Unfortunately it is lower than you think
How many women breast feed?
Author: Professor Joyce Harper
The world health organisation recommends exclusive breast feeding for the first six months. There are thousands of studies which show that breast milk is better than formula. But the majority of women are not breast feeding.
In the UK, an infant feeding survey is done every five years. The last published figures for 2010 show that at birth, 81% of women breast feed but by 3 months, women that exclusively breast feed drops to 17%. At six months just 1% of women exclusively breast feed but 34% show ‘any breastfeeding’ which means they are also using formula.
From the 2010 report – “Breastfeeding was most common among mothers who were: aged 30 or over, from minority ethnic groups, left education aged over 18, in managerial and professional occupations and living in the least deprived areas.”
So why do women stop breast feeding? Some feel it is too uncomfortable, unpleasant or painful. Breast feeding is not an easy technique to get on with and if your midwife or health visitor does not have time to help you, it might be easier to give up. Some women feel they have insufficient milk – they may feel that their baby is always hungry. It may be easier to get your baby ‘full’ on formula because the fats and proteins in formula take longer to be broken down than those in breast milk and so formula fed babies need feeding less often. And confidence in breast feeding has also been quoted as a reason to stop. Unfortunately there still seems to be an issue with breast feeding in public or people making inappropriate comments which can knock a mothers confidence. Many new Mums face obstacles when trying to breast feed at work. Overall, women need ongoing support and advice on breast feeding but this is not always available.
So what is in formula? Formula is processed, skimmed cows milk with a variety of ingredients added such as vitamins and fatty acids. Manufacturers say that it is based on human breast milk but the composition is very different. From Wikipedia: The most commonly used infant formulas contain purified cow’s milk whey and casein as a protein source, a blend of vegetable oils as a fat source, lactose as a carbohydrate source, a vitamin-mineral mix, and other ingredients depending on the manufacturer. And some are based on soy-milk. I would love to visit a formula factory and see how it is made – I am sure it will put anyone off. This is a really useful comparison between breast milk and formula – Breastfeeding for Dummies. And when using formula there is a lot of work sterilising the bottles, teats, etc. And one thing that is NOT in formula is the antibodies that are found in breast milk.
Before formula was invented, women had to breast feed and usually did this for the first year.
The ten countries with the highest breast feeding rates are: Rwanda: 90%, Sri Lanka: 76%, Cambodia, Solomon Islands, Nepal: 74%, Malawi: 72%, Peru: 71%, Eritrea: 59%, Uganda: 57%, Egypt and Iran: 56%, Bolivia: 50%, Madagascar: 48%.
Read More:
https://www.nct.org.uk/parenting/introducing-formula-milk
https://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_155151.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infant_formula
Image credit: womenfirsthc.com
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I exclusively breast fed for 10 months with my first child and had expressed enough to last for a further two months. So he never had formula. But the second time around I had twins – this was much harder and I could not manage exclusive breast feeding so I had to top up with formula.
It stuns me that people are still so ignorant about this, and find it uncomfortable to see women do it.
I think that women should be given more support to breastfeed. It is a hard skill to master after giving birth and should be encouraged. I know that breast feeding is not for everyone, but if there was more enthusiasm from family, friends and society in general then it would make it a lot easier.
It doesn’t surprise me which countries you’ve listed in those with the higer breast feeding percentages. I would imagine the reason more developed countries are lower is because we are countries of convienience and thus have more options than women from the countries listed. It did surprise me that professionals and managerial level women are more likely to breastfeed – is this perhaps due to a higher level of education? because they most certainly have the option to use formula. You would think they would have “less time” for breastfeeding, but maybe its a lifestyle thing, it could even be that their lifestyles allow for more control over their hours, and thus maybe its better suited than the average woman who does general working hours, or shifts. Who knows.