Stephanie Smith: Educate, but don’t bribe women to breastfeed

In 21st-century South Yorkshire, new mums are to be paid to breastfeed their own babies, given vouchers for supermarkets and stores such as John Lewis and Mothercare. It’s a pilot study by the University of Sheffield, concentrating in areas where breastfeeding rates are half the UK average. So, 130 new mothers will be given £40 if they breastfeed for two days, another £40 at 10 days, up to a total of £200 at six months.

Not everyone is impressed, and parenting forums have been buzzing with mums expressing scorn, doubt, even anger. One mother, who had tried to breastfeed and failed, said it might be better to invest in more breastfeeding support –“especially in hospitals, where absolutely no one helped me”.

Just how vital those early hours and days, often spent in hospital, really are for establishing breastfeeding is underlined by recent national statistics showing that, while more than 80 per cent of mums start off breastfeeding, within a week, less than half of all new mothers are breastfeeding exclusively, citing as reasons sore nipples, no latch-on and not enough milk. New mums are also less likely to feed if none of their friends does so.

Breastfeeding is a deeply emotive issue, and that can be hard to understand, and explain. But I still recall the hurt at being asked, 15 years ago, not to breastfeed in a lunchtime restaurant. Not hurt for myself, but hurt and protective for my baby, then confused and upset at living in a world where mothers feeding babies naturally was not accepted. And that seems to be how many mums still feel, whether they breastfeed or don’t – hurt, guilty, lonely, angry, unsupported.

Under the Sheffield study, both mums and midwives will have to sign forms agreeing that breastfeeding is taking place, although the Royal College of Midwives seems less than convinced about financial incentives. Its policy advisor Janet Fyle called for more investment in midwives, commenting that breastfeeding “has to be something that a mother wants to do in the interest of the health and well-being of her child”.

I wonder if it might not have been a better idea to try giving 130 South Yorkshire mums shopping vouchers as a reward for attending pre-natal talks and workshops on breastfeeding, run by midwives and mothers from their own communities, women they will listen to. When it comes to a matter as deeply personal, emotional and emotive as breastfeeding your baby, surely it is better to encourage and educate mothers (indeed, the whole community), rather than question, bribe or financially force them to do so?

Twitter: @yorkshirefashQ