Enough of the breast-beating

You may have seen a segment on TV3 Midday on Wednesday where a recent article that claimed breastfed babies are more intelligent was heavily criticised.  I expected this piece was going to be reactionary and anti-breastfeeding as one of the panelists was Aileen Hickie, writer of an article entitled "Is Breastfeeding Really Best?" a number of months ago.  Quite why I feel the need to seek out and watch stuff that is guaranteed to get my blood boiling is a mystery to me,  but afterwards when I'd calmed to a gentle simmer, I thought of the long-term implications this sort of thing has on the health of the nation.  It seems that every time a study points to the benefits of breastfeeding, the media commentary around it involves such an outpouring of negativity that it probably turns more women off than on.    And this is very bad news for the HSE.


Ireland has one of the lowest rates of breastfeeding in the world.  We also have some of the highest rates of obesity, breast and ovarian cancer, heart attacks, osteoporosis and asthma (4th highest in the world!).  Breastfeeding provides protection against all of these illnesses, and more, via benefits to the mother or baby.    It obviously makes sense for there to be a national strategy to increase breastfeeding rates.  But this strategy is not backed up by the resources to make it happen and the efforts of those who are implementing policy are often falling woefully short of expectations.   Instead, women who don't want to breastfeed feel it is pushed at them by midwives while those who need help to get breastfeeding established often find it's not forthcoming because the post-natal wards are too busy or the advice they get is different each day depending on who is on duty.    Some public health nurses don't seem to be aware of current best practice around breastfeeding and are peddling misinformation that could damage a successful breastfeeding relationship.    Yes, there are wonderful midwives and nurses out there doing a great job but a lot of women seem to be angry about their experiences around feeding and this contributes to a perceived breast vs bottle divide which makes no sense in a country where breastfeeding rates to one year are so embarrassingly tiny that almost every mother will end up giving her baby formula at some stage anyway.

As things currently stand, the only way that breastfeeding rates will increase is through peer-to-peer support of those who want to breastfeed via organisations such as Cuidiu, La Leche League and Friends of Breastfeeding.   Everyone who breastfeeds successfully knows that it is up to us to promote it, because national policy alone isn't enough and in any case, we all need to contribute to creating a breastfeeding culture.  This is why we react against the likes of Aileen Hickie who casually frightens women on daytime television by talking about how trying unsuccessfully to breastfeed leads to post-natal depression.     She then views the backlash against such comments as militantism by what she calls the breastfeeding mafia.  Defending breastfeeding is not about bashing those who formula feed their babies, it is about trying to encourage those who might breastfeed in the future.  Promoting breastfeeding is not done to make anyone feel guilty, but the health benefits are proven and mothers-to-be need to know about them.  Improving our breastfeeding rates would impact on the incidence of the serious illnesses mentioned above and many more besides. 


Maybe,one day,  if  the country invests wisely in our long term health by requiring PHNs and midwives to regularly take refresher courses to update both their breastfeeding knowledge and their people skills, we can all be friends again.   Breastfeeding rates will soar and the nation will be slim and wheeze free.


Well, a girl can dream......!