Make Breastfeeding Compulsory for 6 mths? WDYT?

Whoa this whole topic is a headspin.

Ok in regards to limiting the availability of formula, I really can't understand how that's fair. Can you think of anything worse than running out of formula for your baby and having to trek across the city to access it? What about if you run out in the middle of the night and it's only available from stores that are open office hours? It's all well and good to say that as a theory but the practical implications for women who were forced to or chose to formula feed are enormous, and I do not think it's fair to inflict that upon them. I agree with the comment that parents would resort to more readily available milks that aren't suitable for babies at all.

Also, how exactly can women not have the right to feed their babies how they wish?! Are we going to start legislating how women can birth? How they can soothe their babies? Where their babies should sleep?! I can't fathom the absurdity. Shall we ban the sale of cots and basinettes and force all women to co-sleep whether they want to or not either? Ridiculous.

In regards to vaccination, the arguement is that if your child is not vaccinated they can pass the disease onto other children. Whether a child is breastfed or not only affects them.

It really seems like the mothers who formula feed are on one side of the fence and the mothers who breastfed are on the other. Well I've been on both sides of that fence, I'm struggling to breastfeed after successfully breastfeeding my first born into toddlerhood. And from my personal experience, having to prepare bottles and always be sure of having enough formula is incredibly stressful. I've been caught out having left DD2s bottles at home when I've been out running errands and having to buy a new bottle and a tetra pack. Imagine if formula was only on script! She would've had to starve until I got home (which takes HOURS on public transport btw). So really, lets be practical here. There are better ways to encourage women to breastfeed.

Also, as far as "the majority of women can physically produce milk" there's a bit more to it than that. It's also up to the baby to be able and willing to latch. Obviously babies have the natural instinct to do so but if a baby has a clef lip or palate this can prevent breastfeeding, or if a baby has a high palate as mine does. What about women who return to work but are not able to successfully express? It's very, very easy to see breastfeeding as black and white when you're able to do it, when you're on the other side of the fence dealing with (possibly) your own feelings of guilt and (definately) the judgement of other people who've never been in your situation, you can see it is far more complex than it appears.

I love the fact some of you have brought up great ideas about LC going to new mummas homes etc and more support for the mother and more education, makes a lot of sense:)

Problem is, who will pay fr all that, certainly NOT the government as they make wayyyyyyy to much money from mothers buying formula:(

Just wish they cared about Australia's future adults (the babies we feed today), to offer all those wonderful ideas:(

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Also, how exactly can women not have the right to feed their babies how they wish?! Are we going to start legislating how women can birth? How they can soothe their babies? Where their babies should sleep?! I can't fathom the absurdity. Shall we ban the sale of cots and basinettes and force all women to co-sleep whether they want to or not either? Ridiculous.

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I said its not a 'choice'. I think I also said, educating the parents on ff vs bf, and I mean REALLY show the hardcore facts! I can almost say 100% of those body and mind, able, would bf.

I would just like to point out that there is a subtle difference between CHOOSING to vaccinate your child or not and being FORCED to use formula due to illness and requiring unsafe medications or just not being able to produce milk. For me it was never a CHOICE. Formula was it because the option to breastfeed, for us, simply did not exist.

I have much to say on the "most medications are safe to take while breastfeeding" line. But I shall leave it out.

BW

another side to this story are the mothers that simply don't want to breastfeed, for whatever personal reason. this doesn't mean they are bad mothers.

i'm probably going to go off in a bit of a tangent, but i do have a point.
i think it's really disgraceful, how we, as mothers are so quick to condemn other mums, why do we have to be so opinionated on every one else's choices? does it make us feel better about our choices?
for example. the whole homebirthing debate, where a lot of the paraphenalia is ends with 'i'm just educated',. well guess what ladies, i have 2 degrees, so i'm educated, but i birthed in a hospital. i'm so friggin over the judgement.
good on the ladies that are so pro-breastfeeding, but how does somone else formula feeding affect you and your child?? IT DOESN'T, so why bother making some women feel like crap for decisions that they made?

i think instead of being so judgemental, women need to band together to instead fight for the rights of a mother to parent how she sees fit for herself and her children, support a woman in the choices that she wants to make. what happened to sisters-in -arms?

What a joke.

My son would be dead if I was forced to breastfeed him for six months. My body went into shock after a long labour & subsequent c/section & failed to produce any milk. There are no milk banks in my area & at that stage there was noone around me that had children so there was literally no option for me but to use formula.

I can understand her thinking that if it was law then more mothers would breastfeed & that's a good thing. She does however forget that there are circumstances in which breastfeeding is not going to happen. What about adopted children? Women how cannot breastfeed physically? Women who mentally cannot breastfeed due to whatever reasons holding them back? What about babies with illnesses that cause it to be difficult? Are you going to force the mothers into expressing several times a day for six months?

Like I said. A joke.

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I love the fact some of you have brought up great ideas about LC going to new mummas homes etc and more support for the mother and more education, makes a lot of sense:)

Problem is, who will pay fr all that, certainly NOT the government as they make wayyyyyyy to much money from mothers buying formula:(

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Of course the Govt should pay because it is a health service that is being provided. The Govt funds dietitians to help adults learn how to better feed themselves and their children, and this is an extension of that isn't it? LC's teach and help mums how to feed their babies better.

My 2 cents-

No i dont think it should be made compulsory. i do however think that there should be more support pre and post nataly.
i had no pre natal support in regards to breast feeding, once baby was born every single midwife that came in my room or home had a different way of doing things, i ended up very very confused! i am in NO way blmaing the midwives nor am i saying they should spend more time teaching women how to breast feed, thats not their job but there should definitly be more LC's available to women.

On to the other arguement- yes breast is best, we all know this, but atm there is only 2 choices. Breast milk or formula, if u could go down to the shops and buy a bottle of breast milk im sure we'd see the number of FF babies drop. but this isnt an option sadly.
FF mothers have made their desicion to do so based on the knowledge they have and noone can slam another mother for making a desicion that she thinks is what is going to benifit her baby the most.

Kass u said its not a matter of 'so long as the baby is fed?' so what happens to mums who make insificiant milk or none, or who have lazy suckers ect, do we just let their babies starve to death?

This is an arguement that will never be settled, so we need to support one anothers choices, even if we dont agree with it. We as mothers are told all to often that we're doing the wrong thing, even if in our own minds we know that we are, and im not just talking about feeding im talking about the whole parenting journey. there needs to be less you're doing it wrong and more you're doing a wonderfull job

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My 2 cents-


Kass u said its not a matter of 'so long as the baby is fed?' so what happens to mums who make insificiant milk or none, or who have lazy suckers ect, do we just let their babies starve to death?

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No because I also said physically and emotionally able:) xx Im talking about the people who I have come across trying to justify themselves to me about their ff vs my bf. When Im just sitting their feeding.
Or sil trying to down play bm goodness;)

Wow i am in two minds on this:
1. good on her for standing up and making a point about BFing
2. Where have a persons rights to choose gone, should our governments and 'rich list' get to control EVERYTHING?

BFing is best, we know this, instead of making it LAW how bout offering people the correct support to try and establish breastfeeding, not putting added pressure on them to get it happening.
There are people that can (for some reasons) just NOT BF, it's not their faults, they don't particularly choose not too so why should they be punished?
And you know what even if someone CHOOSES not to BF that is their CHOICE, we are supposed to be a free society, why not aim these efforts at things that REALLY harm society, lets ban production of cigarettes (both for an adults health and those of unborn babies and children who are 'passive smoking').

Well done to her for speaking up about BFing but i think the idea itself is rubbish.. how on earth would you police it anyway?

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Wow i am in two minds on this:
1. good on her for standing up and making a point about BFing
2. Where have a persons rights to choose gone, should our governments and 'rich list' get to control EVERYTHING?

BFing is best, we know this, instead of making it LAW how bout offering people the correct support to try and establish breastfeeding, not putting added pressure on them to get it happening.
There are people that can (for some reasons) just NOT BF, it's not their faults, they don't particularly choose not too so why should they be punished?
And you know what even if someone CHOOSES not to BF that is their CHOICE, we are supposed to be a free society, why not aim these efforts at things that REALLY harm society, lets ban production of cigarettes (both for an adults health and those of unborn babies and children who are 'passive smoking').

Well done to her for speaking up about BFing but i think the idea itself is rubbish.. how on earth would you police it anyway?

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I did giggle, thinking, along with you calling about hoons to the police there will be people dobbing in ff mums :lol: little dumb....

Hmmmmm....This could open a can of worms!!


Its a nice thought. But in an ideal world breastfeeding would be a complete breeze for all Mum's. But thats just not the reality of it.

I think if they were going to bring in a law such as this they would need to back it up with intensive breatfeeding support/lactation consultants in ALL hospitals.

Because the issues isnt that Women don't want to Breastfeed, its that there are challenges which come with breastfeeding and not enough support to counteract the challenges.

So personally I don't think this is the answer.

Just another pressure on new Mum's and Bubs!

I think education and support are the keys to encouraging breastfeeding. I have breastfed all of mine for extended periods (10mths, 16mths and 11mths). My milk has never come in until 5 or 6 days past the birth. I was llucky to have supportive midwives the first time that kept me in hospital until my milk came in and breastfeeding was established. If not for that I probably wouldn't have ended up breastfeeding any of them.

Having said that I CHOSE to breastfeed. If someone is fully educated and has the support available and still CHOOSES not to breastfeed - well that is their decision. They are and should be free to do as they wish, not what someone else wants them to do.

It does make me sad when I see some mums not have that education and support make the formula feeding decision, but I can understand it, and I will NOT judge them. They are the only ones who can make that decision.

furthermore, breastfeeding is ALOT of work and takes up massive amounts of time. To tell someone they 'have' to do it won't work - they will just end up resenting the situation and possibly their baby. And it is not as easy as saying that people can express. I have breastfed easily but after about 3mths I am unable to get anything out with my expressing pump. Don't know why. I atill have good supply (hell I still have suplly even mths after giving up breastfeeding), but I am unable to get that milk out without baby actually suckling.

Im sorry I havent read the whole thread... only the first few lines of the article and I just have to say that woman can go **** off! Dont think for one minute I didnt try my heart out to breastfeed both my girls and the guilt associated with it for "failing". I had plentiful supply and poor attatches and for dd2 ongoing expressing was just not working for my mental health because I would have been on the couch all day milking, feeding, then cleaning machines and dd1 would have lost it. I chose the best option for my children after a good hard go at it, albeit only a few short weeks. If they limited formula it would be totally unfair. Not everyone can successfully breast feed and I respect that. She should just keep her opinions to herself.

Sorry if I have covered stuff alsready, but just the start of this thread has infuriated me and I cant bring myself to read it all just yet.

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Im sorry I havent read the whole thread... only the first few lines of the article and I just have to say that woman can go **** off! Stupid biach. Dont think for one minute I didnt try my heart out to breastfeed both my girls and the guilt associated with it for "failing". I had plentiful supply and poor attatches and for dd2 ongoing expressing was just not working for my mental health because I would have been on the couch all day milking, feeding, then cleaning machines and dd1 would have lost it. I chose the best option for my children after a good hard go at it, albeit only a few short weeks. If they limited formula it would be totally unfair. Not everyone can successfully breast feed and I respect that. She should just keep her opinions to herself.

Sorry if I have covered stuff alsready, but just the start of this thread has infuriated me and I cant bring myself to read it all just yet.

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most of the women here agree with you darl, unfortunately, some celebs think being well known makes them a professional. funny she's only been a mother for about a month but anyway...

See, now this us why I like the debates sometimes (even when I'm a wuss about it :lol:) - I didn't even think of "what if I have to buy it in the middle of the night" when I agreed with selling it only at chemists (even though I personally know of more 24 hour chemists than 24 hour supermarkets)!

Right, being a terrible fence-sitter now and saying there should be more focus on education/support for BOTH sides of the argument ;)

A perfect world we all would BF until 2. But it's not. And not everyone that can BF does for that long anyway.
My DS was BF constantly for the first 2 weeks of life and I was not coping. After having breast is best shoved down my throat everywhere I turned and being told (by health professionals and otherwise) that FF was failing, it took a midwife threatening me to put DS on formula as he was losing weight. I developed anxiety attacks that need to be medicated. The first time I made him a bottle it took hours! I sobbed and sobbed making this little bottle of 'devil juice' as everyone had made it out to me to be the worst thing for DS. That ended with a trip to the hospital with me on meds to prevent 'silly attacks' as the nurse said.

With my DDs I read EVERYTHING. I bought pumps and feeding pillows and BF friendly clothes, there would be no excuses this time, triplets can be BF!
But pre eclampsia, a c section under GA, not seeing my daughters until they were over a day old, and being so heavily drugged up that we couldnt attempt expressing until they were confident I was ok after blood transfusions etc meant I went two days post birth without attempting it. I went home after day 5 with only getting to feed DDs twice and for short bursts as they still had their NG tubes. Sienna was in there 21 days then she came home, Bella and Ruby came home 4 days later. The 4 days I had with DD1 were great I BF most of the time and pumped often in the hope of BFing DDs 2 and 3. They came home and after day 1 all together, the formula came out. Bear in mind I had a very active little 18 month old boy and as a single parent the 2 hours they needed to feed, with only an hour break before they fed again, meant poor Aiden was often ignored, his meals were fit around his sisters and the dog was his new best friend. I was a mess. But I still BF one baby a day until 5 months.I FF the other 2 and I rotated who it was so not to favour them. When the girls started to refuse the breast I cried and DF offered to take BFing pics for me but by then they were done.

Massive rant I guess and all over the place, but by this arguement, I have now failed 4 children, denied them what is best for them and have now stunted them for life. I challenge anyone who is whole heartedly supporting this 'idea' to come see my poor kids and tell me my choices were wrong. I have wonderful smart beautiful children. MY DDs are prems but you wouldnt know it. At 8 months they are crawling, pulling themselves up on furniture and playing with their big brother, who by the way despite having a learning difficulty is a wonderful healthy kid.

Im going to be honest and hope no one takes offence.

I think her heart is in the right place. In the end, we all know breast is best but not always suitable. I think alot of the breastfeeding issues stem from inadequate mother support and education. Breastfeeding is hard. It requires being completely selfless and as a pp stated giving up alot of time and effort for a good long period of time. I dont think alot of new mothers realise this. In the end if you know all the facts on bf vs ff and still choose to ff then more power to you.
I think alot of the time the reason why mothers arent breastfeeding is skewed. Ive been one of those mothers, before anyone jumps all over me that Im picking on ff mothers; both my first and second babies were on formula from a young age (under 4mths). Thinking back, at those times I had a list of reasons why I ff instead of continuing with the breastfeeding; my eldest has a bad latch, he wasnt interested, my second he was a too frequent feeder, I must have been starving him not to mention the latching issues (which may actually have been truth in hindsight to his speech issues today). If Im honest with myself right now and at the experienced end of having fed baby #3 for 11mths and would still be feeding if it werent for uni study; majority of those "reasons" werent really reasons at all, they just made me feel better. In the end I can see now that Ds1 was a normal baby and no different to what Ds3 was like in the early days. Same goes for Ds2 and his frequent feeding. I had no breastfeeding support for the first two; no one to push me in the right direction of the ABA or a LC. No one who had actually breastfed their own children and could give me experienced personal advice. It was completely on me that breastfeeding wasnt successful. I have alot of regret about how clueless and maybe a teeny bit selfish I was. Cant change it all now, and Ds1 and Ds2 are happy healthy little boys so no harm done, but to know that it didnt have to be that way is a bit saddening.

Ive met so many mothers recently who have all manner of reasons why they dont breastfeed. It horrifies me to know that there are health professionals out there giving out ridiculously outdated or completely incorrect advice. That alot of mothers dont even know who the ABA are or that there are LC's who can help. That the first 6wks are the hardest and you really cant make a call on whether its working for you until that time has passed because alot changes once hormones and supply settles down. That society has made it so that the current lifestyle of most of the world doesnt support things like breastfeeding (or even extended breastfeeding).

We're being let down as women by any number of people. I can understand Gisele's passion esp because its connected to her son and we all know how passionate people get about their kids. I just think making breastfeeding compulsory isnt the way to go but something definately needs to be done to facilitate better breastfeeding rates and mother education.

Ok Im done you can all start throwing rotten fruit at me now :o