Breastfeeding rates and advertising

The other day it occurred to me that maybe the advertising that deters
women from breastfeeding isn't primarily that which promotes formula
but that instead maybe it's the fault of advertising (and a culture in
general) that objectifies women and their breasts. Maybe so many women
don't breastfeed because they feel uncomfortable using their breasts in
this natural manner after being saturated with the message that their
breasts are for sex.

I wonder if the thought of a baby sucking on the boob is weird to many
women who are raised in a culture where women are very sexualized and
they figure they'll just use formula and avoid the subject. Also maybe
their husbands etc are more comfortable with that too.

It's just that in some countries the rates are so dismal I can't fathom
it all being due to formula advertising, which frankly as a non-mom
never caught my eye. It's not like childless women are exposed to all
the baby/parenting crap that you get barraged with when you get
pregnant/have a baby.

Thoughts anyone?

Elle

wrote:
The other day it occurred to me that maybe the advertising that deters
women from breastfeeding isn't primarily that which promotes formula
but that instead maybe it's the fault of advertising (and a culture in
general) that objectifies women and their breasts. Maybe so many women
don't breastfeed because they feel uncomfortable using their breasts in
this natural manner after being saturated with the message that their
breasts are for sex.

I wonder if the thought of a baby sucking on the boob is weird to many
women who are raised in a culture where women are very sexualized and
they figure they'll just use formula and avoid the subject. Also maybe
their husbands etc are more comfortable with that too.

It's just that in some countries the rates are so dismal I can't fathom
it all being due to formula advertising, which frankly as a non-mom
never caught my eye. It's not like childless women are exposed to all
the baby/parenting crap that you get barraged with when you get
pregnant/have a baby.

Thoughts anyone?

I really think you could be onto something, it's certainly something
I've thought of. In all the recent debates on the best way to increase
bf'ing rates, many of the replies don't seem to want to take into
consideration those women that just don't want to bf'd. I strongly feel
advocates should be asking 'why' these don't want to bf, as well as why
they use formula. Women have always been concious of their body shape
but the increase in cosmetic surgery is frankly scary and I can't help
think this increased body conciousness has had an impact on the way
women view the use of their bodies. In particular their boobs- ie. for
men's approval rather than feeding their babies. I think some detailed
research on this is needed in order to help increase the bf'ing rates.

Jeni

wrote:

The other day it occurred to me that maybe the advertising that deters
women from breastfeeding isn't primarily that which promotes formula
but that instead maybe it's the fault of advertising (and a culture in
general) that objectifies women and their breasts. Maybe so many women
don't breastfeed because they feel uncomfortable using their breasts in
this natural manner after being saturated with the message that their
breasts are for sex.
[snip]

I wholeheartedly agree.

I had one mom, just the other day, who had breastfed her daughter, talk
about being mildly appalled by another mother breastfed her baby in
public without "covering up". That's why, if I'm asked about it at my
son's elementary school, I tell them the baby is breast-fed, and make
sure to add, "that's what they (breasts) are for." (the kids are very
curious about all aspects of baby-rearing, though I've never actually
fed him there....)
--
Cheri Stryker
mom to DS1 - almost 7!, and DS2 - almost 3 months

wrote in message
oups.com...
The other day it occurred to me that maybe the advertising that deters
women from breastfeeding isn't primarily that which promotes formula
but that instead maybe it's the fault of advertising (and a culture in
general) that objectifies women and their breasts. Maybe so many women
don't breastfeed because they feel uncomfortable using their breasts in
this natural manner after being saturated with the message that their
breasts are for sex.

I wonder if the thought of a baby sucking on the boob is weird to many
women who are raised in a culture where women are very sexualized and
they figure they'll just use formula and avoid the subject. Also maybe
their husbands etc are more comfortable with that too.

It's just that in some countries the rates are so dismal I can't fathom
it all being due to formula advertising, which frankly as a non-mom
never caught my eye. It's not like childless women are exposed to all
the baby/parenting crap that you get barraged with when you get
pregnant/have a baby.

Thoughts anyone?

Elle

I will admit that having a baby sucking on my boob WAS a weird concept. Oh
sure, I *knew* that it was done, and that was what was best, but I had never
seen anyone breastfeed, had not been educated much about it, so it was a
pretty foreign idea. And with my first daughter, I was a single mom, and
had zero support of family or friends. I tried, halfheartedly to bf, but
struggled and gave up quickly. This time around, I had loads more support,
but still hated breastfeeding. It didn't feel natural, which is crazy,
because it's the most natural thing in the world. But that's just how I
felt.

Perhaps, in environments where you are raised to see it more normally and a
healthy thing to do, you just grow up with that mindset. I don't know...

Betsy (from Oregon)

wrote and I snipped:
The other day it occurred to me that maybe the advertising that deters
women from breastfeeding isn't primarily that which promotes formula
but that instead maybe it's the fault of advertising (and a culture in
general) that objectifies women and their breasts. Maybe so many women
don't breastfeed because they feel uncomfortable using their breasts in
this natural manner after being saturated with the message that their
breasts are for sex.

I wonder if the thought of a baby sucking on the boob is weird to many
women who are raised in a culture where women are very sexualized and
they figure they'll just use formula and avoid the subject. Also maybe
their husbands etc are more comfortable with that too.

Thoughts anyone?

Dr. Katherine Dettwyler, anthropologist, spoke on this topic at LLL area
conference here some years back. She noted that not all cultures see
women's breasts as sexual objects. The people in Mali (Africa) that she
worked with were shocked that Western adult men would mouth their partner's
breasts *like a baby*! She has an article on the cultural context of
breastfeeding at her site:

http://www.kathydettwyler.org/dettwyler.html

I love reading her anthropological perspectives on breastfeeding and
co-sleeping.

-Patty, mom of 1+2

hmm, where I live it doesn't seem to be initiating breastfeeding that is a
problem, even in my very local area where rates at all ages are lower than
the rest of the city, but still better than an equivalent area in a
different location. The problem generally seems to be carrying on, I was
shocked a couple of weeks ago when I popped into our local new mums group
and all the people who were there were formula feeding, but I know that
almost all of them breastfeed for 2-4 months, maybe more.

I know that there is a huge drop off between birth and 6 weeks, which I can
understand, it generally seems to be to do with difficulties and tiredness
and the way to change that is improving support, but after 2 or so months
those initial problems should be over, yet vast swathes of people seem to
stop after that point. When I've talked to people the most common answer is
along the lines of they've had enough, which I suppose says something about
the way you see your body, but I'm not sure it's sexual, more ownership.

I also find that what more general support there is can often be unhelpful,
I have a friend who is bfing her 10 month old, she is a very atypical
breastfeeder, very low level of education, unmarried, smoker etc. yet I've
never heard any of the workers at any of the groups we go to encourage her
to carry on to a year, she's not even clear what she wants herself, but
she's definitely not beeing given the message that carrying on is the best
for both of them and if I dare to say so I get people disagreeing, not mums,
but people who are paid and trained to be supporting families.

I wish I was going to be living in this area longer as I would love to get
involved with evaluating how breastfeeding rates have changed since various
initiatives have started and also look at what other things we could do.

The only way that I think formula adverts do make a difference is that I
feel that the general belief is that it is impossible to never feed a baby
formula.

Anne

On Wed, 24 May 2006, Anne Rogers wrote:

When I've talked to people the most common answer is
along the lines of they've had enough, which I suppose says something about
the way you see your body, but I'm not sure it's sexual, more ownership.

I think much of it has to do with how people see parenthood. You've got
baby pods, you've got car seat systems with basket handles, you've got
nurseries across the house from the "master bedroom", you've got all these
newfangled gadgets to separate the kid from the physical contact with
parents, and it's just an extension to think breastfeeding is an
inconvenience. I just want to hold pregnant women by the shoulders and say
"Many babies don't sleep through the night for their first year. Babies
want to be held because it's GOOD FOR THEM. Babies are not manipulative
or spoiled if you give them what they need. Now go to the dentist."

T Flynn wrote:
On Wed, 24 May 2006, Anne Rogers wrote:

When I've talked to people the most common answer is
along the lines of they've had enough, which I suppose says something about
the way you see your body, but I'm not sure it's sexual, more ownership.

I think much of it has to do with how people see parenthood. You've got
baby pods, you've got car seat systems with basket handles, you've got
nurseries across the house from the "master bedroom", you've got all these
newfangled gadgets to separate the kid from the physical contact with
parents, and it's just an extension to think breastfeeding is an
inconvenience. I just want to hold pregnant women by the shoulders and say
"Many babies don't sleep through the night for their first year. Babies
want to be held because it's GOOD FOR THEM. Babies are not manipulative
or spoiled if you give them what they need. Now go to the dentist."

Yea and nay -- I remember being 'touched out' when my girls were
little. They Bjorned, we co-slept, they night nursed (and nursed until
~2.5), we cuddled...and yet, at a certain point I really remember
feeling that I wanted to spend just one day without being touched (and
my DH was primarily working out of town, so one can't blame him).

I never mastered NIP, and basically never did it. For me, there was
also something about exposing my body (hey, I'll sporadically wear
walking shorts in the summer -- but that's about it) that I wasn't
comfortable with -- likewise, I'm not comfortable with the social kiss,
or the out-of-nowhere hug. So as an alternate data point, maybe women
don't NIP because they just don't want to expose themselves (call it
what you will -- unduly hung-up, recovering from being verly oogled as
a young woman, or just plain fuddy-duddy).

Caledonia

On 24 May 2006, Caledonia wrote:

I never mastered NIP, and basically never did it. For me, there was
also something about exposing my body (hey, I'll sporadically wear
walking shorts in the summer -- but that's about it) that I wasn't
comfortable with -- likewise, I'm not comfortable with the social kiss,
or the out-of-nowhere hug. So as an alternate data point, maybe women
don't NIP because they just don't want to expose themselves (call it
what you will -- unduly hung-up, recovering from being verly oogled as
a young woman, or just plain fuddy-duddy).

I rarely/barely ever nursed in public. I occasionally nursed at a
rear-facing seat in the library computer lab -- there was virtually no way
anyone could see anything -- or I'd wedge myself into a back little corner
away from anyone else. But even this wasn't until after she was like 3
months old. Maybe it's the whole Advanced Maternal Age thing, but I was
barely able to leave the house until she was 3-4 months old.

I think that's part of it, too -- our society now seems to tell women
they're freaks if they're not absolutely 100% back to pre-maternity
clothes with energy levels to match before the one month birthday, and six
week maternity leaves are ridiculous.

"T Flynn" wrote in message
...
I think that's part of it, too -- our society now seems to tell women
they're freaks if they're not absolutely 100% back to pre-maternity
clothes with energy levels to match before the one month birthday, and six
week maternity leaves are ridiculous.

You might be onto something here. With the Hollywood push to return to your
"pre-baby figure" within weeks there's also been a trend for non-celebrities
to do the same. Some women opt to have a caeserian section rather than VB as
they can piggy back a "mummy tuck" onto the section. Yes - women are having
tummy tucks immediately after giving birth. And I mean immediately, two
operations, no waiting.

A woman I used to know declared she was not going to have kids because she
didn't want to "get fat". Her whole family was grossly obese and of the
three kids, only she and her sister slimmed down drastically (both were
triathletes, went to extremes to remain slim) while the brother was big like
the parents. I heard that she had a baby around the same time as I had Matt
and it just made me wonder whether she breastfed this baby or whether she
chose to return to the gym. I know that it's not an either/or situation, but
some people view it that way. Heavy exercise makes breast milk taste funny.

I saw breastfeeding as a way to slowly melt away the kilos and most will
agree that sensible eating, sensible exercise and bf'ing is the way to go.
Takes 9 months to create then push out this sucker! So why should it take 2
weeks to recover? But many people value their looks above anything else. Or
some may be scared of the sins of their family being visited upon them if
they are not extremely careful.

So we have the "convenience" of formula coupled with the beauty cult. Then
on top of that you have the sexualisation of women's breasts. Is it any
wonder that breastfeeding rates are down?