Interview with Sky News, A New Breastfeeding study.
Yesterday I was interviewed by Sky News and asked to comment on a new study that has just been released
Research published by the British Medical Journal suggests £31m could be saved by doubling the number of mums who breastfeed for between seven and 18 months as it would reduce their risk of breast cancer, which is costly to treat.
Another £11m could be saved if women who exclusively breastfeed for one week can be encouraged to keep going for four months, because it would help to cut the incidence of common childhood diseases.
The report claims the NHS could realise the savings without persuading more women to breastfeed.
Rather, it hinges on helping those who have already chosen to do so to extend the overall duration of breastfeeding.
Breastfeeding is a personal choice for a mum to make as to whether she does or doesn't want to try it.
There should be no pressure on the mums who decide it’s not for them and prefer to bottle feed.
Equally some mums try to Breastfeed but cannot continue for one reason or another-whether that be health related or for practical reasons and they should also not be made to feel guilty for moving onto formula feeding their baby.
This study regarding the mums who do start Breastfeeding and would like to continue, states that there is not enough support to enable mums to keep Breastfeeding going long term. I would definitely agree with that.
I have 20-30 ( plus )mums per day emailing me for advice and the common problem they have is that there is no help and advice available to them easily from their local health visitor, midwife or Breastfeeding support groups via the NHS.
When they need additional help they are having to pay for lactation consultants and outside help and for mums who's finances cannot stretch to that, it means they don't get the help and advice they need at a crucial stage of Breastfeeding.
Eventually they may be so exhausted and not sure if they are on the right path and end up giving up Breastfeeding, as they are unable to keep up physically and mentally with the demands of it, without the correct advice.
I provide a free email advice service to parents for that reason. I'm at the end of an email for them to ask me all those quick questions that can mean the difference between them feeling supported and persevering with breastfeeding, knowing they are on the right track or giving up!
Support and encouragement is vital to help a mum continue and giving her a guide to work towards means she can feel happier, less consumed by the demands of Breastfeeding and therefore enjoy her baby more.
However, pressuring mums from the outset to do a minimum of 7-18 months of exclusive Breastfeeding is the wrong way to go about it.
There is already enough pressure that we put on ourselves to succeed and as parents we will naturally do the best for our babies anyway.
For most, it won't be practical to be able to continue for that long, particularly if they have to return to work within a specified amount of time.
If they want more mums to continue Breastfeeding for longer then they need to provide the additional help and support without the pressure!
You can read more about the study here
Hi there,
I think you are doing a wonderful thing providing free breastfeeding advice.
I just wanted to share my very very difficult breastfeeding experinece with you.
I had a very very difficult labour and ended up having a spinal block so my legs were numb and not functioning properly for a few days.
After giving birth I was exhausted and unwell and could not keep my eyes open, however as I was encouraged to exclusively breastfeed I had to keep hobbling out of bed all nigt long to feed baby. All the other mums in my ward were combined feeding to my surprise and their babies were sleeping through the night. Also my milk didn’t come in til the 5th day so naturally baby was hungry frequently.
If I could do this all again I would have given baby a bottle for his night feed.
Then came massive problems with an
oversupply of milk. I was very uncomfortable for a long time and one side was producing way more than the otherside as I only used one side in the hospital and I was in there for a few days.
At 5 months now it is better but initially I would not leave the house or the baby with anyone even for a while from a fear if missing a feed and getting extremely engorged and get mastitis, I could not keep up with the amount of milk I wasproducing and my breasts kept getting lumpy and painful.
I ended up paying a breastfeeding specialist who I met at the clinic to come and show me how to increase milk on one side and reduce it on the otherside. It was not easy and very painful.
I had sore nipples constantly for about 3 months and would often been in tears feeding baby as it was so often and I was in pain. The breastfeeding support group, nor the midwives even mentioned a possibility of my baby having a tonge tie. I was doing everything thing you are supposed to do to heal them, airing them out, applying breastmilk and using lanolin.
As it was not getting better and only worse I did a lot of research and found out about tongue ties. I tried contacting my health visitor to speak to her about it but I could not get hold of her for a few days. Again I paid a lactation consultant privately to come and assess my baby for tongue and then again to do the procedure as it turned out he did have a tongue tie. Slowly my nipples healed and got better.
When I told my health visitor about this she said well of course they are going to tell you baby has tongue tie because you are paying them!!
I felt like I had such a hard time with breastfeeding and it could have been not so bad with the right help. I tried giving up a few times by taking sage tincture and hoping it would decrease my milk, but ended up feeling guilty so just continued.
Nobody warns you how hard it can be and the problems that you can encounter!
Thank you for listening and well done again!