What do you think is the biggest barrier to breastfeeding In Australia?

[Ambah]

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!

[Smoke Jaguar]

I think that as well as subsidising one year's membership (or even the 6 month option), the government could put lactation consultants on medicare, just like they have with psychologists recently. That way, when a GP is presented with a new mother who is having problems, they can refer to an LC. When a maternal nurse has a mother with problems, she can send the mother to her GP for a referral to have a subsidised visit from an LC.
It gets me a bit worked up when I hear someone say "I'll call the ABA if I have problems", or, when they have been given a subscription, "I"ll go to the group meetings if I have problems", as if the people who go to those meetings are all having problems. They're not, usually - they've moved beyond that and get together to provide much needed solidarity. That's why I love going to my Booby Club - to just get together with people who won't say "are you STILL feeding", or potentially feel uncomfortable. I would have gone to meetings before DS was born, but there was a mix up with the contact details I was given and my bulletin came the week Oscar was born. I didn't think I was going to have problems. In fact, it wasn't even MY problem when I had problems, it was DS's problem that was hurting my boobies! Even so, joining the local group is good even if done when problems arise, but to think that the ABA is there only for problems is a big misconception. In an ideal world it would be. But in our world it is there to provide support to women who need the moral support to keep going in the face of disapproval, lack of family support etc.

[Rouge]

Oh flea you've just reminded me! I used to hate night time feeds, she'd be screaming her guts out whilst the milk was heating up! Oh how quickly we forget! LOL! I remember when I had to pump and dump one night after drinks and we gave Seth EBM and he was having a major spack attack over waiting for it to heat up and I realised then and there how much easier BF'ing was!

*hugs*
Cailin

[Mikenzees mum]

maybee becasue its the 21st centeruy and women have choices these days and use there own minds to make decision

i dont know that just my thoughts

[Smoke Jaguar]

Are you suggesting that breastmilk and breastfeeding are just not modern enough? That we should have moved on from these mere mammalian practices? That surely scientists are smart enough to improve on a highly sophisticated substance whose composition they still barely understand?
If women are making their own choices and using their own brains, and that stops someone from continuing (or even starting) a breastfeeding experience, then I would say that those brains aren't getting enough exercise. ABM is not the ideal substitute for BM, but it IS a substitute, lacking wet-nurses in our society. It's not cheaper, it's not more convenient. So, if you don't have to (for women who HAVE to preclude breastfeeding from their feeding practices), why else would you? Lack of education of people around you, the professionals you seek out and advise you towards formula for substandard reasons, of yourself.
That is not to say these women are stupid. I am not educated in molecular biology, it doesn't make me stupid, it just makes me uneducated about it.

[Smoke Jaguar]

Caro, it's on page 9
Kelly, I read it and I think it's very effective. I'm also pleased that they would like a copy of this thread - it will be like listening to a conversation of women who are disappointed, confused, surprised, encouraging...all the things they need to hear to know how far-reaching are the implications of allowing breastfeeding to become a lost art.

[MantaRay]

After reading more of these posts, I am changing my vote. Yes, lack of education and conflicting advice and lack of continuity of care and availability of artificial milk etc all play a huge part. But the fundamental problem is our culture. Most people in our circle of friends, playgroup etc will ff (at least by 6 months anyway). Most of the babies we see being fed on TV, elsewhere in the media and in real life are given a bottle. Most of us that do bf feel uncomfortable to do so in public so we hide away in feeding rooms or try to avoid feeding outside the home. And this just contributes to the problem. Also, the symbol for a feeding room is usually a bottle. And when you look at the baby section at any pharmacy or supermarket, what is the largest and most noticeable item - formula tins! Just try finding bulk packs of breast pads, reusable breast pads or breast milk bags. Believe me, I know how hard that is. A new pharmacy opened near me a couple of weeks ago and when I checked it out, it had all those items. I bought some and congratulated the pharmicist for stocking bfing friendly items. Another lady at the counter then said, "yes, thank you for saying something. I have so much trouble finding the breast pads I use". I felt so good to know that it's not just me that thinks shops are against me bfing. Others out there are having the same experiences as me, traipsing from one pharmacy to another until we find one thing we want at one and one thing at another. Pity I don't use formula - I could get a choice of 10 brands at any shop I walk into. Well, this new pharmacy is going to get a lot of my business.

I also make a concious effort not to contribute to the problem. After initially feeling very uncomfortable about feeding around people, now I do it quite freely. If a feeding room isn't convenient when I'm out, I'll sit anywhere. One day I sat on the floor in the supermarket to feed Jack and a staff member brought me a chair. I also talk quite openly about extended feeding and how disappointed I was that Jack self-weaned before he was two. I ignore the "looks" I get and talk about how it's recommended by WHO etc. Maybe I can make just a small amount of difference. After all, it's not that long ago that my friend was feeding her daughter who was nearly 2 and I thought that it was weird. Amazing how some education has completely changed my mind on that!

Now, how to change the minds of the rest of the world?!?!

[alphia]

Hi everyone,

Great posts! I think that if the enquiry can hear women's voices and their experiences it would be very eye opening to them. Of course research that is presented usually stems directly from voices - but at times the power is lost. As so many of you have pointed out in your posts - I have been thinking about the idea of an advertisement campaign on breastfeeding. Incoporating many of your ideals - the campaign should express not only acceptance of breastfeeding in public but also express the beauty and empowerment of the female body. I know that sounds a little strong - but it could be something as simple as the Dove campaign on accepting women's bodies as they are (of course we can still critique those campaigns - but I think the message is at base a good one). If society starts to get the reverse message of the female faulty body and also a message about our bodies not being purely sexual objects - I think it might help. Also, images of 'types' of women - I hate to put us into boxes - but often the earth mother is the image that is given for the woman who breastfeeds for an extended period of time. Images of women at work breastfeeding in business suits etc could dispell some of this myth.
I am originally from the United States - and I do have to say that it is actually worse at home - exposing a breast in public in the North Eastern parts of the States certainly caused a few heart attacks (including my own brother). Australia does have its problems, as so many have highlighted, but I do think it is a little more open. For instance I was breastfeeding in public recently and a woman approached me to thank me for doing so in public - to make it more acceptable. She highlighted that by women hiding away it causes part of the problem.
Anyway just an idea!

[Bathsheba]

I personally don't see FF as more convenient. I was too lazy to express milk, and sterilise bottles etc so DS was on the boob all the time. So there's no way I'd find FF easier, with bottles to wash etc. Much quicker to whip out a boob too rather than mix formula and heat it up, especially at night. Can't think of a faster way to get bub (and mum!) back to sleep than sticking em on the boob

Exactly!!!

As for ideas in which to effectively educate the general public and new mums: TV commercials at prime time (maybe during the footy Grand Final LOL that would get the guys talking and if they had the hide to see it as a sexual activity hopefully they would be pulled into line by their mates... as my DH has had to do on occassion).

Also, the ABA needs to have big glossy (govt. funded perhaps) ads in popular womens' magazines like the Womans' Weekly, Cosmo, even maybe Dolly magazine... and they would have to be done in a way to appeal to womens' sense of aesthetics because unfortunately, whether we like it or not, sometimes we women place a greater importance on "image" and "branding" than practicality and common sense. If a super model or two could be used in these ads all the better. I loved the idea of having a working mum in business suit BFing in an ad too! Also, maybe they need to place big lit billboards like you see in shopping complexs (that usually advertise Revlon and Oroton etc) it's all about context... it needs to 'out there' and highly visible, not just placed in a little booklet that has been poorly photocopied and shoved in a information pack ammongst all the other stuff you never have time to read. Also, brochures are often thought of as things you hand out discreetly for embarrassing health conditions... once again, I say: make it prominent, and make it appealing. Once again this is NOT meant to make mums who have to FF feel guilty... do advertisers avoid placing ads for shoes incase they make wheelchair users feel bad? (liked that ananlogy earlier in the thread) people, as adults, need to take responsibilty for their own feelings i think and not place the responsibilty onto to others for how they feel...too much of that these days, at the expense of the truth.

[kyliealysha]

I've been thinking about this. I think that more education/support BEFORE the birth is needed. I have flat nipples which my baby was unable to attach to right away and I was completely unaware of this until the first time I tried to feed her. In my pre natal class we were shown attachment with a fake cloth breast and told that the first feed would be the easiest and best imagine my dissapointment when I could not feed my baby at all.

Anyway had I known in advance that I had flat nipples I could have prepared myself for it, as I ended up having to give ebm for the first few weeks which involved a mad dash to the chemist to hire a breastpump, steriliser and bottles as I was completely unprepared for this to happen.

[Smoke Jaguar]

Me too, MelanieR I'm 'guilty' of just doing things and talking about things to normalise them! Some would say it makes me militant. I reckon I'm just making a touch of a difference.
Last weekend I was at a fire call and it went for ages. And ages. Finally, I decided I needed to find a rock to sit on, in an unlit part of the property we were on, to just express onto the ground (in the absence of a receptacle to hold my milk safely). One of the other girls (actually, she may have been the only other girl there, now that I think on it), who is pretty cool with BFing and laughs good naturedly at stories of milk spraying everywhere, was still a bit grossed out that I had to express, and that I had to do it onto the ground. So, it would seem to me that whilst she's ok with feeding the child, the substance itself is still a bit taboo. Nevermind that it is lifegiving! But then, some people are grossed out by blood, so maybe it's related
Anyway, I try not to 'hide', but if DS is being wriggly, I will find a quiet spot just so that I don't let down all over the walkway...
And I'll talk about it. I do NOT get embarrassed when DS reaches down my top in public. In fact, I exclaim how cute it is, because I really do think it is.
However, what I wanted to say re: advertising in the public arena, was that there are already thousands of beautiful BFing photographs around, but it's unfortunate that only BFing families and visiting friends see them. I'm talking about both BFing photography and the ABA calendar. The most divine BFing photo I've ever seen is in this year's ABA calendar. I would give anything to have a similar shot of myself and DS! If you know someone with it, it's the December (and cover) photo.
BFing is SUCH a beautiful thing, and these pictures really convey that. I get really annoyed by the small ads of those BFing shawls. Yeah, I know there are women who are really shy about BFing, it annoys me that this society has them feeling that way. My mum wants to fit into this society so much that she accuses me of flouting 'convention' by feeding in public...she's from Latin America...where it's a natural thing!

[MantaRay]

I hear you IK. I might possibly be called militant and times too LOL! You reminded me of an experience I had earlier this year. I always try to be discrete when feeding in public, as I don't want to make people more against it by showing too much IYKWIM. Earlier this year we went on a family holiday to Vanuatu and visited a local village. While there I needed to feed Thomas so I sat next to some local women on a bench and started to feed, being reasonably discrete as usual. Imagine my surprise when the women next to me lifted my top up more (I'm not sure whether it was to see better or to give Tom more room). But either way, I thought wow, how refreshing, that here was somewhere where people rejoiced in the bfing experience instead of cringing at it. If only it was like that everywhere.

[Mikenzees mum]

Are you suggesting that breastmilk and breastfeeding are just not modern enough? That we should have moved on from these mere mammalian practices? That surely scientists are smart enough to improve on a highly sophisticated substance whose composition they still barely understand?
If women are making their own choices and using their own brains, and that stops someone from continuing (or even starting) a breastfeeding experience, then I would say that those brains aren't getting enough exercise. ABM is not the ideal substitute for BM, but it IS a substitute, lacking wet-nurses in our society. It's not cheaper, it's not more convenient. So, if you don't have to (for women who HAVE to preclude breastfeeding from their feeding practices), why else would you? Lack of education of people around you, the professionals you seek out and advise you towards formula for substandard reasons, of yourself.
That is not to say these women are stupid. I am not educated in molecular biology, it doesn't make me stupid, it just makes me uneducated about it.

im asuming this was in responce to what i wrote if so then no im not saying all of that i ment exactly what i said and that is some people symply choose it because it what they want

[Pandora]

im asuming this was in responce to what i wrote if so then no im not saying all of that i ment exactly what i said and that is some people symply choose it because it what they want

Hi

I wasn't sure what question your were responding to when you put your original comment, as the question was

What do you think is the biggest barrier to breastfeeding in Australia?

and "some people symply choose it because it what they want" doesn't make sense in that context.

Do you mean some people choose formula feeding just because they want to - because yes thats true.

[Smoke Jaguar]

Mikenzees mum - the question being asked in this thread is WHY are they choosing it, though. We need to know so that we can find ways to encourage women to 'choose' breastfeeding instead, where physically possible (psychological reasons like previous sexual abuse I consider physiological because of the physiological response a chronic psychological reason will cause).
This thread is aiming to be more in depth and to really ask the 'why', and what can be done to avert the abandonment of BFing. As we have seen from a lot of the posts here, most women haven't just 'chosen' to give up, they have been failed somewhere along the line, so it is not a reflection of them not using their own brains. There really does seem to be a lack of education, lack of professional support, lack of community support, too much deception about ABM being 'just as good as breastmilk', etc.
Kelly's submission goes into these reasons really well - it is a good read, and will take you beyond a one-liner about women just needing to use their brains

[Mikenzees mum]

yes i was saying that some women choose formular symply becasue they want to

[kerry]

Ever heard the saying... you can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink... well it applies here. Regardless of education NOT ALL women want to Breast feed. Considering we live in a free society it should be their choice to do just that. Ok the WHO tells us BF is best you will find that most people are not debating that the simple fact is that for some women BF is not something they want to do, for some women it is not something they can do (and don't jump on saying they don't try hard enough, they have tried as hard as they can and reach the point they can't continue past, and then there are the women who try and try for months on end and week after week their baby looses weight so really they have no option.) and for some women it all comes to gether, maybe not easily maybe without any effort. The simple fact is it is not up to anyone to enforce their choices on others. What would you like, it it to become law that all women have to BF??

[Bathsheba]

I wonder what the baby would want if it had a voice. I do support women who need to use formula because they have no other choice.

Discretion: I also am highly discrete when I BF in public... so far I haven't had any negative comments... but this will be the first time I have fed beyond a year... so I guess it's on the cards now I'm going out shopping now BTW... I'll feed discretely and see what happens... I choose not to use the rooms near the toilets either, especially after that physical attack here in Melbourne recently... I'll probably give a feed in the plaza or at the cafe.

ETA: Excellent submission Kelly