I spent the first year of my little girls’ life in Norway (where I am from), and the best part of my little boy’s first year here in Ireland, and I will be the first person to say that when it comes to breastfeeding – these two countries are miles – MILES – apart.
At home, close to 90 percent of babies are exclusively breastfed for the first six months of their lives – many still getting breastmilk until they are 12 months, some even longer. But the biggest difference, I suppose, is that this isn’t really debated or discussed or even made a big deal about – it’s just the way it is.
Seeing a breastfeeding mother in Norway is so normal that no-one will bat an eyelid, no matter what the setting or circumstance. What’s more – there is a whole less talk about babies “being good” and “sleep routines” and all sorts of other very common topics of conversations I discovered were quite the norm here in Ireland when you have an infant. In fact, I, for one, believe that the pressure to get your baby on a routine and sleeping through the night pretty much from the get-go is one of the major reasons breastfeeding stats are so shocking here as opposed to in Scandinavia.
However, in countries where breastfeeding is still not the norm, and still regarded by some as something that should be hidden away, how the heck are kids supposed to learn not only to view it as normal, but also feel like this is something that they will be doing themselves someday?
In the UK, it is currently being discussed whether or not to bring breastfeeding into the school curriculum, a suggestion that is receiving a varied reception. But why shouldn’t the idea be taken seriously – I mean; just like children learn about any other aspect of biology, child development and social science, they should also be taught how babies are fed and the impact this can have, no?
The truth is that breastfeeding is part of the reproductive cycle but also fits with other areas of the curriculum, too. Students are taught about lifestyle factors that affect cancer risk, but rarely about the protection breastfeeding offers against female reproductive cancers. What’s more, they learn about history, politics and global health so why not the devastating impact formula promotion has caused in developing countries?
And sure, in a tightly packed curriculum, it can be hard to justify any addition, but the fact is that public attitudes to and understanding of breastfeeding and human milk needs to change. The UK have some of the lowest breastfeeding rates in the developed world, and Ireland isn’t much better, to be honest, and changing the next generation’s knowledge and attitudes is pretty much critical to improving this.
According to TheConversation.com, at least a third of people in the UK think women shouldn’t breastfeed in public, or that a toilet is an acceptable place to feed a baby. Other stats show that although we may state breastfeeding is optimal, we think it makes little differenfce if babies aren’t breastfed. Still, it seems, our attitudes and logic are skewed towards formula being normal, which, unfortunately, can reduce the likelihood that women get the right support to breastfeed, risking the health of mothers and babies.
And worringly, the younger generations are the least supportive of breastfeeding, with as many as 80 percent of students believe that breastfeeding in public is not acceptable – an attitude that no doubt stems from less than half of teenagers never having seen a baby being breastfed.
Just think about it – have you ever seen a children’s book with pictures of a baby being breastfed? If you buy a baby doll, it comes with a plastic bottle, so your toddler can feed their doll baby. We teach kids so much about how bodies work – why does it stop at breastfeeding?
What do YOU think, parents? Would you feel happy if breastfeeding was included in the curriculum here in Ireland? Or do you not think there is a need to change the status quo?
