Something I wondered about - re cost of formula. - Page 2

[laohaire]

It seems the rates can vary significantly by locale, and even a SINGLE PERSON can make a difference.

Here, a single person did make a difference. We are a working class blue collar town and probably had low BF rates. We have one Super-LC in the area working tirelessly and having gained the trust of the Ped's and OB's in the area (difficult to do!) and giving very good advice (I know because she saved my BFing relationship, and it was not the simplest matter). We have an 87% initiation rate, but I forgot what the 6 month rate is. It's not ideal, but I believe this one woman has brought up the rates probably 20% or more all by herself.

[AlexisT]

Originally Posted by BugMacGee

I worked with some community MW's in Edinburgh in 1999 (while in nursing school). At that time, the US had better BF'ing rates than the UK. I think i remember the BF'ing info packet saying it was optimal to BF exclusively for the first 3 months.

It seems like the rates would be better since the MW's did follow up visits after birth.

Not necessarily. In many areas it's the MWs and HVs who are the source of the problem. They trained 20-30 years ago and there's no funding for retraining, so they're the prime sources of bad advice. A lot of older MWs and HVs push supplementation, scheduling, and early solids.

IMO we won't see a substantial improvement in UK breastfeeding rates unless we retrain all the midwives.

[xakana]

This has all been really fascinating to read, the comparison between the two regions.

And I agree that it's largely about support. I can't count the number of times women have said they gave up because they were pressured to do so or had no help NOT giving up. Although I've seen plenty get all the support and still quit *sigh* because they want to and after finally running out of excuses, they just disappear from the support groups.