Hello
It's World Breastfeeding Week this week, and as part of our campaign for Better Postnatal Care we ran a survey with just over 1000 MNers with children under 5 asking them about their experiences of infant feeding. Many thanks to all who took part (it was a bit of a whopper).
We've got lots of really interesting information from you about breast and bottle feeding and your experiences of it, which we will use to inform our campaign - but for today we're focusing on the difficulties women encounter when they want to breastfeed (which 87% of respondents said they had wanted to do).
You can see the results here and our page about what we think the most common breastfeeding barriers are (based on the survey results) here.
In summary:
Among women who had wanted to breastfeed but had stopped within the first 24 hours, their reasons for stopping included:
The baby could not latch well: 41%
I felt I didn’t know what I was doing: 27%
I needed more help/support: 23%
It just felt incredibly difficult: 22%
Too physically painful: 15%
Among women who had initiated breastfeeding but had stopped by six weeks, their reasons for stopping included:
The baby wasn’t latching on properly: 56%
Worried I wasn’t producing enough milk: 42%
Breastfeeding was painful: 39%
I was overwhelmed/exhausted and something had to give: 34%
I found it difficult to express milk: 32%
I was worried the baby wasn’t gaining enough weight: 24%
Just ahead of the birth:
33% said they felt a lot of pressure to breastfeed;
47% were worried they would not be able to breastfeed; and
36% said they felt anxious about breastfeeding.
74% of respondents agreed with the statement: ‘There is too much emphasis on telling women why they should breastfeed, and not enough on supporting them to breastfeed.’
Among those who were still breastfeeding at six weeks, face-to-face support from healthcare professionals or breastfeeding counsellors was rated the most effective intervention, with 71% saying it contributed to their success. Partners' support was rated the best, with 81% saying their partners/spouses' support was excellent or good.
Many women found breastfeeding painful at first. Even among those who were still breastfeeding at 6 weeks, 31% agreed that ‘breastfeeding hurts/is uncomfortable’. Concerns about poor latch and milk supply also run throughout the survey results.
Among those who had stopped breastfeeding by six weeks, 34% agreed ‘I was overwhelmed/exhausted and something had to give’, and 22% agreed that ‘breastfeeding felt relentless’. Among all those who breastfed at any stage, 45% reported finding it difficult during ‘periods when the baby breastfed constantly or very frequently’.
Perhaps not surprisingly, women who had breastfed before were significantly more positive and relaxed about breastfeeding subsequent children. When compared with first-time mums, veteran breastfeeders were more likely to want to breastfeed (92% vs 87%), less likely to feel pressured to breastfeed (21% vs 39%), and felt much more confident directly before the birth about breastfeeding (54% vs 30%).
Have a look at our breastfeeding barriers page and tell us what you think - do our findings echo your experience? What can be done to really support women when they need it? What sorts of interventions did you have that helped you - or what would you have liked that you didn't get?
We will use these findings to work with health organisations to see if we can get better, more useful support for women who want to breastfeed.
Thanks
MNHQ
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MNHQ have commented on this thread
Infant feeding
MNHQ here: what you told us about breastfeeding... and why some of you stopped
236 replies
RowanMumsnet · 01/08/2017 09:53
OP posts:
ConcernUK ·
01/08/2017 11:05
This reply has been deleted
Message withdrawn at poster's request.
RowanMumsnet ·
01/08/2017 13:13
@Figgygal
Where is the " my body did not produce milk" option in those list of reasons for stopping? I tried to distraction to feed both of my children and watched them shrink in front of my eyes despite doing everything I was advised to do, despite feeding on demand and despite supplements and domperidone and ds2 having his tongue tie snipped. my body literally didn't respond and produce milk I had no changes to my breasts in size or feeling no leakage. I know topping up with formula compound the situation but when the alternative is starvation what else can you do?
Hi Figgy - that sounds really tough
Among the reasons for stopping within 24 hours were:
Worried about lack of milk/colostrum: 10%
Medically advised not to: 8%
And among the reasons for stopping at or before six weeks were:
Worried I wasn't producing enough milk: 42%
Worried the baby wasn't gaining enough weight: 24%
Medical factors made it difficult: 20%
We didn't ask the specific question that you raise but hopefully it's broadly covered in the options above. (This is useful feedback for us though - if we run a similar survey again we'll try to include something more specific.)
also to Elendon and Talith - thanks for telling us about your experiences
OP posts:
ApplesTheHare ·
01/08/2017 13:55
I did it for 8 months (6 exclusively) but hated it and wish I'd stopped sooner. Apart from just not liking it (they way it ties you to the couch, the way it feels, the mastitis) I'm pretty sure it slowed my recovery after a traumatic birth, both mentally and physically. I wouldn't breastfeed again as a result. I might not feel so negative about giving it a go next time if well-meaning NHS staff hadn't been so dismissive about my experience last time. Instead of saying 'Well done for sticking with it, you can stop if you wish' they always stuck to the 'Breast is best' mantra and in fact it's not always best when it's taking a mental and physical toll on mum 
RowanMumsnet ·
01/08/2017 13:55
@AHedgehogCanNeverBeBuggered
Great work MN, it's really interesting to hear others' experiences. I'm 2 weeks in to breastfeeding my newborn DS, it was tough at first (sore nipples, prem baby too sleepy to latch properly) but amazingly the NHS NHS in my area sent out a lactation consultant the day after we got home from the hospital, and she helped sort his latch out and reassured me he was doing really well. When I compare this to the zero support available to my friends who live in London I'm astonished by the disparity in support between areas. It would be great if ALL b/f mothers were offered support in the early weeks, I'm sure there's a cost-benefit case to make given that b/f babies are generally healthier and thus less of a burden on other NHS services (has anyone studied the economic argument? I imagine so).
Great that your local services were so on the case, Hedgehog. Face-to-face observation of the latch,* and face-to-face support from breastfeeding counsellors or trained NHS staff were the two things people told us really helped them when the going got tough.
We've co-signed a letter from the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health that calls, among other things, for much better in-hospital specialist support, better local support services and more resources for health visitors. We hope to do some more work on this and put some pressure on where it counts.
*I suppose latch observation isn't really face-to-face but you know what I mean
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