Feminism and breastfeeding

[SnuggyBuggy]

Just curious as to people's opinions here as I haven't seen these two things discussed a lot. Is promoting breastfeeding compatible with being a feminist?

I've joined my local GC feminist group and lo and behold there's many women I recognise from my very active local breastfeeding fb peer support groups involved!

So yes very much so.

Also, The deep green Resistance is also v pro women and feminism and so supports women's rights over their body which includes being supported to breastfeed. The way they worded it it made a lot of sense.

deepgreenresistance.org/en/

Typing while attached to poorly baby.

I think for me the key point (as Fermats mentioned above) is separating out women's individual choices from all the myriad external factors that influence our decisions.

As a younger women I never imagined I'd breastfeed. The main reasons in hindsight were a lack of exposure to it as a routine thing and the fact that I'd imbibed all the propaganda that my breasts were for men and sex and so feeding a baby would be a bit icky! Fortunately, I changed my mind once I was pregnant, and it was probably one of the first steps in my scales falling from my eyes conversion to proper feminism.

Same here tricky.

I second reading all the books mentioned here esp the politics of bf.

Two key aspects in that were how formula companies sponsored the building of maternity wards in the us, specifically designed to separate newborns and mums, thus making est bf harder, and also how women in many rural communities till around the 50s didn't know not to carry on feeding their babies Into toddlerhood - it was just the norm.

I didn't have too much of a thought either way about bf; I was keen to try though. However I became very fierce about it as my son has iugr and bf on demand was the only thing that got his weight up. (They has me on a strange 3 hourly thing for the first 2 days that looking back what was definitely wrong.)

I found out later I had myself been fed till over 3; not sure why mum had never told me before. I think my passion was instinctual, I did need a lot of support though so hence why I recognised so many women in my bf group; many late night fb posts...! Tongue tie, strong let down, over supply...

This is such an interesting thread and so great we have so far avoided any BF vs FF defensiveness.

I think your family can have a huge influence and my mum had always been very vocal about having stopped breastfeeding me after 2 days due to pain/not enough milk.

I had a tricky time with my first (TT, slow weight gain, punishing feed-pump routine to stimulate supply early on) and my mum was constantly pushing me to stop. It was all very well intentioned as she genuinely wanted my life to be easier.

I was fortunate that ex DHs mum breastfed all 4 and was v supportive and my SIL was still breastfeeding her 1 year old. Can completely understand how in some communities it just isn't the done trhing due to lack of exposure.

I am medical and work on the edge of a v deprived area which has terribly low breastfeeding rates despite a lot of work. Yet a lot of my experience with friends in the more midde class enclaves is of them feeling intolerable pressure, with poor information (everyone convinced they don't have enough milk) and rubbish support from HCPs and family.

When my lo was breastfeeding, I used to love feeding her in coffee shops, as I knew the law protected me. Walking down the street, though, not so much.

I felt victimised when due to medical reasons I had to stop and the anti-formula rules meant that feeding her was really expensive. Apparently doing anything to reduce the cost was against the law in the first six months.

Breastfeeding and working would fit together much more easily for women who aren't able to express milk if workplaces had creches on site / you could take your baby to work, or if more companies allowed working from home. The problem isn't breastfeeding, it's that workplaces and working patterns aren't designed for mothers to stay with their baby during the working day.

I've always been able to get loads of reading and household admin done whilst juggling a laptop, paperwork and baby in an armchair, I could just as easily have been doing a large chunk of the office job I used to have.

Orchidoptic Cost is another thing, everyone says its cheaper to formula feed, but I spent over 900 euro to breastfeed,I paid a lactation consultant for support, my children had tongue and lip ties that we got revised and I rented hospital grade pumps for a few months. So cost is another barrier.And as was said before the training that health care professionals get for breastfeeding is minimum even though breastfeeding is being recommended so much. Why is there not much support though? I feel it is because we are women and we are just expected to know how to do it when in reality it can be very hard and women stop because of the lack of support.

When I BF I actually felt like it was a very feminist act. I was using my breasts for what they were actually designed to do after years of having my chest stared at by men. I also wasn't lining the pockets of the formula companies, which I would wager are run mostly by men.

bf only compromises women's economic independence and participation in the workforce because of the way work is organised. In the majority world most women just get on with feeding their babies whilst also producing the greater part of the world's food.

BF is feminist because it is powerful- only women can produce this uniquely suitable food, the most environmentally sustainable product that there is, that no man or corporation has come close to replicating.
According to the WHO the vast majority of women can bf, the fact that our rates are so woefully low in this country is not because British women are somehow biologically faulty but because our culture - and especially the support systems that should be compensating for that- doesn't properly support mothers. And that is most definitely a feminist issue.

Well I'm still breastfeeding (WAY beyond the societally acceptable time... but WAY within the biologically normal time) and I feel it's quite a feminist act, really. I'd say I'm rad fem these days.

Yes, there is such poor support for it, which is a feminist issue.

One of the the things that is very, very rarely mentioned is the health benefits to the mother, huge reductions in particularly breast cancer risk (but evidence points to other cancers too). Anything else that got that sort of risk reduction would have posters about it - trying to get more people to do it for longer, but extended breastfeeding really isn't encouraged at all.

Here's an interesting link - the headline is "Breast cancer risk reduced 50 percent by breastfeeding two or more years" done by a professor at Yale
news.yale.edu/2001/01/25/breast-cancer-risk-reduced-50-percent-breastfeeding-two-or-more-years

Breastfeeding made me a rad fem. I have done nearly 6 years now (over multiple kids) and I'm a volunteer breastfeeding peer supporter. Breastfeeding has been the cornerstone of my parenting. Feminism is for women but also for children. Ditto breastfeeding.

The only reason breastfeeding could be considered anti-feminist is due to capitalism. Breastfeeding is work and should be valued and respected. It's eco-friendly, has zero food miles, helps space children, and above all, is the biological norm for a mammal species. Formula feeding is fine but carries risks such as increased risk of gastro bugs, ear infections, diabetes, obesity and eczema in babies. Mothers who breastfeed have a lower risk of breast / ovarian cancer and diabetes. The structures around it make it difficult and barriers are there but I don't see how breastfeeding , at its core, can be anything other than feminist.

The Politics of Breastfeeding has been recommended upthread; it's a great book.

I read The Politics of Breastfeeding a while back after seeing it recommended on here. I especially found the parts about working practices interesting and how wealth and work was more balanced between the sexes before the industrial revolution. We do live in a very capitalist society that only values paid work in a workplace designed for men.

The current policies for combining breastfeeding and work seem a bit like all talk and no action from experiences of some of the women I know.

I also agree it helps if its normalised. Growing up I never really saw anyone actually breastfeed. I think family with their comments can unintentionally sabotage a mums attempt to breastfeed, "is she feeding again, you must not be producing enough,". I found it interesting how many cultures have almost no concept of breastfeeding not working for a new mother whearas if people are to be believed it happens all the time in the UK.

Spartacus, I agree entirely with your quadruple post.

For me, when I was breastfeeding my DC, I think that was the only time in my life, I have been happy with my body. And that is because of what it was doing. Making food for my babies and providing them with painkillers when they were teething and comforting them. At that time, I didn't think about what my body looked like, but what it could do.

I think it’s also important to remember how much viral marketing formula making companies must do. They can’t actively advertise any more, but I am sure that doesn’t stop them. I quite often see posts on threads about feeding that make me think . And I am sure they benefit hugely from the feeling that many women now have that it is insensitive to be too positive about bf. And the feeling (which does not match reality as I see it at least, or indeed the statistics) that bf is over promoted and ff never mentioned by HCPs, or even visible in the media or the public sphere. It’s a marketers dream.

I agree Spartacus, at least it was a good quadruple post

It's interesting (and upsetting) that not everywhere has good breastfeeding support provisions, here it is the opposite- and it's great! Unfortunately I couldn't breastfeed following birth (not a debate, I believe women being capable and trusted with choice of how to feed their baby and autonomy over their own bodies is key); but the support I had in hospital trying, the groups in the community, and the care from the midwives was amazing. The rest of the country needs to follow! The small insight I had breastfeeding is bloody hard but wonderful, and when I really, really wanted to relactate at 4 months the community was so supportive. I guess it is a feminist issue as only women can do it, I am fortunate that although I didn't need to use it, my workplace was very BF friendly- quiet room for pumping that could be used on return (during work hours as long as not in their all day haha!), a fridge for safe storage etc. Again, work places need to catch up so women at least have a shot at career choices similar to men.

And sadly I do do agree that as it is concerning women there is less effort to make these provisions.

Whether women do or don't, I support them.

That's interestingTricky, for me breastfeeding was so normalised that I never imagined not doing it, it was just part and parcel of having a baby

It was perfectly normalised for me too. What I didn't expect was how revolting and unpleasant the whole experience would be. I loathed it. It made me feel physically sick and far from creating a bond with my baby by the time I gave up I was feeling resentful. It is the only time in my life I was not comfortable with my body. I hated being nothing more than a milch cow. I got told off on here for using that expression as if my experience wasn't valid but that is how I felt.

LassofFyvie I completely understand the milk cow feeling. I had terrible thrush too, and had to really fight my GP to get that treated.

The thing that saved my sanity was my wonderful health visitor telling me to have a small glass of wine with the evening feed It made me feel human again.