Breastfeeding

I cannot quite see how this payment can work for all the reasons described. There are some people who really cannot breast feed but a lot of women and particularly younger mothers just find the whole idea disgusting. (Rather like my mother) but I didn't let her put me off.
I cannot help feeling parental mind set is very important here.

Lots of active support by midwives and feeding counsellors is needed. Regular midwife visits don't seem to happen any more.

My DDs local children's centre was very near and they held a breast feeding cafe once a week which offered support and advice. This was in an area of housing where there was quite a degree of deprivation. I doubt if rates there were very high.

I am afraid there is probably a big link between rates of breast feeding, educational attainment and socio economic status.
I don't think it's that bottle feeding causing health problems.

Some studies have suggested that a vaginal birth and early breast feeding appears to make a difference with regard to developing some allergies but I don't know if this evidence is conclusive. Haven't got time to find the studies right now.

As I "failed" twice to have a normal delivery and had an elective C section the second time I did at least feel very pleased I had managed breast feed.

(This was a time when the woman's movement were getting very uptight about intervention in this wonderful natural process. If you could not give birth behind the tree in the garden you were letting down other woman.)

A French woman was interviewed on the radio a couple of days ago. She said in France it is the norm to bottle feed. When she attended an anti natal class in this country she was amazed a) at the number of women who were expecting to breast feed and the social and medical pressure on them to do so and b) the disapproval aimed at those, like herself, who had no intention of breast feeding.

That quote from the Guardian article by some medic on a mission is tosh because it says absolutely nothing useful except perhaps the bit about "extra food" but it isn't clear what he meant by that.

I'll keep looking for the other thing. I breast fed all three of my kids and they were, and are, all healthy, but my mum bottle fed all five of her kids and we were all healthy too. This makes me think that health depends on other things, including most probably, one's genetic make-up, much more than on what one was fed as a baby.

I googled "does bottle feeding cause health problems". Most of the results on the first page (just scanning, not deep study) seemed to be emphasising the hygiene aspect that one has to bear in mind with bottle feeding, as you would expect.

However, I did find this from a Guardian article in 2010:
The message to parents and to health professionals is that – as long as a baby is healthy and born at full-term – a small infant should not be given extra food. Those who are at the bottom end of the growth chart should stay there, he says. Plump and bouncing babies are not necessarily the ideal.

www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2010/sep/30/bottle-feeding-babies-adult-obesity

I think that bit about small babies is tosh. Here's why. DD1 was near "the bottom end of the growth chart" when she was born (6lb 1oz). She was exclusively breast fed on demand and at three and a half weeks she weighed 9lb 10oz so was no longer at the bottom end of the growth chart. She was a plump, bouncing, healthy baby, grew into not plump, neat-figured, bouncing healthy child and adult.

I,ll have a search, G2. Something I read recently but I can't remember where.

Thatbags - I'm interested in your comment about the breastfeeding data not being sound -can I have a link please?

It seems like a very divisive idea, this £200 voucher thing.

I agree with J52. Evidence that bottle feeding causes health problems is not sound. The problem lies, I think, where people don't have access to clean water and ways of keeping baby bottles and teats really clean, i.e. not in this country.

My mother couldn't breast feed me. I tried with my three DC and only managed a month. Both my DDs tried - especially DD1 although she'd been very ill with pre-eclampsia as DGD1 was prem. None of us could give enough milk. It just didn't happen. DDiL has Chrones disease and only half an intestine and was told she must not breast feed as it would be too much of a drain on her health. We're all just left with the guilt that we failed. I had hoped that things would have improved and my DDs wouldn't have this guilt put upon them but no.

I'm sure it's true that breast is best, but there are a lot of mothers who just can't manage it and I suspect it has always been so. It wasn't just the rich who had wet nurses. It's unfair to add to the guilt of failing to breast feed by financially rewarding those who can.

And at least your partner (if you have one) can take turns if you decide to bottle-feed for whatever reason.

I'm not sure the comparison of reception age children would quell every mother's sense of guilt about not being able to breast feed, though.

Well, either way, you have to get up during the night, pick up your baby and feed it. Waiting a couple of minutes for a bottle to warm, I wouldn't have thought there was a huge difference as far as night feeds go apart from how you choose to feed.

were
Bl**dy phone.

I always remember Dr Hugh Jolly's advice to mothers who were having difficulty breastfeeding and we're feeling guilty about it, as many do.
He suggested going along to the local primary school and observing the children in the reception class. It would be impossible to tell the difference between those who had been breastfed as babies and those who had been bottle fed.

I can't understand anyone wanting to get up and make a bottle in the night when they can just pick the baby up and feed it . Also a good way to shed any weight you've put on duiring the pregnancy [not at the beginning but a few months down the line].

I heard this issue being discussed on the radio and a health visitor said that the scheme was aimed at mothers in lower social groups where bottle feeding is the norm. By giving the vouchers a mother going against the norm can justify it on the grounds that she wants to get the shopping vouchers and, according to the health visitor, a pilot scheme has proved very successful.

I am sure the health visitors will be going on more than just blind trust in what the mother said. The age of the babies involved and the groups the health visitors are working with suggests that there is regular and frequent interaction between mothers and health visitors

apricot the newborn baby that was found in a drain in Australia had survived, just about, for five days. A specialist said that they are able to survive for a few days; the mother's milk doesn't come in for about 3-4 days anyway, although the colostrum is important before then.

Better to spend the money helping new mums to establish breastfeeding before they leave hospital or when they first get home. It is not always second nature for mum or baby.

I agree with Agus.

I don't understand the health thing. I was bottle fed and apart from childhood measles etc. have never had anything wrong with me in my life!
I will say that I was able to breastfeed my DCs until they were one year old. They are also very healthy adults. So we'd wreck someone's data! X

Just what a young mum who cannot BF needs to make her feel like a failure

Breastfeeding rates in Britain are shockingly low so anything which encourages mothers to feed for a minimum of 6 months is good.
But I don't think this will help new mums establish breastfeeding, which can be very difficult at a very emotional time. What's needed is active and continuing support, which is just not available any more. Midwives don't have time during the few hours mothers are in hospital.
One of my grandchildren was born on a Thursday night, had not fed at all before going home nor for the whole weekend following. It was Monday before my distraught daughter could access any help.
All my children and grandchildren have been breastfed for a year or more because breast is best, not because we were paid to.

Well, if they knew that was being done they'd just pay cash, wouldn't they? Or say it was for their neighbour...

It would be too expensive to do that, not to mention probably illegal.

Given that most people pay for everything on credit card these days it would be possible to check if they'd been buying formula milk I guess.

What a ridiculous idea in so many ways.

"Under the scheme, mums will be given £120 worth of vouchers from Argos, Debenhams, Poundstretcher and supermarkets Tesco, Asda and Morrisons, if they sign forms declaring that they have breastfed their child for six weeks, with a further £80 at six months."

So it looks as though it's just a case of self-certification!