Breast-feeding mothers need support - they can't be expected to overcome two generations of bottle culture single-handed, writes Louise Holden
Being a breast feeder in Ireland is a bit like being gay - it's between 10 and 20 per cent prevalent, it's widely considered a "lifestyle choice" instead of a biological imperative, and despite being natural it is not generally regarded as normal.
About 40 per cent of Irish mothers are starting out on the breast, but only a fraction are making it to three months, and fewer still to the the World Health Organisation's recommended six months mark. Broad-based research on duration rates has yet to be conducted, but professionals in the field reckon that the number of mothers breast-feeding to three months is about 10 per cent.
There's an obvious explanation for this - maternity leave in the Republic of Ireland doesn't allow for the luxury of six month's uninterrupted mothering. But many Irish mothers who plan to breast-feed abandon the attempt within weeks, or even days, of baby's arrival.
Even women who come here from breast-feeding cultures are taking to the bottle in Ireland, says Maureen Fallon, National Breast-feeding Coordinator. The availability of free formula is one reason, but the real motivation for many immigrants and asylum seekers to bypass the breast is a desire to fit into a culture where breast-feeding is not normalised.
About 2 per cent of mothers cannot breast-feed for medical reasons. The rest of us are beset by sociological, cultural and psychological barriers to success. Even market forces militate against the breast. Fallon points out that in Britain, where breast-feeding rates are better than here, the amount of money spent on marketing infant formula amounts to roughly £17 per infant, compared to the 10 pence per infant that is spent publicising the benefits of the breast. While hard figures are not available in this State, I suspect there is a similar imbalance here.
I am in the enormously fortunate position of coming from a household where breast-feeding is as normal as putting the kettle on. Or at least my mother has made it look that way. Having seen my younger siblings breast-fed, I never considered any other option. Ever since my first-born arrived, my mother has nurtured my efforts, monitored my diet, insisted on my rest periods and reinforced my choice with constant encouragement and praise.
This is not the experience of many mothers in a country where the bottle has become the norm and the breast the exception. Well-intentioned relatives can scupper a mother's efforts to breast-feed in an attempt to help.
"Everybody in Ireland - GPs, public health nurses, midwives, grandparents and new parents - is coming from a bottle-feeding culture," says Maureen Fallon. "The expertise that new a mother needs to breast-feed is lacking at every level. When she experiences difficulties, she is handed a bottle."
Here, we expect all newborns to behave like bottle-fed babies; feeding regularly, consuming measurable amounts and napping for long periods. This expectation puts pressure on breast-feeding mothers. "Why is my child always looking for food? Isn't he getting enough?" The truth, says La Leche League PRO Margaret McGuigan, is that this constant need in the newborn to be close to its mother is a natural reaction to entering the world, but we have lost touch with that behaviour after two generations of bottle-feeding.
"Pregnancy really has four trimesters. For three months after a baby is born he is still behaving like he's in the womb - unable to tolerate hunger, craving the physical closeness of the mother at all times. His desire to feed constantly is as much about comfort and security as nourishment."
Infants who are noisy, hungry or restless are regarded as abnormal, whereas those who feed four hourly and sleep the rest of the time are doing what babies are supposed to do. This expectation is peculiar to Irish and British cultures, says lactation consultant Genevieve Becker.
"Years of bottle-feeding have given us unrealistic ideas of how babies are supposed to behave," Becker contends. "It goes some way to explaining why our breast-feeding rates are so low in comparison to the rest of Europe." Our anxiety about hungry babies has led to the manufacture of a specific brand of "hungry baby" infant formula which is not available elsewhere in Europe, as there is no demand.
Without role models, the wholehearted support of partner and family, the patronage of professionals and a healthy dollop of self-confidence the obstacles to breast-feeding are difficult to overcome.
It's not fair, says Maureen Fallon, to expect mothers to take on an entire culture single-handedly and succeed. Those that do stay the course without a decent support network are to be heartily commended, but those that don't cannot be blamed for the culture we have created. The best a mother can do is arm herself with as much information about breast-feeding as she can before the child is born. That way she will be prepared for the pitfalls, will have ready defence against naysayers and gentle persuasive strategies for those well meaning loved ones who insist that she "give that child a bottle".
