Pressure to breastfeed based on location?

[mrsf1234]

Reading some of the other threads on here re pressure to breast feed, drs and HVs questioning decisions to formula feed, i'd be interested to know if the views change dependant on country or location.

I know the UK has been going through a strong 'breast is best' culture recently, which i personally have found instrusive/aggressive and actually made me want to stop even more. Whereas european friends of mine, couldnt believe i was even attempting to breastfeed.

So where do you live and have you felt pressured to BF or the oppsite??

I'm london, UK and very pressured into.

 

[harveydog]

I'm from the north east of England and my Midwife informed me breast is best but at the end of the day it was my decision if I wanted to breastfeed or formula feed

I breastfed my LO for a month but had to formula feed because due to LO staying in special care for 2 weeks (full term but had temperature and glucose problems) and not being given the correct guidance from the breastfeeding lady in hospital my milk supply wasn't enough for him by the time we left

I haven't felt pressured off my midwives or HV on any issues, which was a pleasant experience. They will offer their advice and I took what I needed and scrapped the rest

 

[skunkpixie]

Im in Milton Keynes and havnt found there is any pressure to breastfeed.

I fully BF my first and fully FF my second, and received great support from mdwives and HV both times. The only difference was that I got alot of praise for breastfeeding my first. It was a bit embarassing sometimes lol. xx

 

[BethHx]

Im from UK, Near Birmingham (Midlands) I was told Breast is best but was told its my own descision.
I did breast for 1 week.
Expressed for 1 week.
Combi for 1 week.
Then went to formula as i had sores, blisters and got mastisis.
Dont regret my decision at all xx

 

[Stellae]

America's much like the UK in that there's a huge push for people to breastfeed. Its a very socio-conomic thing though: people who breastfeed (or attempt to breastfeed) tend to be better educated and tend to make more money. Makes bottle feeding for those of us who are educated and not from the bowels of society looked down on for bottle feeding!

 

[Bats11]

I live in Australia and its not so much pressured to BF although when you are in hospital after giving birth you do get the nurses trying to push it upon you but not too much, I find alot of women in Australia FF actually.

Although I loved Breastfeeding, ongoing mastitis was hell and Ive decided to stop bf & switch to formula. Im happy my princess got 7&1/2wks of mummies boobies!

 

[pink_rulez]

I'm in Bristol uk and here it is very pushed on you all though out pregnacey while on the ward and while checking at home,
There was actually a comment made in one of my anti natal classes that shocked me. We were discussing pros and cons for both feeding and of course midwife could bring up many more on bf but someone said a pro of ff is dad can be involved, the midwife actually said "oh after a couple of times he will get bored and not want to do it anymore!" from that point on I lost my trust in the midwives,
I was given no advise on ff how to prepare ect and all I got was a leaflet chucked at me as she was leaving my last home visit and I said bf wasnt working out, the only reason I knew how to make a bottle, steralise ect was becuse of my job. I also hated how they circle how the baby is fed at each stage in there book, made it look very condescending (I already felt like I had failed becuse I could t bf)
My friend who lives around the corner from me had a horrible experience with a bf support group led by the midwives, she started going before she had her daughter and got friendly with the mums (she's quite shy) after having her daughter she returned and was going weekly she also had trouble bf and eventually switched to ff when she truned up to the group they told her she couldn't come anymore becuse she was ff she was devestated and it knocked her confidence and didn't go to any other groups untill she started meeting up with me.
X

 

[Bats11]

I'm in Bristol uk and here it is very pushed on you all though out pregnacey while on the ward and while checking at home,
There was actually a comment made in one of my anti natal classes that shocked me. We were discussing pros and cons for both feeding and of course midwife could bring up many more on bf but someone said a pro of ff is dad can be involved, the midwife actually said "oh after a couple of times he will get bored and not want to do it anymore!" from that point on I lost my trust in the midwives,
I was given no advise on ff how to prepare ect and all I got was a leaflet chucked at me as she was leaving my last home visit and I said bf wasnt working out, the only reason I knew how to make a bottle, steralise ect was becuse of my job. I also hated how they circle how the baby is fed at each stage in there book, made it look very condescending (I already felt like I had failed becuse I could t bf)
My friend who lives around the corner from me had a horrible experience with a bf support group led by the midwives, she started going before she had her daughter and got friendly with the mums (she's quite shy) after having her daughter she returned and was going weekly she also had trouble bf and eventually switched to ff when she truned up to the group they told her she couldn't come anymore becuse she was ff she was devestated and it knocked her confidence and didn't go to any other groups untill she started meeting up with me.
X

OMG, that is just terrible, here's a to both of you x

 

[mrsf1234]

I'm in Bristol uk and here it is very pushed on you all though out pregnacey while on the ward and while checking at home,
There was actually a comment made in one of my anti natal classes that shocked me. We were discussing pros and cons for both feeding and of course midwife could bring up many more on bf but someone said a pro of ff is dad can be involved, the midwife actually said "oh after a couple of times he will get bored and not want to do it anymore!" from that point on I lost my trust in the midwives,
I was given no advise on ff how to prepare ect and all I got was a leaflet chucked at me as she was leaving my last home visit and I said bf wasnt working out, the only reason I knew how to make a bottle, steralise ect was becuse of my job. I also hated how they circle how the baby is fed at each stage in there book, made it look very condescending (I already felt like I had failed becuse I could t bf)
My friend who lives around the corner from me had a horrible experience with a bf support group led by the midwives, she started going before she had her daughter and got friendly with the mums (she's quite shy) after having her daughter she returned and was going weekly she also had trouble bf and eventually switched to ff when she truned up to the group they told her she couldn't come anymore becuse she was ff she was devestated and it knocked her confidence and didn't go to any other groups untill she started meeting up with me.
X

omg your poor friend.
and i also hate them circling the bit about how you are feeding. they may as well put a big black stamp saying 'bad mother' in your book for FF. i havent had the HV back since the initial visits, but she left me a voicemail...'just to check if i was still breastfeeding'.....i didnt call her back!!

 

[Accounts2010]

Im in Shropshire (West midlands). I found it pushed on me very much, but once I told them my decision they didnt question why, Didnt receive any help/advice either way.

 

[anita665]

I'm in the UK and I do breastfeed (sorry to intrude) but even with my first baby at my first midwife appointment they were giving me info on it and telling me how great it was. I did feel it was pushy, especially as I already knew I wanted to breastfeed.

In reply to OP though DH's family are French and I find the culture there is even more pro breastfeeding than here. They would have been shocked if I'd used formula from day one and many other european countries seem to follow a similar culture. Breastfeeding rates in the EU are far higher than the UK but perhaps health professionals are less pushy because they don't feel the need to be. Idk.

Hope I haven't over stepped the mark.

 

[mrsf1234]

Hi anita665 not overstepping at all. Genuinely interested in peoples experiences.
Interesting re france..perhaps they don't need to be pushy or perhaps lack of pushy ness makes women want to try more? The agressive nature I encountered made me want to reach for the bottle even more!

 

[TiffanyBrown]

I live in Mississippi, statistically one of the states where women breastfeed the least and did not really feel any pressure to breastfeed. Honestly, most of the pressure to breastfeed and continue breastfeeding even when it was making me incredibly stressed and depressed, came from myself.

I actually expected people to react so much differently when we switched to formula but no one has given me any flak whatsoever. I think most of that is due to the fact that no one in my family really ever breastfed. But even my MIL, who did breastfeed, has been a huge supporter.

When I was at the hospital, I was not pressured one way or the other. They only asked me which I was doing. But I do think that they were more used to women who FF because one of the nurses who tried to help me get Lily to latch did not seem to know what she was doing and upset me greatly when she was trying to force my screaming one day old daughter to take the breast.

 

[anita665]

Hi anita665 not overstepping at all. Genuinely interested in peoples experiences.
Interesting re france..perhaps they don't need to be pushy or perhaps lack of pushy ness makes women want to try more? The agressive nature I encountered made me want to reach for the bottle even more!

I think many factors influence the stance on breast/formula feeding. In the UK there seems to be a much higher rate of teen pregnancies and teens are statistically less likely to breastfeed but that doesn't explain why they put so much pressure on all mothers or if you've already said you want to breastfeed.

From what I have noticed in France, women breastfeed because it's the norm and their parents & grandparents did the same before them. I can't say for sure but I don't think they had the formula culture that we had here in the 1960 and beyond and breastfeeding is done no matter what your background there. Also in some EU countries, formula advertising is banned.

Still if you walk into the supermarket there, they sell a huge range of formula so there still has to be a good market for it. It costs more than here in the UK though too. When I started using formula with DS1 I bought a tub for about £15 and that was 4 years ago now.

 

[kat2504]

As far as I am aware in France, it is considered very unusual to breastfeed past the newborn stage though. Although this might be due to having much less maternity leave than UK women. I would be surprised if the general attitude in France is that breast is the norm as usually, the opposite is said.

 

[anita665]

As far as I am aware in France, it is considered very unusual to breastfeed past the newborn stage though. Although this might be due to having much less maternity leave than UK women. I would be surprised if the general attitude in France is that breast is the norm as usually, the opposite is said.

Well ikn about everywhere. It's a big country and different areas seem to do vastly different things but that is all I have ever experienced or been told.

Other than my first DS who was formula fed pretty early on I can only think of one other baby who switched to formula in the early weeks.

 

[mrsf1234]

Crazy the pressure we mothers put ourselves under. You would think seeing yourbaby thriving however they are fed would be enough to make u feel confident in your decisions as a parent! But there is always something to worry about !

 

[aimee-lou]

I find it disgusting that mothers who have/choose to FF are excluded from these cafe's and groups. It's fundamentally wrong IMO - after all I would never dream of telling a BFing mother not to come to a group for FFers and I think most others would agree with me, and I also would not expect to be excluded because I FF.

Sorry - I'll get off my soap box now lol

In response to the OP - I didn't feel any pressure to FF per-say. I did have one rather zealous mw who tried to change my mind from FF while I was in the birthing pool. My hubby saw to that one for me lol. Otherwise I have simply authoritatively said that we will FF and while I've encountered some persuasive MW's and HV's who are just trying to meet their quota's, the majority are happy just to leave us to it. This has been the case in both East Yorkshire and in Norfolk.