Paid to breastfeed?

Please could people read the article before posting comments, the money was not public and was not taken from anything else It was paid for by research councils, medical charities and Public Health England.

The French had a scheme some years ago whereby if mothers did not bring their babies for immunisation they would forfeit their family allowance. It seems to me that would have been a better idea in regards to breast feeding. Whether someone says they are breast feeding when they are not can easily be verified by midwife or Health visitor at one of the check-ups

What a waste of public money!! Its not bad for your health to be bottle feed! so leave the choice to the mother.

Thank you Grandmama Crossed posts.

Please, please stop lumping all non breast feeders together as useless, weak willed women taking the easy way out. We're not. There are some of us who really, really did try. I know I failed my children, and they in turn, despite their efforts, because of my useless genes are failing their children. To have it rubbed in by paying those who can breast feed, just makes us feel even more inadequate. Formula costs money and breast is free. Perhaps more support is needed, perhaps it does need even more media support, but please don't belittle those who fail. Failing itself is punishment enough.

I breastfed both DDs for a year. No, I don't think mothers should be paid to breastfeed. It is actually cost-effective to breastfeed, it doesn't cost anything as opposed to the cost of formula. Breastfeeding took me back to pre-pregnancy weight. So I'm very pro-breastfeeding and would encourage mothers to do it but would not support payment for mothers. And I would never criticise anyone for bottle-feeding.

In the 1940s breast feeding was almost frown on by working class women, but my dear old mum persevered, so did I, so has my daughter, for four children, yes she went almost straight back to work, arriving with bosoms that were almost exploding to collect her children. The word is persevere. The higher a woman's education is linked with more likelihood of breast feeding. Breast feeding benefit carries on throughout life, many disorders prevented into old age. It works on demand then supply. It even helped my mastitis in the tropics. I do not care whether we pay, but it needs to become fashionable somehow. Had the good fortune to work with Scandinavian nurses who were shocked that we Brits do not breastfeed as a matter of course. You get your figure back quicker, your breasts resume a decent shape afterwards too, flatter tummy. You have to persevere and enjoy feeling a bit ridiculous at times. You do not have to ever use a bottle ever, tiny cups to drink from babies can manage. So all nonbreastfeeders stop deflecting guilty elsewhere, or the army of women who convince other women it is yucky.

I agree Fennel and there is the perception that breast feeding in some way makes breasts less attractive. The number of myths and falsehoods already posted on here show how difficult the whole subject is. I am eternally grateful to my elderly GP who, when I went along protesting that I couldn't feed my 1st DS enough, simply said, "if that were true the human race would have died out by now." I finally figured out by DS 3 that when he had a growth spurt the baby would feed more often and I needed to go with it for a while. It takes time and patience.

"My DD lives in trendy East London where women BF everywhere,they are also older mums which gives them more confidence" Very good point.
I don't know why I find this subject so interesting, I'm way past it, as are my children.
Perhaps many young Mums from poorer backgrounds give up quickly because they have to get back to work ASAP.
I also think there might be a connection with media emphasis on the sexualisation of breasts .

I breast fed as has my daughter . She takes it to the extreme and fed her DD until she was 3 and looks like going the same way with her eighteen month old DS ! I think it is definitely geographical too. My DD lives in trendy East London where women BF everywhere,they are also older mums which gives them more confidence . I also do believe that the early discharges from hospital and little follow up with midwives gives new mums little support and with families not living nearby , they are left to flounder and understandably give up before BF is established . It can be difficult at first but once sorted nothing can be easier. I suggest the money should go to getting a breast feeding buddy scheme going . NCT and La Leche are not everyone's cup of tea.

My DM with very little spare money did her best to feed me, she would not have spent out on formula if she didn’t have to. I persevered for the first months only topping up with a bottle as my babies were screaming with hunger and the health visitor said they were underweight and I was unable to cope due to lack of sleep having to try to feed every two hours 24 hours a day. I sat and watched my DD1 sit with a breast pump for hours at a time trying desperately to provide a couple of ounces a day for a prem baby. It was not nonsense Esspee. Not in the mind. It was fact. Perseverance was not enough. Please do not belittle those of us who already feel we failed our children by not giving them all the advantages you listed. We did try.

ps Trisher listed some of the benefits. Another is that it somehow sends messages to the mother's uterus to shrink back to its original size and reduce post-delivery blood loss.

I don't think this is necessarily something new. My eldest daughter was born in 1966 in Singapore, I remember a nurse going round the new Mums in the hospital (a military hospital) encouraging them to breastfeed, and I was one of the few who did.

Primrose, between the advantages you mention of burning up all those calories with no effort and the benefits listed by Trisher, any intelligent mum would clearly choose to breastfeed.
The problem is in getting through to those who have no experience (family and friends) of successful breast feeding. It used to be the norm. Why is it now seen as optional?
Education is the key. Perhaps if formula was presented as "artificial breast milk substitute" as it has to be by law in other countries, at least the more intelligent mums would choose to feed their babies the perfect food for their child's development.

I agree nightowl

The issue as I understand it is that, despite being told all the benefits of breastfeeding, women chose to bottle feed more in the UK than any other country.

I would be happy for a financial incentive if that helps, but I think the advice given to new mums probably needs to change. Perhaps a dual emphasis on best for your baby and best for you?
I know I told my daughters that 'getting back into my jeans' after pregnancy was much faster because I was breastfeeding - I personally would advocate selling the benefits for the Mums. Up to 600 calories a day burned up breastfeeding apparently. That's a decent workout.

Nightowl, everyone (well almost everyone) with the right support can feed their child. How else would our species have survived?
This thread is about paying mothers to do the best thing for their babies.
Education is the key, not bribery.

If you were producing milk Widgeon3 why did you not feed it to your own children?
I donated breast milk to the intensive care unit of my local hospital (in the Caribbean) but only after my baby was fed. Sorry, just remembered on one occasion the senior paediatrician coming to my home begging me for my son's next feed. He explained it meant life and death to another child and my son wouldn't suffer much if I kept him on the breast. He brought a breast pump and was banished to the patio for 15 mins. For my son it was a stressful evening but my supply soared after that so he won out in the end and someone else's baby lived.

Why are posters so intent on making this about whether or not they could breastfeed? It’s not about that

We need more education about parenting in schools and that includes how to feed a baby, and education about not having babies if girls/boys are not interested in doing what's best for them. We also need far more work to be done with mothers who are trying to breastfeed without success. Not enough is done to help them to persevere. I breastfed for 12 months, my daughter found my granddaughter wouldn't latch on but despite no weight gain and even weight loss of the baby, she explored every avenue, and eventually after two months got into a routine which she was still into when my grandson was born, when she fed them both! Breastfeeding doesn't come as naturally as many might think, but the temptation to give in as the market is flooded with alternatives, should be reduced. In Third World countries, women don't have the option of deciding whether breastfeeding is something they can give up if it's painful or not very productive. They can't afford it. Personally I believe that it's this option that has brought breastfeeding statistics down so low in this country - it's become an issue of choice, and quite frankly it shouldn't be - cows' milk is produced to feed calves, and studies have shown that children fed on this are not as lean as breastfed children ... I hear the lobby about obesity in the wings.

In response to esspee and newnanny, I tried to feed all 4 of my children but they sucked so strongly that huge and painful blisters were induced on the nipples. The nurses were of no help whatsoever and could give me no useful suggestions ( I had no female relative within 8000 miles) . My own children in their turn received good advice and were able to breast feed for months.
The ( fully qualified maternity??) nurses in my own case showed no interest whatsoever until they saw how copiously I was lactating and leaking. 3 of them jumped into action producing a breast pump and bottles ' Oh come on Mrs W, this will help our premature babies. They need it desperately' To the question ,And what about my own?' there was no answer

This is ridiculous. If you want to B F you will and if you don't or can't you won't. What next vouchers for talking kids to vaccinations?

Not being able to produce enough milk is nonsense. Breastfeeding is a demand and supply situation. The more the baby sucks the more milk the mum produces.
I remember being told that bi-lateral absence of the mammary glands and certain cancers were the only reason for a mum being unable to breastfeed.

The lack of knowledge bout the benefits of breastfeeding and the time it takes to properly establish milk is astonishing. I had thought my generation would have known better. Apparently not. Well here are the benefits

Breastfeeding reduces a baby's chances of:
Diarrhoea and vomiting
Chest and ear infections
Becoming obese
Sudden infant death syndrome
Type 2 diabetes in later life
Childhood leukaemia
Eczema
Cardiovascular disease in adulthood
Source: NHS Choices
And yes people are sometimes asked if they were breast fed when they are in hospital.

No. I desperately wanted to breast feed my babies but I didn't get any milk so had to feed them bottle milk. I wasn't given any special treatment. Mothers make their own choices and that is the way it should be.

I think it is wrong to pay mothers to breast feed. I think mothers should make up their own minds based on their ability to breastfeed and their own circumstances. I know the saying breast is best but who, when they go into hospital as an adult, is asked were you breastfed as a baby? If there is money to spare then give it to those children that are going to school hungry.