I didn't 'give up', my children gave up on me!
I was never asked about feeding after we were signed off by the hv, so I'm unsure where the statistics come from!

[StitchesInTime]

I think, firstly, a mother in a culture where BF is the norm is likely to get a lot more support if she's struggling with BF initially.

And secondly, IME, there's a lot of societal pressure against extended BF in the UK. Once baby hits 6 months, there's often an expectation that BF should stop, because, hey, they're weaning! (As if babies go from 100% milk to 3 solid meals a day overnight )

I'm still BF DS2 at 29 months, and from about 12 months or a bit before I have had comments about how I should be thinking of stopping because surely he doesn't need breastmilk any more / isn't it more for the mother once they've started weaning (no, it's not) / if they can ask for milk they're too old / don't you want your breasts back etc etc
As with ForgetfulNess, I've had to get used to not giving a fuck what other people think of extended breastfeeding.

But I'm lucky to have a supportive DH and a network of acquaintances who also BF toddlers. Someone without that support might find it a lot harder to ignore the societal pressure and feel pressured into stopping BF before they feel ready.

[Pooseyfrumpture]

What NorthernLurker said I don't know anybody who had an actual real medical reason that they couldn't breastfeed. I know a few people who didn't like the idea and refused to attempt it. I know a LOT of people who tried but were poorly supported, not prepared, badly advised (and so thought they had a medical reason to stop when actually their breastfeeding had been sabotaged) and/or had no personal successful examples.

So many women told me they couldn't breastfeed. Women who had never seen a breastfeeding specialist, never been to a baby cafe - but who were told by a GP/HV/MIL/whoever that they couldn't. Or that there was something in the wrong in the way that they were feeding. And spoke to some who could, but didn't want to, but felt safer saying they couldn't rather than wouldn't, because they thought they'd be attacked for choosing not to breastfeed.

I can't remember the accepted statistic for women who can't medically breastfeed - but isn't it something like 5-10% (?). And a vast number of women who are very sad that they "couldn't" feed their baby. So that's a lot of women who haven't been supported to do what they wanted to.

[megletthesecond]

I'm sure there was a poster from Scandinavia on here a few years ago who said that they didn't worry about the odd bottle when mainly bf an older baby. It still counted as exclusively bf. (I may have got it all wrong and dreamt it though).

Don't they pump far more in the USA than we do? If I'd had a double pump and snazzy pumping bra I could have continued bf for longer.

[StitchesInTime]

Incidentally, I was asked by the HV if DS2 was still BF at his 2 yr check.

[minifingerz]

"She thinks that by bottle feeding, it means sharing more baby related tasks with her husband"

Yes - he can sit on the sofa and feed the baby, while she can do all the shit jobs like hoovering and emptying the bins.

[acazc]

As someone who could not breastfeed, I hate the insinuation that it's always a choice to FF. Not that it's bad to FF, we've loved it and my kids are brill

[genome]

Mine were also expressed milk refusers (tried bottles, cups, syringes- nothing worked!). I could have continued to pump but it seemed a wasted effort when they wouldn't drink it!

[OvariesBeforeBrovaries]

I'm surprised it was quite so low as a lot of my postnatal groups were still breastfeeding at 12 months (and many are still doing the occasional feed now and the kids are coming up for two) but I wasn't surprised that it was low in itself.

Unless you fit into the "socially acceptable feeding" (breastfed until 6/9 months and then go on to follow on milk) you're treated like your choices are harming your child, whether that's extended breast feeding or formula feeding. There's no support for extended breastfeeding even with many HVs and doctors - it's little wonder the number is so low.

[minifingerz]

"So that's a lot of women who haven't been supported to do what they wanted to."

There's lots of bad practice, and discouragement, but I remember talking to a group of midwives a few years ago who felt really strongly that there were many women who didn't want to continue breastfeeding, who weren't prepared to actually say this, and who made them feel absolutely shit for offering the support which they said they wanted and needed, but was actually really unwelcome.

They said they got really tired of offering ideas and advice to improve feeding difficulties which were constantly rejected or not followed through. And this was to mums who said they wanted to breastfeed. All the talk of bullying and pressurising - I can see why a midwife would be scared of getting labelled as a bully for offering encouragement in the form of reasons to keep going, and advice which a mother had said she wanted but didn't really. I can also see why some midwives curry favour by saying out of pity what they think women want to hear, rather than what they believe to be true as health professionals.

[KleineDracheKokosnuss]

I couldn't hold dd anymore after 9 months and she wasn't bothered for breast milk either by then. She'd discovered food. Which was a relief as I had to go back to work shortly thereafter. And seriously - teeth!

I'm wholly unsurprised that we generally don't keep going for a whole year.

[NotSoFancyNancy]

My Dsis had a medical reason for not feeding despite trying with both her dc. She was seen by very highly regarded laceration consultant but her milk never came in. She has SLE and the medication she is taking was the probable reason. She was very upset both times so please do bear in mind some can't feed despite wanting to.
Agree many give up too easily and have a lot of very poor ill informed advice.

[superking]

What I found very strange about the figures is the fact that although 34% were breastfeeding at 6 months, that had dropped to just 0.5% by 12 months. Seems very odd that so many women who had got through the sometimes difficult first few weeks, and who were obviously committed to breastfeeding for a number of months, almost all stopped between 6 and 12 months. Compare that to the US where 49% were breastfeeding at 6 months and that had only dropped to 27% at a year.

I do wonder how these figures were obtained. I bf my DS to 16 months but was never asked about it after my last midwife appt a couple of weeks after he was born.

Purely anecdotal of course, but of my NCT group all breastfed to some extent, 3 of us were still feeding at 6 months, and 2 at 12 months. Most of those who stopped before 6 months did so between 6 weeks and 3 months.