Like the new look? It took me hours but it's finally nearly done, some tweaking is still required and I'm going to change the header image as soon as I can take & make a better one, but this one will have to do for the moment.

Here's the rant about breastfeeding re: Aitch's post yesterday that I promised in the last message. I better start off by saying that even though this is a bit of a rant, I did not write it to criticise mothers who give their babies formula. If in doubt, please read through carefully.

I've had some rough opinions in the past about bottle-feeding and "posh mothers whining about how much they would've loved to breastfeed but just couldn't", but yesterday Aitch's post made me think again. Her story was so genuine and my heart goes out to her and everyone else who have had no choice but to give their child formula. It immediately made me regret some of the 'statements' gave a couple of months ago.

Well over the toughest part of breastfeeding, I hope I can finally muse upon the subject without being too subjective. It broke my heart even to give Lukas even those few bottles when he was screaming his hunger in the dead of night during the second month. I was terrified when during the first meeting with my health visitor she told me Lukas is such a big baby that I will probably have to use formula regularly to supplement and wondered if he was going to last past 3 months without solids. Now despite our differing attitudes around feeding, I still think my health visitor is a great lady, don't get me wrong.

I still believe that the lack of support is the biggest problem to women's inability to breastfeed in the UK, and the health personnel have a habit of very eagerly telling women that only the most fortunate of mothers are able to breastfeed. I think I've already mentioned the several times the wonderful book I read during my pregnancy, Gabrielle Palmer's Politics of Breastfeeding. I'm not even going to start to summarise it here, but you can probably guess the message of the book. The cultural factors and the support of the society have everything to do with the success in breastfeeding.

Despite the heavy promotion of breastfeeding in the UK, there is a serious lack of follow-on and real support you get from the health professionals. This includes midwifes, doctors, GP's and health visitors. Breastfeeding is pushed on the level of principle, but when women find it difficult and encounter problems during the first weeks and months, the quick solution - formula - is often offered first. Even if other routes are explored (as Aitch mentioned in her post), the seed of failure is planted in the mother's mind.

Midwifes, ante-natal group instructors and even breastfeeding counsellors are so careful not to push their message in case they might offend someone, that "everyone should breastfeed" often becomes "technically we recommend that breastfeeding is best for the baby, but not all mothers can breastfeed, there are so many things that can go wrong, so if it doesn't work for you don't feel bad about it". I have nothing against formula-feeding, if that's the mother's choice, but it shouldn't be a choice the society makes for the mothers.

The results of the discrepancy between the campaigning and deficient support are well reflected in the endless breastfeeding/formula conversations in the Internet parenting forums. Breastfeeding advocates who word their opinions a little less carefully are called breastfeeding 'fascists' and 'terrorists', probably by mothers who been left on their own struggling with breastfeeding and are now having difficulties coping with the "failure". I think most those who support breastfeeding would agree that there is absolutely nothing wrong with giving your baby formula, as long as you're not doing it for selfish reasons. In my opinion, even doing it for selfish reasons is OK, if it's your own conscious decision.