Skip to content
By askamum.co.uk
No one’s in any doubt that breastfeeding is the best thing for your baby, from the health benefits to the glorious bonding it promotes. And yet levels of breastfeeding in the UK are still surprisingly, bafflingly, low.
According to a recent survey in Mother & Baby magazine, Seventy-eight per cent of new mums start breastfeeding, compared with higher numbers in much of Europe (99% in Norway, 91% in Italy, 84% in Spain). By six months, only 22% of us are still doing so. With this in mind, we at
Find out more about the hurdles British women face when it comes to breastfeeding, just how we are discriminated against and the bizarre places we are forced to breastfeed in.
PLUS for the first time a British publication, Mother & Baby magazine, have proudly placed a breastfeeding mother on the cover and this very special edition of the magazine will be on sale on 9th July or you can buy your copy here.
Related resources
Upload stories, photos or videos direct to the site .
Add your comment
Sign in You must be signed in to submit a comment.
M&B survey results out now. Britain failing breastfeeding mothers
Subject
Your comment
By submitting your comment, you agree to adhere to the askamum Terms and conditions
You must be logged in to subscribe to a topic
Login or register now
alexanderj621 says
RE: M&B survey results out now. Britain failing breastfeeding mothers
I know it is only a soap, but I couldn't help noticing that when Maria in Coronation Street just had her baby she never seemed to breast feed at all. Surely our popular culture is a reflection of this issue and it was a missed opportunity not to have her breastfeeding, or even any discussion about it. I breast fed for 14 months and was the only person I knew who carried on past 6 months. I am not surprised about the survey however, it was almost frowned upon by everyone, particularly once my baby was bigger and it was not so easy to be discrete about it.
12 July 2009 16:30
metju says
I see Mothercare mentioned among the BF "friendly" places in the link below the article - well, of all places it was Mothercare that suggested I BF at the loo! I never had a problem at any cafes. Also some shopping centres provide private cubicles where you can BF if you don't want to do it in a cafe (usually there's a changing table there as well though). I'd advise all mums struggling to BF look to charities for help (such as NCT, LLL, BfN), not midwives or health visitors - they don't get as much training in BF as volunteers for the charities do and often give outdated or wrong advice.
I see Mothercare mentioned among the BF "friendly" places in the link below the article - well, of all places it was Mothercare that suggested I BF at the loo! I never had a problem at any cafes. Also some shopping centres provide private cubicles where you can BF if you don't want to do it in a cafe (usually there's a changing table there as well though).
I'd advise all mums struggling to BF look to charities for help (such as NCT, LLL, BfN), not midwives or health visitors - they don't get as much training in BF as volunteers for the charities do and often give outdated or wrong advice.
09 July 2009 20:21
katbroon says
The support I received in breastfeeding my son was shocking. Despite having a semi-elective caesarean the hospital offered minimal support in general and a totally contradicting approach in breastfeeding depending on the midwife. After less than 36 hours I left as my need were not being met in any shape or form. The community midwives were not great either and despite tellinng them I was unsure of positioning etc she falsified my notes saying everything was fine and my son was progressing well then had the audacity to blame me when my son lost more than 10% of his birthweight. I wasn't going to let this incompetent woman be the end of my breastfeeding and for the next 3 months I expressed until one day he latched on. It was very hard and I'm not sure I could manage it again with my next child should a similar situation arise. The NHS not only need to up their staffing levels both in hospitals and the community teams but they also need to weed out those who are unable to give proper support to those who want to breastfeed their children and adopt a unified approach across the board. It is also not acceptable that the NHS relies on charitable groups should as Baby Cafe to provide breastfeeding advice that should be available from their own staff! Luckily I have never been asked to leave anywhere for breastfeeding but I have had 'the look'. I did however have a little speech prepared which involved the words 'perverted [notions about the female body]' and 'promoting child abuse [by not feeding my child]' being spoken rather loudly .
The support I received in breastfeeding my son was shocking. Despite having a semi-elective caesarean the hospital offered minimal support in general and a totally contradicting approach in breastfeeding depending on the midwife. After less than 36 hours I left as my need were not being met in any shape or form. The community midwives were not great either and despite tellinng them I was unsure of positioning etc she falsified my notes saying everything was fine and my son was progressing well then had the audacity to blame me when my son lost more than 10% of his birthweight.
I wasn't going to let this incompetent woman be the end of my breastfeeding and for the next 3 months I expressed until one day he latched on. It was very hard and I'm not sure I could manage it again with my next child should a similar situation arise.
The NHS not only need to up their staffing levels both in hospitals and the community teams but they also need to weed out those who are unable to give proper support to those who want to breastfeed their children and adopt a unified approach across the board. It is also not acceptable that the NHS relies on charitable groups should as Baby Cafe to provide breastfeeding advice that should be available from their own staff!
Luckily I have never been asked to leave anywhere for breastfeeding but I have had 'the look'. I did however have a little speech prepared which involved the words 'perverted [notions about the female body]' and 'promoting child abuse [by not feeding my child]' being spoken rather loudly .
09 July 2009 15:19
yummy-mummy says
RE: M&B survey reveals Britain failing breastfeeding mothers
i bottle fed my first 2 children and would love to try breast feeding this time round but im scared when bubs needs feeding out in public, everywhere should be more breast feeding friendly and if someone doesnt like it then dont look
08 July 2009 20:50
Parenting Tools
