Your thoughts on breastfeeding policy and what could be done to improve it/ increase breastfeeding rates

[JustScreamMumsnet]

Hello Mumsnetters, we've managed to get a meeting with the person running the Government's breastfeeding initiative and would like to pass on Mumsnet's top suggestions for improving breastfeeding policy and to outline the key issues.

So let rip! But do bear in mind that there's probably bugger all in the pot, so, much as we'd all love to have a one to one breastfeeding counsellor for the first 48 hours for all type thing - that's probably not a realistic suggestion at this point.

Train professionnals properly. there is far too many contradictory messages out there !!! The slightest trouble in the first few days and you'll have as many solutions as midwives in the building of course totally opposite at each change of duty... this is very confusing for new mums !!!!
I am a vet so probably more aware of physiology than most women and I can tell you I was told hundreeds of old grandma receipes which really should not be conveyed anymore !!
Training people to make them confident they can help rather than feel overworked and stressed...

What about taking better care the mums during labour (painkilling for example) to get relaxed happy new mums ready to care for their baby rather than totally exhausted and traumatised women who can not take the difficulties of the first few days with philosophy ... ?????

Again train professionnals is primordial.

I think it's the way women are cared for and the entire approach to birth that needs to be re-thought !!

We need to get the Health visitors on side, so they are not afraid to actively promote and encourage breastfeeding.

Yes, agree with all comments about more training needed for HV and HCP. I know a one-to-one counsellor for the first few days is not possible, but a visit from the HCP or HV or community midwife (latter best option I think as they seem to be better trained and have more common sense) in the 4th or 5th day, so after milk has come in would be really useful. I think the norm at the moment is to have one visit on the first day and then one after a week, by which point you could already have struggled and given up on breastfeeding.

Flamingo - great idea about showing breastfeeding as normal in soaps. Far more people are influenced by soaps than government campaigns! Yes, show them succeeding, but make sure you show them having problems first and struggling a bit but persevering and winning to encourage those who are having problems to keep going. I think this idea could really make a huge difference amongst those where the norm for decades has been bottle feeding.

Stop promoting and producing leaflet after leaflet saying exactly the same thing ..'breast is best'. Instead provide useful support. I wanted to breastfeed and did for 4 weeks but struggled so much so gave up. Breastfeeding councillors all told me I was doing the right thing but I cant have been as it hurt so much. Read every leaflet and article cover to cover and all said the same thing and did not help me. In the end it was just very frustrating.

Now that the government recommends only breastfeeding until 6 months old then surely the statutory maternity leave should be longer than 9 months.
Def need to make breastfeeding normal. So far I've never had a problem breastfeeding in public but have heard of friends who have and mostly the negative comments/actions have been from youngsters.
Breastfeeding is the most natural thing in the world, we should be able to do it anywhere, any time and any place! Thats what my doctor told me

I actually think some time and money needs to be spent on giving people advice on breast feeding alternatives. When my son couldn't latch on because of a problem with his jaw, not only was I left feeling guilty and uselss, but I could get no help at all on choosing formula and bottles that wasn't related to a company. The hospital refused to give advice, my midwife and health visitor told me they couldn't comment... it was sheer dumb luck we got the right teets - I didn't even know there were different sizes. I didn't understand that it was best to stick to one type of bottle and teat, I didn't know how much formula to give, what position he should be in to bottle feed - and bear in mind we had to do this all really quickly because by the time I was told that medically, I couldn't breast feed, the little blighter hadn't eaten anything for days. I was out of my mind with worry and sleep deprivation, and my husband wasn't thinking straight either. I got all the help with breastfeeding I needed - in fact a bit too much. But when the chips were down it was bottle feeding, not breast feeding, that became the taboo.

I'm going strong with bf at nearly 4 months with dd1 but at about 6 weeks i was so exhausted and it seemed like feeding her for another 4.5 months was this huge mountain i couldnt climb but i stuck with it and at about 2.5 months it suddenly got alot easier and then again last couple weeks.

Mu point is that i know that now - but not back then and unsupported i think i might have stopped - though i'd have felt super guilty and my mum would have gone up the wall about it.

Also i didnt know that in the first few weeks you cant miss a meal or the baby feeds and doesnt get enough and cries and so on and on...in the end i was so worried i rang nhs direct. i really nice nurse rang me back and told me my husband had to take dd away for a couple of hours and give me a break - sure enough by the next morning everything was fine again. dh assumed that the nurse had advised to substitute with cow/formula milk - she did not - she said cooled boiled water at a push. i think i was lucky i got the right advice/support.

more bf facilities would help a lot i htink as fretting about where to bf can make you a bit isolated - though now im used to it i dont care about doing it in cafes etc but i've had it with sitting on the loo seat in a disabled toilet to feed dd - never again!

I agree that what is needed is to give women a more realistic view of what it can take to get breastfeeding, rather than just pressure to do it. I knew all the benefits, never considered not breastfeeding and was devastated when I still couldn't get my son to latch after 5 days (still can't 3 months on, but he will with nipple shields).

Women also need to know that if they can't get the baby to feed within 48 hours, then the baby needs formula to survive while you learn. It took a kind midwife to explain that my son needed something to keep him going and that I could cup feed if I didn't want a bottle. Others I know weren't so lucky and let their babies lose loads of weight while they were learning. That's just dangerous.

So all in all a more realistic view of how your first week might go if the baby doesn't read the leaflet!

How about aiming the campaign at Partners, Grandmothers and Mother in Laws...

"Bring the new mum a bar of chocolate, some comfy cushions, large glass of water and the remote for the telly..."

Ok - so it ain't so snappy but it's the SUPPORT that helped me, not the leaflets...

Oh - and no one's allowed to say, "just give him a bottle..." (!)

Absolutely! And no one (grandmothers in particular) is allowed to say "trouble is, you don't know how much they're getting..."

Not helpful!!

I did manage to breast feed my DD but it was not helpful to be told at antenatal classes that if they're latched on right, it shouldn't hurt. It bloody well did hurt for the first week or two (although it hurt a LOT more when she wasn't latched on so I knew the difference). Women have an unrealistic expectation that it shouldn't hurt and then give up when it does to start with, as they think they're doing something wrong. They should be honest and say it is uncomfortable to start with, but stick with it and after a couple of weeks it won't hurt at all. And none of that bollocks about babies crawling up their mother's stomach moments after birth and latching on by themselves! Total crap!

Ban Lorraine Kelly from talking about BF

Yes Bronze, too bloody right.

I had a very positive experience from the start when my baby Jack did find my nipple, had a little suck, and I thought wow! Then he didn't feed again for 2.5days - I was worried sick. Fortunately had very positive MF and HV runs a bf support programme - since then I've trained as breastfeeding peer counsellor as it was those folks that got me thorugh the hard times. Yes it did hurt, and yes I had back ache as afraid to move once latched on (badly)! It takes time for both baby and mummy to learn - I think mums expect it to all come naturally. You need to be wilful to continue through the pain, and actively seek support - it is there, but you have to look for it...and we don't all have the energy or inclination to do that. We have lots of local support groups so very lucky. We want to go into hospitals to support mums in very early days, but lots of red tape to get through first - politics, as should be role of mf or hv, so agree that training needed, but also awareness of the support out there. I'm still feeding Jack before bed and in morning and he's 15months now - I'm proud of that and tell people (but just watch their face!) Happy to be contacted if anyone needs advice/support Any ideas for bf awareness week?

"BF needs to be normalised, too. Perhaps this is out of the govt's remit but I'd like to see more women bf-ing on TV"
Totally agree with BarakObama. I would go further and say not only BF needs to be normalised, but FF needs to be medicalised, i.e. health professionals should send the message that FF is a last resort for the minority of women who are unfortunate enough not to be able to BF because of medical reasons, and not just a strawberry or chocolate sort of choice.
I wonder what percentage of the women who FF really know that what they are giving to their children is chemically modified cows milk?

I agree with BF being normalised, not just by putting it on tv etc..but by also training up a range of people to offer support... In my area the BF supporters (which are only 4 part timers for a whole city!) are what you would stereotypically expect- 40s, slightly 'hippyish' and not in touch with the modern world... I do not want to say all Supporters are like this but it is definately the case here. Train up young mums as well, trendy mums, professional mums, ditsy mums, basically have the variety that new mums can relate to someone....

Also place more emphasis on how much money can be saved if breastfeeding... FM can add up over 1 year...

Women who breastfeed are often in pain in the first week or so (I was in agony and bleeding for 3 weeks!) and they need to be supported. This support needs to come as much from family as anywhere else and pre natal classes for both moms and dads would help. Classes that offer useful and honest help and not be fed the usual 'sugar coated' version. Also, breastfeeding in public can feel like a dirty secret ... at a time you feel most vulnerable, tired, sore etc many new mums are anxious going out incase they need to feed baby. (this was not only my own experience but many friends too) In my early days the 'dirty' looks and stares really were upsetting and I wanted to stop going out. For many women this can be a downward spiral or a reason to quit alltogether. On top of the parent classes lets get some major positive PR about breastfeeding. Why is the most natural of events made to seem the most un-natural?

stop the myth of only breastfed babies are happy healthy and will bond.
i have family members who adopted babies they couldnt breastfeed, but all the time they are told their baby will be fat ugly have a terrible life die young ans grow up to hate them, all because they werent breastfed.

i also know several women who tried but couldnt breastfeed due to problems again they are left feeling second class.

as for feeding in public i disagree, i never did and with carefl planning and organising there is no need to do it.
the argument that it is a natural process is ridiculus, so is urinating and sex
how happy would you be if someone did either at another table while you were out.

thereiver are you a namechanger trolltastic or what!

Have a cranial osteopath visit every new baby before they leave hospital, or within a week for homebirths.

Made the most difference to 2 of mine.

since the gvmt will likely want a "quick fix" solution amid their cutting spree, as much as we all want HCPs to be better trained, that's unlikely to happen very soon an easier thing to do in the short run would be to shoot video workshops troubleshooting the most common problems. Make those available on maternity wards, at parenting classes, HV clinics and GP surgeries. And online of course.

What's currently available on NHS website isn't good enough. For example, I always wanted to bf and I'd kill myself trying to do it, but until the MW SHOWED me how to make my baby open his mouth wider (express a drop of colostrum, then brush nipple against his upper lip), i'd been going mental trying to latch him on properly.

Also, most videos out there show big babies with big mouths who are already apt at bf-ing, whereas what new mothers get is tiny babies with tiny mouths which are barely as big as the nipple, and that's what those videos should show. It's all very good instructing confused new mothers that "the baby's nose should be clear of the breast" if that baby is 6 months old. Try demonstrate that on a one-week old!

oh yes, and obviously real life support from HCPs, peer counsillors, volunteer mums, La Leche League, NCT or whomever is a thousand times better than a video. But I'm just saying, AT LEAST DO VIDEOS if they can't make real life support available on tap.

vanille, totally disagree RE painkilling in labour as many medicines used for intervention in labour inhibit prolactin production. Would be great if we could have painless births without all the side effects, but unfortunately that's only a dream so far. Unless the gvmt wants to invest in hypno birth classes for all future mums!

Can't believe I missed this at the time. Has there been an update from Justine - couldn't see it when I scanned the thread?

thereiver - are you for real? If I'm in a restaurant I'm eating, a b/f baby is eating. What do you think is the difference exactly?

Can't believe I missed this either gaelic. Wiuld live to k ow if there has been an update. Couldn't see one on my quick scan either.

Thorough training and continued professional development about breastfeeding for MWs, HVs and GPs s definitely the way to go. In our area (rural North East) the lack of bf knowledge amongst the professionals is frightening, unless a mum meets a particular MW her chances of continuing to BF are fucked.