There has recently been a review on our national breastfeeding strategy in Australia. If you are interested here are a couple of the answers that I gave in the consultation. (Sorry I've just done a cut and paste job on the answers I thought might be relevant to your question... feel free to skip bits you're not interested in!)
"In your experience, did promotion of breastfeeding while you (or your partner) was pregnant encourage starting and/or continuing breastfeeding? What things seemed to help the most? Why?"
Information was not provided to me in any form, I had to actively seek out information on breastfeeding while I was pregnant (and still do). The information I received was via the ABA (Australian Breastfeeding Association) website and a course that I went to provided by the ABA that focused on establishing breastfeeding. The course helped significantly as it gave me confidence in my ability to breastfeed regardless of the differing advice from others (family/friends and medical professionals). Without the course I don’t think there would have been another avenue for me to receive this vital information.
"Do you think that support and the promotion of breastfeeding should be provided consistently to all mothers and women across Australia?"
Yes, absolutely. I think that the lack of consistency in the advice given by medical professionals is one of the biggest barriers to establishing and maintaining a successful breastfeeding relationship with baby. I received VERY different advice regarding breastfeeding from nurses, midwives and paediatricians before even leaving hospital. Since then I have continued to receive conflicting advice from many medical professionals including my M&CH nurse, GP, the ABA and a lactation consultant. I was determined to breastfeed and was able to feel confident in forming my own opinion on what was going to work for me and my child, however, I can imagine how this confusion would easily lead to a mother giving up on breastfeeding altogether.
"Do you think that there is enough breastfeeding support provided to new mothers?"
It is improving with things like the ABA's mum to mum hotline, however I feel that it is up to the mother to seek out the information which means that uniformed mothers may miss out on that support.
"How do you think breastfeeding promotion and / or support could be better provided?"
I feel it is essential that there is an increase in community awareness of breastfeeding and its challenges. I think some mothers are too quick to think that when something isn't going right with breastfeeding it means that they ‘can't breastfeed'. From my experience, I think many mothers don’t realise that if you persist through the initial discomfort of breastfeeding, the benefits to mother and baby (not to mention convenience) of breastfeeding far outweigh that of bottle feeding. I think if this type of information is more ‘common knowledge’, women can be more prepared to face the challenges that are more than likely to occur.
Breastfeeding supporters sometimes have the tendency to be seen as overbearing and strictly ‘anti formula’. This needs to be taken into consideration when developing the promotional strategy. The promotion of breastfeeding needs to focus on the reality of breastfeeding rather than the medical/statistics etc. People need to know that the majority of people CAN breastfeed and there are only a few medical conditions that will prevent a mother from breastfeeding. They need to realise that hurdles encountered during establishing breastfeeding can be overcome with the right support and advice.
As mentioned previously, the information and support provided to mothers from health professionals needs to become consistent.
In addition, as someone who is planning to continue breastfeeding past one year of age, I think an increase in community awareness and support for breastfeeding would help immensely with the negative feedback I am already receiving from family and friends who think that extended breastfeeding is wrong, disgusting or of no benefit.