A small study conducted by Public Health England and the NHS shows that around 75% of women start breastfeeding when their baby is born, but by the time babies hit the 8-week milestone, that number drops to 44%.

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The study also brought up the reasons why many new mums stop breastfeeding after the first 6 to 8 weeks.

The 500 mums (of newborns to 18-month-olds) questioned revealed their concerns about breastfeeding, for example:

  • 74% of those mums agreed that breastfeeding could be painful
  • just over half noted that they agreed breastfeeding could ’tie them down and stop them from doing what they want’
  • 54% said they were concerned that, with breastfeeding, they were unable to ensure they were giving their baby the correct amount of milk
  • others said they weren't confident their baby was getting the right nutrients.

With such serious worries as these, it comes as no surprise to us that a significant number of women don’t feel able to continue and switch to formula milk.

And while we know that there are certainly benefits to breastfeeding - these concerns definitely rang true for a few members of the MFM team.

Have your say

We wanna hear from you if you switched to formula feeding - why was it? Was it one of the reasons above, or something else?

Did you find breastfeeding painful - and if so, were you able to continue?

Please do feel free to share your stories with us in the comments below, or on Facebook

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Authors

Elizabeth Atkin
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