I also can't speak for Australian women, in particular, but I have a feeling that things are similar here. I think that the influence/opinions of family and friends is very important to a new mother's decision. This is often where she learns a lot of her own parenting - from her mum. (Not that she can't make her own decisions, of course.) And these are the people she likely be turning to for support and encouragement and advice. She will be visiting with them, and having to nurse her baby with them there, which I would find quite uncomfortable, if I knew they thought I was silly for doing it. On the other hand, knowing that my mother nursed all of us, and always told us that it was best for babies, as well as being cheapest, and always ready, meant that I never really considered formula for my newborns. I knew I would have encouragement and support for my decision to nurse my babies.
I personally don't find the availability of formula so much of a deterent to nursing. Cigarettes, alcohol, and junk food are also available to me, and advertised all over, but it doesn't mean I'll use them, or give them to my kids! I also think that it is important to have good quality formula available to women who find themselves unable to nurse, for one reason or another. (I ran out after 4 months with DD1, after having double pneumonia, and DD2 refused to nurse anymore at 8 months - too young for cow milk.)
Education is also very important, I think. Prospective mothers certainly need to know the benefits of nursing, as well as the potential problems. I've heard mothers who said that their midwife/doctor told them that if something hurts, you're doing it wrong. To me that's misleading. It's going to hurt for a few days. When your milk comes in, it hurts. That's normal. Latching on might be a challenge to get right. (and give resources for support and information) Of course, this is going to be a challenge to present in the right way, so that mothers are not scared off. I've heard it said that for a new mother to know what breast feeding is like, she should try it for six weeks. That will be about how long it takes to work out some of the problems, and to develop a routine of nursing. New mothers should maybe hear advice like that, and be encouraged to hang in there through those first few rough weeks. And if after six weeks, they still are frustrated, uncomfortable, and in pain, I personally think they should feel no guilt about switching to a good quality formula. They gave it a good shot, and gave their baby some of the most important benefits of nursing. Struggling for longer than that with nursing, I think, can become counter-productive.
One final thing that I find a deterent to nursing is the idea of having boobs flapping around in public.Boobs are private, and the lack of availability of clean, comfortable, private nursing rooms definitely makes nursing difficult. Especially for a new, first-time mum, trying to learn how to nurse, or for a mum with a highly distractable infant, feeding a baby in public is challenging! When I had DD1, if I was out with her for an afternoon, I would take her to the car, and drive to a remote location, so I could nurse in privacy! With DD2, I relaxed a little, but still, nice, private rooms are few and far between, and they would make things a lot easier!
Anyways, I hope you can make sense of my long rambling, and I hope it is of some use to you! Thanks!
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks