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

[Ca Plane Pour Moi]

I really hate the fact that people who give up on BFing and wish they had continued think that people who do BF have it easy. Tanby, Cailin and Flowerchild's posts show that is not the case! For the first four weeks of Liebling's life I was kicking my feet in pain every time he started a feed, but knew I'd not be able to live with myself if I gave up so quickly. In fact, I had a very pushy midwife in hospital so DS was topped up with formula, but we were able to eliminate that quickly (well, it did help that he hated the formula and vomitted it all up). One of my baby buddies was having to express every feed for a few weeks because of a problem - it takes a lot of perseverence to breastfeed and women who do BF shouldn't be told that we have it easy.

I would rather have formula than a stranger's breastmilk - and it would be expressed, not from the breast - but if I needed a friend's breastmilk I wouldn't hesitate to ask.

Another pet hate, which may seem odd, is the use of the word "boob" or "booby" to do with feeding - I dislike the word anyway, it has a sort of adolescent boy feel about it - but I do think that it sexualises breastfeeding. But "baby likes booby" just sends a shiver down me; if anyone commented on me "boobyfeeding" it would put me right off. I know I'm in a minority of one here, but even women who do breastfeed can be put off or made to feel they are getting some sort of sexual kick from feeding, which you just don't. The word "boob" has been used to me to put me off feeding or to explain why someone doesn't want to BF - "it's my boobs" or "how can you use your boobs like that?" Well, because they're my breasts and designed for breastfeeding, that's how!

BTW, has anyone else been told that if you BF your son he will turn out gay? I fail to see how thinking breasts are great makes a bloke gay LOL.

Anyway, I don't bag anyone for picking formula so long as they don't push formula on me or tell me I find it easy to BF - everyone is individual, but this thread was to find out why people quit on BFing so quickly.

[Eugenia]

WOW, when I posted my reply many pages ago I didn't realise this topic would become so popular. I haven't read all responses, only the last few pages, but I feel I need to say a little bit more.

I was also one of the people who fought to get breastfeeding happening. For 5 weeks I struggled with breast refusal, poor attachment, cracked nipples, low supply, pumping every 3 hours day and night, lack of support from everyone except DH, and a very bad LC who didn't know what she was talking about. But in the end I persevered and DD is still being breastfed. So I take offence at anyone who suggests that I breastfeed because it was easy for me and that they had it so much harder. I don't judge women who formula feed and I'd appreciate the same consideration back.

[Jack]

I voted for Lack of Education but this lack of education starts before we even have our bubs. I (luckily) had a natural, drug free birth but I was never advised of the risks of having an epidural (if I chose to have one), induction (which was booked for the following day after I had DD as I had mild pre eclampia) or other intervention during labour and how that may affect my ability to breastfeed, which was not portrayed as that important to begin with.
After I had DD, we struggled for 6 weeks before the problems with attachment were sorted due to a great Lactation Day Stay in our closest large town which was 45 minutes away. My MCHN was (and still is) great and has always been very supportive and well informed and a member of ABA herself. However, many mothers in my little country town don't breastfeed at all due to the lack of education and support in rural areas. I had massive oversupply issues and DD was getting way too much foremilk, was gassy and cried constantly for weeks. MCHN saw me every week to help me through it and the ABA was fantastic for support and information in this area.
Thanks to the ABA, my MCHN and Day Stay DD is 18 months and still BFing.
Our ABA group is slowly dwindling as mums just aren't breastfeeding here. Many mums don't understand how their body works and makes milk and most of the time it seems to be a competiton as to whose baby gained the most weight or sleeps though at 6 weeks of age and my slow gaining poor sleeping BF bub just didn't compare. The amount of times I heard, "just put her on the bottle and get a good nights sleep" or "Just top her up with 40mls formula and she''ll sleep through" was astounding. My friends gave me bottles, packets of formula to try, and advice re bottle feeding but had no idea about breastfeeding. I was made to feed DD in seperate rooms at family functions as to not embarrass the men (and women) and still hear, "Are you still breastfeeding that child?"
If our govt wants more mothers to breastfeed they need to start increasing their funding to support the ABA, education for mums, MCHN's and GP's and offer more trained LC's, especially in rural areas. New mums should also be offered a lengthier stay in hopital after having bubs to ensure that feeding is established and offer education about breastfeeding whilst in hospital.
The more information out there and education women, MCHN and other health professionals receive the more breastfeeding rates will increase, correct information will be shared between friends, more support will be offered from all areas of our lives, including work and family.

[aussienic]

I think the biggest problem is lack of education but really nearly all of the options are linked to breastfeeding problems.

I gave up breastfeeding my first son at 3 months due to personal reasons. I started supplementing with formula from 6 weeks as I thought he was hungry and I went against my child health nurses advice

My second son was born sick. due to being on medication for seizures he was also very drowsy. Therefore making feeding extremly difficult. It never crossed my mind to feed him formula. He did have supplement feeding in the first day or so but my milk came in and I pumped more then enough. . when we finally came home I tried to feed him from the breast again but he was simply to tired. So from here we expressed full time for 10 months..

My 3rd son was born and Breastfeeding was wel established by day 2. He was a champ. I admit I was a little bad and asked they didn't wake me in the night to feed him as I was so very tired but he only had formula 3 times over our 4 day stay. We have just weaned at 21 months.

[BellyBelly]

With the focus of all the replies being mostly education, obviously more training needs to be going on, all round - midwives, MCHN's, paed's etc... or at least referrals to LC's - but in order to prevent the conflicting advice scenario which is a huge complaint as well from many new mothers, there needs to be training provided by one body, who can voice the same message to all - they can teach in uni's, wherever... and I think this needs to be the ABA. They have training already established, they have procedures and protocols and can deliver one message. I think the ABA should be sufficiently funded so that they can fund educators to teach in all scenarios and as someone else mentioned, outreach programs as well as schools too. But it would be great to see one voice teach a generation and beyond.

I just keep getting more and more ideas reading your posts, this has greatly helped my presentation, thank-you so much for stirring up my thoughts, the opportunities are endless. I don't see a hopeless situation for breastfeeding, I am excited as there are so many things we can do. We could be the shining example on the world of how it can be.

[Liz]

Yeah I think even if GPs etc don't try and fix the problem themselves, but just refer to LC's it would be a start. Same with MCHN's. Might as well ask the next door neighbour for advice as go to the GP or nurse these days.

[Edensmumma]

for the last few days, i've had a million things running around my head that i want to add to this thread... i just never have the brain power to sit down and get it all out... i'm gonna give it a bloody good bash now tho...
i have found breast feeding to be the hardest thing i have ever encountered... but, i would never ever have given up no matter what, i still find it hard now, and Eden will be 21 weeks old tomorrow. But when its all finished and we get to a year or maybe 2 i will look back and go-"my gawd, we did it", and it will be one of the greatest acheivements of my life.
You know how people have lists of things they want to do and see in their life? Well, on my list when i die will be, successfully breast fed my babies...
And having got this far with Eden there are so many things i have yet to do with breast feeding,- feed her in the bath(we dont have a bath), feed her during my next pregnancy & labour (if she hasnt weaned herself by then), perhaps tandem feed... so many things...
In saying all of this i dont want to come across like a complete nonsense hippy i just want it to be known that i am a better person for doing this. I never knew how lovely life could be.
More women should be able to and be encouraged to breast feed, it should be so bloody 2nd nature to walk past a woman at a cafe feeding her child at the breast and for her to not be gawked at or sniggered, or even to be made to feel like a world champion caz someone goes-"oh your breast feeeding, good on you for giving it a go."
I'm really annoying myself here caz i know im jumping all over the place with my thoughts, its just i feel so passionate about this and i cant seem to word it all properly...
Breast feeding and tolerance of and education of and understanding of and believing in SHOULD just be here and availabe to everyone. It is currently been treated as a fad or choice to consider for women having babies. Just as much importance needs to be placed on it as does every aspect of birthing ur baby.
Argh, im just going around in circles, i think i'll come back and post again when i can present my thoughts in a logical way....im upsetting myself here because this is so important to me, in fact its making me cry writing it all out.
I am supportive of everyone doing whatever they feel is best for them and their babies, just why is it that there is a whole half aisle of formula at supermarkets?? And so many woman feeling so helpless and beating themsleves up as failures when not having support for breast feeding???

[Inanna]

I loved your post Edensmumma - I know just what you mean... You said so much even though you feel you were "jumping around"... Well done on persevering if that's what is important to you...

[Luvabub]

Yes, Cailin's proud Mummy moment is something we all need to aspire to; seeing each other's point of view. I have not made a decision about future breastfeeding based on this forum, I simply highlighted how judgemental breastfeeding women can be and this does make other women feel inadequate if it doesn't work out. The feelings of inadequacy are central to this debate and should not be ignored. Yes, Flowerchild, I agree that judgement does happen sadly on both sides. Your persistance with breastfeeding is admirable given the circumstances you found yourself in. So breastfeeders need to 'impart knowledge and support breastfeeding' in a very sensitive and cautious way. This presents a difficulty because breastfeeding education also needs to be explicit and available. Very interesting article on 'formula's' (in general); it has defintely given me a lot to think about. I didn't realise how unaccountable formula companies were. It also raised the question for me about how accountable breastfeeding mothers are for their diet and milk supply to the baby.

If my comments were 'outrageous' or hurtful to others, I apologise. I could have used more tact in expressing my concerns regarding Omega 3's and that period after birth before milk supply is sufficient.

Let's not clog the forum with right and wrong posts. I do apologise for any offence, just wanted to add my story.

[Inanna]

Luvabub - it is so very true breastfeeding mothers do need to be accountable for what they put into their bodies... An extension of pregnancy really. It's a really positive thing though. It always makes you stop and think before you put something in your body...

[Bathsheba]

Really enjoyed reading your post Edensmumma

Regarding diet, I've been taking a multivitamin specific for BFing women as well as InLiven which, between the 2 products, I think covers just about every trace element needed for both maternal and child health. So if you don't like sardines then I'm sure there are other more palatable means of providing your baby with a list of "ingredients" just as impressive as that on the side of a tin....and more, including anitibodies to the latest cold bug that is going around! Also, correct me if I'm wrong but if the milk-making body is running low of a few vitamins etc it will direct them into the milk first? (Before allowing them to be absorbed by the mother's body).

Thanks Chloe for posting that article on artificial BM. Very concerning. I'm definately getting a prescription to relactate (my left side) now... I would have thought ABM would have been more regulated, like a medicine maybe... what are vegetable fats doing in there? A newborn's digestive system wouldn't be geared up to digest that... so I guess it would go straight through their body? From my understanding of (school LOL) biology if you don't have the enzyme present in your body to link up with and help digest each substance in the food then that element of food will just be eliminated? Anyhow...I'll do the reading, don't need a biology lesson here It also got me thinking that I guess at the end of the day, ABM is a money making exercise, and if they can get away with substituting a cheap ingredient for a more expensive "optimal" ingredient they would

Once again, would just like say that i'm glad this isn't a pro/against formula debate anymore... I have been using ABM as a complimetary singular bottle ... and it doesn't appear to have done my baby any harm... so I'm not suddenly going to be critical of those who choose to stick with it... it's just not my personal choice IF I can re lactate my left side.

[janey4]

I am going into my 4th week of breastfeeding and still struggling. I have seen breastfeeding consultants, doctors, am taking Motilim and fenugreek to aid milk supply. I have bought a pump and express to aid milk supply and am still supplementing with formula so I am not against formula as without it my little one would be malnourished. I am trying so hard to breastfeed (have spent over $1000 on professional advice, medication, pump etc) as I feel the pressure from the public/bfc/and myself (cause its better for baby) to breastfeed but after getting so depressed a week ago and worried I was getting post natal depression (was crying all day at drop of hat) I have decided to take a different view. Breast is best and every day I manage to feed is one more day she gets the benefit but I can't get that upset, tired and depressed that I am no good to her or myself (do women who start bottle feeding maybe get to this point and can't go on??). When I look back the only thing that may have helped me would be not getting conflicting advice and differing techniques of attachments by nurses in hospital and being able to seek advice from BFC from day one (the hospital I attended does not allow you to pay an independent BFC to see you in hospital while you are a patient (you have to have whatever nurse is on).
On saying all of that I still believe breast is best and I will persevere for as long as my sense of humour allows me to.(my motto is "every breastfeed counts").sorry this is so longwinded (am very passionate on this topic at present)

[Edensmumma]

Janey- every breast feed counts is a beautiful way of looking at it.

[Smoke Jaguar]

Janey, it took me nearly 5 weeks to stop making a visible wince whenever I realised DS was hungry. I had the associated vasospasm (psychological response becoming physiological and PAINFUL) until about week 9 or 10 before I realised it had gone all together. If you can make it past this, there is every reason to believe that you will come to a point where you will say to yourself 'THIS is what it's all about!'. What got me through, as Tanby says, was drilling into myself that the benefit was way beyond myself and that it was about the ultimate wellbeing of my child - coupled with a decision to have faith in what other nursing mothers (friends, who had their initial problems, too) around me were saying, and that was "it WILL come together and you won't look back". When mummies around you give you negative stories, ignore them, but when they are giving you something positive, I've learned to grab at those snippets because they get you through, and they are based on truth But I hear you, for me, at 4 weeks things were still horrendous (he had his tongue tie snipped at 4 weeks, but it doesn't magically fix it instantly...he needed to relearn how to suck with his new tongue!), and it was all I could do to remain positive through eyes spililng out tears and apologising profusely to DS. In hindsight, hopefully, you will see that 4 weeks, 6 weeks, even 12 weeks is a blip on the timescale and you WILL get through this ETA: sorry, meant to say that I also received conflicting advice, about attachment, and an LC in the MCHN system got me through. I just cannot understand why a policy would be upheld when it is adversely affecting the health of you and your child. Our 'system' has so far to go.

[Inanna]

Janey - you are doing a wonderful wonderful job... Such dedication and steadfastness. Well done. Blessed Thistle is another wonderful herb for increasing supply. An old midwife once told me also to soak a handful of almonds overnight and then drink the water and eat the nuts in the morning. This is said to increase supply and produce creamy milk. I have tried both and do think it helped me...

[BellyBelly]

Some great news to those in Melbourne:

I wanted to also mention that you may wish to let your Melbourne based members know that we will be having Community Statements at 2.00pm at the hearing next Thursday. This is where anyone can give a three minute statement to the Committee that will be regarded as evidence. They only have to give their first name and can say whatever they want.

[Study Mummy]

Janey - hang in there! I remember four weeks (ouch ouch ouch plus no weight gain for bub) and it does get better. It hurt for three months (tho nothing like those early weeks) and now it's only painful if the teeth get in the way when my boy is distracted What got me through was lots of Tim Tams, rasberry leaf tea, counting to 10 (or 20 or 30 if needed) outloud, and the mantra "this too shall pass" ... and the knowledge that it was good for my baby, not to mention a helluva lot easier when we went out or travelled. Good luck!

[Inanna]

Oh I wish I could be there....