Goodness - to pick just one? I think they all have their place in becoming barriers to breastfeeding. I chose lack of education in the poll, but to add to that, lack of community role models - we don't grow up watching women breastfeed their babies. Girls aren't raised with knowledge on how to and how not to. Boys aren't raised with the idea that bf is the norm, so can find it more difficult to relinquish temporary sole 'custody' and support their women in bf.

Next up IMO would probably be the availability of artificial milk. As we have all mentioned, bf is a learned process. When we don't have all those wonderful years of experience surrounding us as we're learning, difficulties are more likely to occur. And when you're in incredible physical and emotional pain, feeding your hungry babe is your priority. Again, with lack of trusted experience around us, to help us through the feeding difficulties - artificial milk becomes the fastest option to feed a hungry babe.

Conflicting advice from professionals and relatives comes in at a hot third. Our society is relearning the art of bf because it has been lost to us for so long - so in the last 50 to 100 years, many theories, techniques and 'experts' have surfaced in that time. Not everyone is up to date (health professionals included) on what has been discounted and what the latest schools of thought are.

Interventions at birth certainly play their part. Narcotics in the bloodstream of both Mother and Babe have effects; physical and emotional trauma if they occur can impede. Going back to work - for sure! A girl in my mother's group felt obligated to her workplace to return when her babe was 4 months old, so she introduced artificial milk 'just for the 2 days she'd be away'. A week in, her babe was exclusively artificially fed, because, in her opinion, it was easier.

A personal rant, if I may. TV personalities have a big impact I'm sure. Channel 9's daytime "The Catch-up" presenter Libby Gore, unashamedly referred to breastfeeding women as "Nipple Nazi's", while in the same sentence remarked how women should be supporting each other in our choices. Not surprising, their chat forum had crashed by the time I got on there to voice my thoughts!

I don't know where the solution lies. But perhaps, because feeding our children with human milk is so vital to the myriad of proven societal and health factors - we need to place utmost importance on the correct information given to all women having children (if not before). Perhaps a body of government funded lactation consultants with the most continous, up to date information from around the world be the only recommended professionals to give advice on breastfeeding.