Is breast feeding middle class?

[Charingcrossbun]

A few comments I have received recently have started me thinking, not that it matters at all but, is breast feeding like having humous as a staple of your weekly shop?

Was breast feeding in pub yesterday and DS was crying as I winded him. A women came over to me with a 6/7month old and told me that was why she bottle fed and it was much easier. She made me feel like I was being a bit of a martyr. Obviously she was trying to be helpful so I just smiled and thanked her. I overheard another comment from mums waiting outside the sure start centre "you can tell it's the breast feeding group by all the posh prams".
Just wondered if other mumsnetters had noticed
this?

I guess it is easier to breast feed if you can stay at home, so abyss the reasons are financial and not because we are thick, feckless or can't be bothered.

Perhaps not abyss.

I see what you mean, where would they put their Gregg's sausage roll if they were bf?

They'd just have to shove it in their mouths and eat penguin style

The good thing about breast feeding is that you can do it hands free. means I can feed my baby, drink a can of Stella and take a selfie all at the same time.

LOL
The only downside is I can't swear at my older kids cause of the sausage roll in my gob.

This thread has a nasty taste to it.

It's the Greggs sausage roll. repeats something terrible.

at 'penguin style'.

Amongst my friends in my village (which isn't poor or rich, no council houses and no mansions, mainly just 3-4 bed houses) most of us breastfed
The local town which has a high proportion of young single mothers appears to be largely formula fed (from what I see in the parks, soft play etc and no way an official study)

My experience seems to prove that you are most likely to persist in bf successfully if you have female relatives who did and have role modelled it and encourage you to do so.
Both my m and s were enthusiastic breeders of all their children. My mother had her kids in the 60s and she happened to have a very old mw in Leicestershire for her first baby who told her it's much much less work if you can bf and better for the baby. So my m persisted and then has been a real enthusiast ever since. She always said, the bm is made uniquely for that child and it can be easier on the mother when she most needs it to be easier.
BUT I had a rough time with ds as am very fair and have very thin skin and ds just sucked me raw so I had a couple of weeks of agony. I would never ever ever have persisted through that without my m and mw sister being real cheerleaders. It is so painful but once the skin healed I was so pleased that I had done so as it was for me ( I know not for everyone ) a deep bonding thing and makes life easier, no bottles etc.
But for working mums, and mums with no cheerleader and mums who have a real commitment to share the feeding with others - they are never going to be big fans of bf.
It's all about the female cultural group I think and in my experience a bf is almost guaranteed to be mc.

In my personal experience yes my middle class social group all bf. outside of that I don't know really

I am sure there are plenty of people from whatever 'class' who can't BF.

I think breast feeding is more frequent in some socio-economic groups than others. Among my uber-educated uber-conscientious late to motherhood friends, breast feeding was ubiquitous. As it is among semi-literate African immigrants.

Can I penguin style an artisan bread loaf? While I sit and bf for the entire fucking day!

I am from a working class background, but educated to postgraduate level and suppose we are probably considered middle class now. Neither my mum or mother in law breast fed. They had their children in the late sixties and early seventies. I breast fed both my children. Partly because of sheer determination to something right after a horrendous emergency c section. It wasn't easy, cracked nipples, maistotis, the works. But after the first few weeks, it did become easier, and I was glad I persevered with it.

I would have liked to have been able to. Interestingly I come from a family of failed breastfeeders but I didn't know that until I had failed myself.

'I think breast feeding is for those who want to and can do it really'

I agree Sparkling

Thanks Only, it's a bit of a simplistic view possibly but it works for me.

Taking the population as a whole (so middle and working class mums) I think the pattern is for a majority to try breastfeeding but for most to feel unable to continue after a short time, for whatever reason.
So there's some way to go for all social classes.

I do agree with the OP that there seems to be a correlation between middle class status and breastfeeding. If I saw posh prams outside of a sure start centre I would assume breastfeeding group too!

If I had to speculate on the reasons for this I'd say-

1. Perhaps more/different concerns about modesty/social probity (might account for the small and hopefully falling percentage of wc women who feel its "disgusting")

1. Mc women might be more able to access support when difficulties arise.

1. IME Mc women seem to put more pressure on themselves to be prefect parents (especially with the first child!) so might persevere longer even if its making them feel rotten.

Sparkling Your in the majority. Breast feeding can be really hard!

There is an Infant Feeding Survey carried out every five years that identifies breastfeeding rates, plus factors that affect breastfeeding initiation and continuation rates. The most recent survey is from 2010, the next one will be in 2015.

A summary of the findings from 2010 are Feeding Surveyuk2010_summary.pdf here. The original data and complete survey is here.

The overall facts are that older mothers are more likely to start breastfeeding, as are women who left education over 18, as are those in professional/managerial jobs. Deprivation has a negative affect on breastfeeding, so mothers who are more deprived (according to the survey's definition of deprivation) are less likely to breastfeed.

"Class" is an odd concept these days, and I don't know if it has any real meaning. Certainly just identifying as "middle class" doesn't have any impact on your likelihood to breastfeed, as the other factors I mentioned above are the key indicators.