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

TheCatsMeow I found it very convenient and easy after the ghastly first two months. Also DD fed to sleep so it was very easy for me. She would nod off in 10 min or so. Also she became quite an efficient feeder after 6 months or so. There were some dark days when I wishes she would just take a bottle but overall my experience has been good.
I only stopped because I got severe nursing aversion when I got pregnant.

For the next one I may go with mixed feeding as I did find the initial months very exhausting and difficult.

No I didn't really. It's very different feeding an older baby than a newborn. That certainly has it's faffier moments - for example especially with dd3 I found waking up soaked in milk to be v tiresome - so I bought a night time nursing bra that meant I could wear pads and that sorted that. But with an older child there is none of that and your supply is so settled with their needs that you don't feel 'full', don't tend to leak. The other thing is that usually it's much, much quicker to feed an older child.

Once past the first few months, I found it a breeze. My DD fell into her own routine of feeding every few hours and I found her incredibly portable- no need to remember a bottle and a feed only took about 15 mins. It was no hassle at all.
Mind you I haven't had to try and breastfeed with an older child around yet. It might be more challenging getting BF established if you have a toddler to run after too.

First few weeks aside, I found BF really convenient, though I did occasionally get wobbly about his dependence on me (found expressing a faff and was stupidly a bit PFB about formula) . After 9 months though he was down to morning and evening so that was a non issue.

TheCatsMeow, can I ask what you found a pain? Genuine question - just trying to understand.

First few weeks aside, I found BF really convenient, though I did occasionally get wobbly about his dependence on me (found expressing a faff and was stupidly a bit PFB about formula) . After 9 months though he was down to morning and evening so that was a non issue.

TheCatsMeow, can I ask what you found a pain? Genuine question - just trying to understand.

Apologies for double post- phone said it failed to post first time

There is something monumentally wrong with their data collection if they think that there are 18 times as many French mothers bf at one year compared to UK mums.

That single statistic suggests that we can safely file this study under b for bin.

This is very interesting. Fwiw I bf'd dd till day 4. The midwife had discussed engorgement as a 'bit of discomfort' and by that time dd could not physically latch on, my nipples were shredded and dd was so hungry do was screaming all the time. I tried formula thinking it would give me a little break. She guzzled the milk and slept. When she woke she bf'd for a bit then started the infernal howling again =more formula.

The mw came round the next day and offered some useful help for bfjng in part. I'd had some sleep by that point but felt I just couldn't go back to bfing alone. I also felt very down about being so pathetic.

Ds was born 2 years later. I felt bad for giving up with dd and was determined to give it s proper go. I found out before where to go for help, made the most if it, including the amazing clinic at the John Radcliffe. I fed ds until he was nearly 4!

I think post natal care is woefully lacking in this country. Just like people comment that pregnancy isn't sn illness, you expect to be 'back to normal' asap. This rarely includes the time needed to have s baby moon and do nothing but bd for s few days.

Also, as children get older - 5 months or so - hv need to get s grip and learn how centiles work. Dd is s dot. She always has been. At least I knew that she was having an appropriate amount if formula- they told me if I was still bfing, they would have been very worried as she was only in the 9th centiles.

Cats, I've done 5 years of breastfeeding across 3 children.

I never had to think about feeding or plan anything. I didn't pay much attention to it. I often did it while doing 2 or 3 other things. Or on the move.

As someone has pointed out, there's no comparison between feeding and older child and a newborn.

Need breastfeeding is part of a style or way of mothering. It really isn't usually just about food, not in countries where it's normal (or, not the uk). You breastfeed to comfort a child, to make them sleep, to reconnect after you've been apart, as a sort of 'extended cuddle'. It's very pleasurable to babies and children. Most children really enjoy breastfeeding.

"That single statistic suggests that we can safely file this study under b for bin"

I think a lot of the UK data comes from the Infant Feeding survey, which is pretty reliable.

The Lancet isn't known for publishing really shitty studies...

Furry I was constantly aware of my boobs (I'm quite slim so felt really weird), I had to think about what to wear all the time (my usual clothes aren't bf friendly), I couldn't get him latched on unless I got my entire boob out, my boobs leaked loads, they were uncomfortable and it meant that I was the only one who could feed. I also didn't like if I went out without my baby I'd get full leaky boobs.

That's really interesting about feeding an older child though. I gave up quickly due to the above AND pain and latch issues, so I have no experience of bf past the first few weeks

That's interesting Cats. Clothes apart, I just didn't have those issues: never leaked more than could be easily dealt with by a breast pad, DS latched easily and discretely so no problem going out and about with him; didn't get engorged when apart particularly. It all adds up to a very different experience- it's easy to overlook that I think.

Breastfeeding was really important to me when DS was in childcare from 11 months ish onwards. It was part of our routine, a feed when home from nursery. It was about reconnecting and reassuring, physical contact/connection and just being with each other for a while. Hard to properly explain.

Furry it's one of those things that's different for each of us. Mine were like waterfalls, it was really uncomfortable lol. But I think I had oversupply and fast letdown, and DS refused to feed from the right side so I had a lot of factors making it complicated.

This is why I think it's hard to say "breast is best". Nutritionally breast milk is the best but breast feeding isn't always the best option for many reasons even if it's technically possible

Nobody asked me with any of my children.

Without knowing what percentage of babies born in Senegal don't reach their first birthday, the stats don't mean much. My baby wouldn't be alive without a safe breast milk substitute.

First weeks we had tt but it was snipped early then bf was great till 11mo when ds learned to walk and would not bloody sit still and feed. We were able to do sleepy early mornings till 13mo but then I gave up even on that. It was like a bloody wwf wrestling match!

I suspect if I had had any worries about his diet or our water I would have persevered but with him eating well and clean water it wasn't to me worth the fight.

TheCatsMeow Out of curiousity, people who breastfed longer than a few months, did you not find it a massive pain?

No. Quite the opposite.

I failed to establish BF with DS1, so he was mostly on expressed breastmilk till we started weaning (which really was a massive pain), and then on formula to supplement the solid foods until 12 months.

DS2 has been almost entirely BF (barring a few formula top ups when he was being treated for jaundice as a new born). DS2 is 29 months now and still breastfeeding.

The first few weeks of BF were the toughest, mostly due to lack of sleep as DS2 took to BF really well, but for me, BF DS2 has been so much easier and more convenient than bottle feeding DS1 ever was.
Latching on got easier as we both got more practice, milk leaking stopped ages ago, I rarely had any pain when BF. I

The only possible downside for me was having to keep DS2 nearby until weaning was far enough along for him to manage on solids when I wasn't around, but as I didn't go back to work until he was a year old, that wasn't a major problem for us.

OP, I have a genuine question and I hope you answer it: Why on Earth are you so deeply invested in this debate? I see you everywhere there is this discussion and you seem utterly obsessed with championing this method of feeding. You clearly do not want to see the argument, from lots of women, that bf just is not best for them.

Why the evangelism? What drives it?

Stitches thanks. This and other answers makes me think the reason I found it inconvenient was because for whatever reason we didn't establish bf properly, and with a baby that takes to bf it's not half as difficult!

Expressing is hard, I did it for a bit but couldn't keep it up

I breastfed for nearly this amount of time. I didn't do it as a parenting style just wanted to save a tenner a week at the time. It's no different to formula really.

Actually I don't remember being asked if I was still BFing beyond about 3 months, with any of mine. I'm not sure where they are getting the stats from.

I fed ds1 to 16 months, when my mother told me to stop, and I didn't know any different - and ds2 to 54 months and am bfing ds3 and he's 37 months. There must be a lot of people like me who haven't been asked.

It would probably fuck up their statistics if they did