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

[Ca Plane Pour Moi]

Oh and the grabbing of my boobs !

And then the "do you mind?" well, bit late for that one now, darling!

I think all new mums should have a woman who has successfully BFed and knows how to stand up to those evil midwives who seem to want us to all get PND on hand all day! Or maybe a team of us LOL. That would have helped me a lot.

[tinablueyes]

I would have to say lack of education. I always wanted to breast feed because I know that it is the best option for baby. However I was also lucky enough to be aware in advance that not everyone can. At our ante-natal class a whole 2 hour session was dedicated to breastfeeding. This entailed during a breast on an inflated condom complete with milkducts etc. It was emphasised that it was natural and the best thing to do. However at no point was it mentionned that lots of mothers have problems, not every baby gets it straight away, it was just implied that it was easy. When my darling son was born he couldn't attach properly and we had real problems. It turned out that I had flat nipples. I was very lucky that I had some good midwives in hospital but they all had their own ways of doing things. We persevered and I was kept in for 4 days to try and resolve the situation. We were sent home and he still wasn't really getting the hang of it. I had 2 EMS visits from midwives who both helped me with the breast feeding and took the time to help. However from that point on I was on my own, we went backwards because he forgot how to attach and couldn't feed. At this point I phoned my community health centre who told me they could fit me in for an appointment in 8 days. I phoned the maternity ward and explained the situation and was lucky to speak to a lactation consultant who brought me back in and spent 1.5 hours with me showing me and emphasising that the fact that I was still trying to breastfeed after mastitis, cracked and bleeding nipples, flat nipples and no support from the clinic was a real credit to me. Thanks to her help we persevered and have now mastered it - though only by using a nipple sheild. My DS is gaining weight and is happy. We need more lactation consultants in the system and way more support once you get home. It is too easy to quit and switch to formula - which incidentally is exactly what my doctor told me to do after 5 minute consultation. There also needs to be a lot more information about how it is not easy, it doesn't happen overnight and you are not a failure if it doesn't happen immediately. That was how I felt but thankfully I did find good supportive midwives, but they are overworked and underappreciated. More are needed.
Sorry that's me saying my piece!
Joanne

[Claire]

Lack of education all round.

My experience of starting out in breastfeeding was difficult. My daughter was whisked away to NICU and then special care. No one told me I could breastfeed her (a lady made a comment along the lines of you weren't here so we gave her formula). I was devastated and knew I had to do something. So I initialised breastfeeding and comp fed until day 3 when she was discharged to ante-natal and I weaned her off the bottle, unto the cup, onto the breast using a nipple shield (told I had flat nipples) and then off breast shields. The whole time refusing to be discharged until I felt ready. Amazed when I think back, that we actually acheived a breastfeeding relationship and maintained it until recently.

My experience of the midwifery staff was like most I think; some made sense to me and others gave random advice and didn't look like they even wanted to be there. My head midwife commented on my breastfeeding without having read my file and left me feeling very deflated and lacking in confidence. But she was the only one really, everyone else did their best to help even though it was conflicting advice at times.

[Danni]

im sorry i dont have time to read back through the posts....but has anyone mentioned the lack of public acceptance in regards to breast feeding?

[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.

[karenmc]

This is a hard decision. Definitely think lack of education, lack of continuity of care and conflicting advice after birth are the main ones and they definitely overlap. The continutity of care got my vote - though I would add that the continuity should be with a known midwife/LC who is educated & skilled at breastfeeding support....not someone who didn't have the training! As a naturopath, I have definitely seen the benefits of women who I have referred to private LCs....providing that wonderful ongoing care and advice over the first few difficult weeks with feeding. I have also seen too many who have stopped breastfeeding due to all sorts of reasons (not enough milk, poor weight gain, pain etc) that I firmly believe more came down to poor education and lack of support from both family/friends and health professionals. The ones who perservere despite enormous difficulties (I can include myself here) are the ones who are educated and passionate about the benefits of breastfeeding for their baby. We need more women in the antenatal setting to get the education because in the postnatal setting it is often too late.
Good luck with the government inquiry! Karen x

[MantaRay]

Reading some of the other experiences makes me really sad. When I was having the problems with Jack attaching due to his tongue-tie, I was asked if I was ready to go home after 4 nights. At that stage he wouldn't attach (but I was told my nipples were the problem not the tongue-tie) so I was expressing. Then at each feed, with a mw or lc helping, I would try to attach a starving, screaming baby causing him to become more and more distressed. Then I would feed him the EBM in a bottle and express again. I was exhausted and I told them I wanted to stay an extra night to try and get the feeding working. I was obviously very lucky as I was told I could stay, and at midnight on that last night, the mw that delivered Jack finally got him to attach with nipple shields. So at least by the time I went home I was able to bf. As I mentioned in my pp, it was 3 weeks later that I discovered that the tongue-tie was the real problem, got it snipped and went on to successfully feed without nipple shields for 14 months (then he self weaned ). The point of this post is that I can't imagine how I could have managed if I'd been sent home before the feeding with nipple shields was established. I can only imagine that despite my determination to bf, I too would quite likely have ended up ffing. It's so easy to see how it happens.

[Liz]

I think all new mums should have a woman who has successfully BFed and knows how to stand up to those evil midwives who seem to want us to all get PND on hand all day! Or maybe a team of us LOL. That would have helped me a lot.

Do you know who has supportived me the whole way through my bf experience with Vy???? All the wonderful girls on Belly belly, thats who.

Maybe we need BB visiting rosters LOL. A few b/f mums go and visit the new BB mums at hossy and help sort through all the nonsense from the midwives, and LC's for that matter too.. they all gave me different advice too.

I agree with the uniformity of advice too. Chopping and changing feeding positions each feed etc coz of different advice doesn't help anyone. At least give one method a good try before trying the next iykwim. Everything needs practice. There's not usually some magic position that will suddenly work.

[BellyBelly]

I loOoooove your ticker pic Liz... I get all warm and fluffy every time I see it. Waaaah I am going to be past that soon!!!!

[Liz]

Aww thanks Kelly! I was pretty thrilled myself when I found it on the camera LOL. I totally forgot DH had taken it.

[Carly54]

Definately the accessibility of artificial milk!!! it wouldn't matter how uneducated people were if artificial milk wasn't accessible then bf would be the first port of call for feeding options.

My first baby wouldn't go on the breast from day one - even after every midwife in the place came and had a go... by day three he needed to eat so I had to give him expressed breastmilk, then of course I had to keep giving him a bottle as he very quickly got used to the teat instead of my breast... it was AWFUL!

Even going to the daystay on day 6 was a nightmare, the midwife couldn't get him on and at the end of the day sent me home saying offer breast every 3 - 4 hours... knowing he wasn't going on AT ALL... let me tell you, I should have put him on formula right then and there - I feel that midwife should have informed me about formula!!

After 2 weeks of expressing every single feed for him, I chose to go and buy one of those ugly tins... however lack of education meant that I didn't know which tin to choose! I have never seen an ad for formula and seeing all of the different types was way too much to bear, if I saw that it said ARTIFICIAL MILK, it would have been even more upsetting to me than it already was! I thought I would NEVER give a child milk in a tin.

Please remember that some mothers do want to breastfeed but simply cannot.

[Melly01]

I think lack of education, but honestly all of the choices can be big contributing factors..

It was so sad a few months ago at my young mothers group, a girl was having issues with breast feeding, and instead of trying to listen to her and support her, because she seemed to desperately want to BF, the girls she were talking to were saying things like "I saw a show about breastfeeding that said that formula is actually more nourishing than breast milk, so there is no need for you to even bother with it". I have never really "fitted in" there so I didn't think it was my place to barge in.

I actually used to get stares from them when I was BF DS when he was 12 months old. I almost felt like a leper or something. Also the MCHN who would come to weigh our babies told me DS wasn't gaining enough weight for his age (then 11months) (he had just been ill and had also recently started crawling so I thought that was the reason. I explained it to her, but she didn't seem to think anything I was saying was valid.) and that I should drop his feeds and replace them with formula. I just felt like I as trying to do what I wanted to do for DS and was being discouraged by people.

But on the upside, when DS was a few weeks old and my nipples were cracked, bleeding and bruised, I was crying during every feed and wanting to give it all up. The support of my family and exs family helped me get through it. Plus my determination that no matter how hard it got (I was told it wouldn't be easy, DS & I both had to learn how to BF, after all) I would do what I personally believed to be the best option for both of us.

[Smoke Jaguar]

Carly, it has been mentioned quite a few times here in this thread that we are talking about the people who CAN BF but don't They're the ones whose reasons could give us clues as to where the education needs to start, be directed etc. This thread is not intended to make anyone feel inadequate, it's asking a valid question. We need to be able to talk about so that it becomes less of a mystery for mummies.
I know of a woman who tried BFing for less than a week and went to formula because 'it hurt' to BF... as if it's a walk in the park for the rest of us! She had her second baby and didn't think twice, just put her onto formula and EBM - won't bother with actual breastfeeding because 'it hurts too much'. Everyone dances around her so as not to cause offence, so when I realised one day that I'd turned up to a get together wearing my 'I make milk...what's your superpower?' t-shirt, I felt like a walking criticism. Why? Why can't I be proud of what I do for my son? Why can't I be proud about getting through 4 excruciating weeks of tongue-tie, oversupply, grazed and bleeding nipples, humungous boobs? I DID feel like a superpower. And I refuse to condescend to women who don't BF, for whatever reason (as in, I feel it would be patronising to FFeeders to consciously cut it out of my conversation or talk it down whilst feeding DS, as if they need to be protected from real life!). I'm not going to second-guess their reasons, it's up to them. But at the same time, I'm not going to shrink away from the fact that I've done this magical thing for my boy, out of some misplaced guilt that someone else couldn't. Geez, that's like pretending I don't have a son when I know I'm going to be talking to someone who is dealing with infertility or miscarriage...or someone who has lost a child of any age.
Sorry, that's a bit of a tangent, but it IS related. We seem to feel the need to downplay how great it is to breastfeed in order to be inoffensive. We need to get past that or there are women who will miss out on that anecdotal evidence, they won't have that in the backs of their minds when they are going through that initial attachment period and other people's success stories won't get them through that because they won't have heard many. They'll be hearing an apologetic 'but it's just as fine if you feed formula'. Cos it's not. Formula can be fed instead of BM where it is not possible to feed BM, but it will never be anywhere near LIKE BM, and no amount of apologising is going to erase that fact.
That's what I mean about a rock and a hard place. Exalt Bfing and dump the guilts on FF mummies

[MamaDuke]

I know of a woman who tried BFing for less than a week and went to formula because 'it hurt' to BF... as if it's a walk in the park for the rest of us! She had her second baby and didn't think twice, just put her onto formula and EBM - won't bother with actual breastfeeding because 'it hurts too much'. Everyone dances around her so as not to cause offence

See, I along with this other poor mum didn't know this and not once while I was in hospital did ANY health care professional ever say to me that it is going to hurt.
I remember sitting on the chair, toes curled, neck all tense, nipples bleeding, crying my eyes out...I started to resent my baby and absolutely dread feeds.
Maybe the fact that some people are so judgemental stops people like me and this particular lady from seeking advice/help and persevering with it.

[Smoke Jaguar]

MamaDuke, that is my point exactly - it is unrealistic to say that BFing shouldn't hurt, when in fact it CAN hurt initially! The first time round, for the lady I'm talking about, I can sort of understand where she's coming from. Second time round there isn't much excuse - she is surrounded by BFers and her SIL who had a baby that same year as her the first time continued to BF for 2 and a half years. SIL also had initial attachment issues...for about 6 weeks. There ARE some people who take the 'easy' option (I would only say this if I had heard women say it themselves, which I have), and there are those who believe that they are having undue problems because no-one has told them that it can be hard and it can hurt.
This lady doesn't want help, she does believe that formula is as good as human milk - she has fallen for the spiel from the formula company reps (as she was in the pharmacy industry).
Not wanting to talk about specific people, though - I brought it up because I believe it is symptomatic.

[~Saram~]

Kelly, I can't believe the number of mums I meet these days that are bottle feeding and tell me there milk dried up at 6wks, esp younger mums (17-25) I think the ABA needs to give out a pamphet that addresses this and put it in the bounty bag or something. In my experience it is usually the mothers and gradmothers who tell these mums that their milk dried up at the same time, don't wory dear not everyone can breastfeed, and now I can give the baby a bottle!