I voted for Lack of education as my first choice, however that vote would closely be followed by -
- Lack of continuity of care
- Lack of availablility/affordability of support
- Accessibility of artificial milk
I can quite easily admit that I was able to breastfeed, but I did not perservere at it enough, and gave up much to quickly. I do not want to make excuses for myself, and say that breastfeeding was just not possible for me, because if I had tried harder and had more support and information then I certainly could have suceeded at it.
I come from a family where breastfeeding is not the norm. My mother formula fed all 5 of her daughters, which I later learnt was because one of her nipple is very inverted. Whether she could or could not have actually suceeded at breastfeeding is not my place to say. My older sister also did not suceed at breastfeeding past the first week with her first and second child. She did not attempt it with her third and fourth child, and put them onto formula straight away. She felt that is was not worth the stress, as she believed her babies were starving.
These were the only two family members close to me that could pass on their breasfeeding stories to me. And their stories certainly did 'normalise' formula in my mind.
Now onto my experience... Aidyn was put onto my breast within 15 mins after his birth. He seemed to be latching fine. He then slept most of that night, and during the next morning. During the next day I tried to attach him to me a few times, where he was drinking colustrum. In hindsight though I was not attaching him nearly enough, and the midwives did not encourage me to try to attach him more. I was unaware that the increased suckling would help my supply to arrive. Whenever I had guests visit me I never attempted to BF in front of them, I was far too embarrassed, and it was just completely foreign for me to whip out my boob and struggle to attach him, with all of these people watching me. So I didn't do it, which again reduced the amount of time that I was attempting to BF him. For the next 24 hours he was screaming and crying, and my milk had not come in. A midwife told me that he was hungry and suggested he have a small amount of formula to tide him over. I refused at first, but a few hours later I agreed. After the formula he was asleep and peaceful instantly. The next time he went through a rough patch I requested formula again.... and then again. It was much easier and less stressful on me, and I was already stressed to the nines about everything else to do with motherhood.
When we left the hospital (on day 3) my milk still had not come in. I don't think it came in until day 5... and by this time Aidyn was very used to the bottle. I had major issues trying to attach him to me by then... he would just scream and become extremely distressed. I had a visiting midwife come out to see me, and when she saw him screaming and refusing to attach, she said there was nothing further she could do to help.
I went a got a breastpump and began pumping, so at least a few of his feeds per day were breastmilk. I found it extremely tiring pumping every four hours - although in hindsight I should have been doing it more frequently than that! I went through 3 breastpumps due to them breaking, and kept up the pumping for one month. During this time I would try to get him to attach to my breast, but he just would not take it... he was well and truly used to the bottle, and that was my downfall. I stopped using EBM when he was about 1 month old.
I think education would have made a huge difference.... education for me, and more education for the midwives in the hospital, and education for society in general!
I also think that the hospital that you give birth at should send out a visiting LC every day for the first week of bringing your baby home from hospital, and then be available for housecalls in the second week if needed.
Lack of support was also a huge one for me.... I had no one around me that was familiar enough with breastfeeding to help me. I think for my next baby there will be a huge difference, as I know a large network of women who sucessfully breastfeed, who I know would help support me with it.
I truly truly believe that an advertising campaign would work wonders. For example, take the National Tobacco campaign, that has been running for 10 years relentlessly. This campaign has been sucessful in its approach due to informing the public about the truths of the issue.
The National Tobacco Campaign was I believe one of the first Nationally coordinated health campaigns, involving all levels of government, and was on scale larger and more prominent than any other previous health campaign.
Well I believe its time for all governments of Australia to coordinate another one of these massive campaigns - on the benefits of breastfeeding, and the truth/facts about formula. If we can successfully encourage a larger proportion of mothers to breastfeed (and breastfeed for longer) the benefits for our society will be seen for decades to come, with reduced health issues in our population, saving millions (billions) of dollars. An advertising campaign of that scale I believe will be a huge key to helping educate the population. On every advertisement they should include the ABA hotline phone number. This of course means that the ABA would need significant funding to cope with the amount of calls...
One positive result of this I can think of (amongst many) is - imagine how much easier it will be to breastfeed in public, or in the workplace - without embarrassment, and without people commenting rudely, and without other barriers. Because every woman will have the confidence that the Australian government is supporting and encouraging their decision to breastfeed!
Wouldn't it be fantastic?
Anyway, that is just one idea that I dream of, but there are SO MANY other ideas here which I completely agree with.
I am so excited that these submissions will all be taken into account, and truly hope that some significant changes will come from this inquiry.
ETA - Kelly - your submission is BRILLIANT! WELL DONE!
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