Supports for and barriers to breastfeeding/bodyfeeding [1]

Note: In my last article I invited readers who were reading this article on email to reply to the email. I have since learned that I didn’t have the reply function turned on. So if you did email me it fell into the internet abyss, please re-send if you can.

Last fortnight I wrote about the myth of “choosing” to bodyfeed. The reality behind the myth is that whether people bodyfeed for as long as they want to has little to do with individual “choice” and a lot to do with their unique circumstances in terms of what barriers they experience and what access to supports they have.

However, this article is not just for people who are planning to bodyfeed or currently bodyfeeding. If your partner is bodyfeeding or plans to do so in the future this article could help you support them (a crucial role, as we will see). And if you wanted to bodyfeed but your infant feeding journey/s didn’t turn out the way you planned, this article could help you explore the combination of barriers and lack or supports that potentially contributed to your experience.

Content note: This is a sensitive topic for many. Please take care while reading – maybe make yourself a hot drink while you read (or better yet, ask someone else to care for you by making you a hot drink!). If you find yourself getting upset, feel free to take a break, engage in any activity that makes you feel safe in your body, and come back to the article later (or not at all!).

For this article I am exploring barriers and supports using a real-life (anonymised) case study. “Josie” (she/her) breastfed her first child for three years and is currently breastfeeding her two-year-old.

I have put bodyfeeding supports/barriers into five categories: social, structural, educational, professional services, and individual experience.

Social

Our social network has a huge influence on our capacity to bodyfeed. The closer someone is to a bodyfeeding parent, the greater potential they have to create barriers and/or provide support.

Social supports for Josie:

• Josie’s partner (he/him) is supportive of Josie breastfeeding, has experience being around breastfed babies and discussing breastfeeding openly, and is educated as to how it works
• Josie’s family supported her to seek help while she was experiencing health challenges, rather than telling her to stop breastfeeding
• Josie was part of a Whatsapp group with two others from her antenatal class who were also committed to breastfeeding and they discussed their challenges together.

Social barriers for Josie:

• Although her family was generally supportive of Josie breastfeeding and seeking support for her health challenges, her mum did suggest weaning once or twice when Josie’s health was really suffering
• When Josie was a baby, her mum breastfed her for 3 months and later breastfed Josie’s younger sibling for 9 months

Structural

This category of supports and barriers includes factors like legal protection, parental leave policy, workplace support and buildings/public spaces etc.

Structural supports for Josie:

- As an Australian resident, her right to breastfeed in public is protected by law.

Structural barriers for Josie:

• Public spaces that are certified as breastfeeding welcoming are still usually set up for seated feeding, and she could only breastfeed her firstborn lying flat for the first nine months. She ended up lying on the floor of a cafe, awkwardly lying on a couch on the library etc.
• When Josie went back to work she was told a private expressing room would be available to her, but it wasn’t (she only ended up going back to this job for a very short time so it wasn’t a long-term barrier, but could have become one if she had continued in that workplace)

Educational

A parent’s access to helpful, evidence-based information influences their bodyfeeding journey. This includes not just about information about bodyfeeding, but about other aspects of parenting and postpartum. For example, how you approach supporting babies to sleep influences the bodyfeeding relationship (more on that in a future blog post).

Educational supports for Josie:

• Josie and her husband went to an ABA (Australian Breastfeeding Association) class during pregnancy [click here to find your local ABA chapter (this also connects with Josie’s social support from her husband)
• Josie went to local ABA meetings (this counts as social support as well as educational)
• Josie was educated to know that contact napping (and later co-sleeping) was fine, which supported their breastfeeding relationship

Professional Services

Professional services have a massive influence on a parent’s bodyfeeding journey. Many parents experience personal challenges while bodyfeeding and guidance along the way can be crucial. Also, professionals caring for body feeding parents can create barriers or provide supports even when the care is not directly related to bodyfeeding. For example, a GP prescribing medication that is not appropriate for a bodyfeeding parent with a dismissive comment of “well he’s almost six months, you’re going to wean him soon anyway aren't you?”

A parent might not have access to professional services because of finances or geography, or may be unable to access many free supports because of being unable to talk on the phone.

Josie’s professional services supports:

• Josie had a homebirth midwife, so had continuity of care breastfeeding support, rather than receiving changing advice with new hospital shifts
• Josie phoned the ABA hotline for support with breastfeeding challenges, as well as the Mothersafe hotline for advice on what medications she could use while continuing to breastfeed
• Josie saw a naturopath who supported her to sort out her diet when her body was reacting to everything rather than just telling her to stop breastfeeding

Individual

Individual supports and barriers are the bodyfeeding parent's life experiences, both before and during bodyfeeding, as well as personal attributes. Most common barriers under this category are different forms of bodyfeeding challenges.

Josie’s individual barriers:

• Experience of cracked nipples and mastitis
• Not much experience with babies, regardless of how they were fed
• Personal illness making it more physically taxing to breastfeed

In viewing this case study, I would add that Josie’s biggest individual support was her "confident commitment", defined as including: “a) confidence in the process of breastfeeding, b) confidence in their ability to breastfeed, and c) commitment to making breastfeeding work despite obstacles.”

Your field of capacity

In this essay I have used a case study to explore the influence of barriers and support on one mother’s breastfeeding journey. I hope that this has got you thinking about your own bodyfeeding experience — past or future.

I hope this discussion of supports and barriers has helped you to see the bigger picture of bodyfeeding, beyond individual capacity. However, while we all have different barriers, some of which we cannot control, we are never powerless. It is important to consider what elements we have control over. I call this our “field of capacity” — what we can do to increase supports and overcome barriers. I will be exploring Field of Capacity further in a future blog post, including more discussion of "confident commitment".

(Comment or reply to this email to let me if you would like the discussion of Field of Capacity to be the next blog post, or if you would prefer a break from bodyfeeding blog posts).

Reflection Questions

At the end of every blog post I include reflection questions for you to contemplate, journal, or discuss with someone you trust.

If you or your partner have experienced bodyfeeding:

1. What barriers to bodyfeeding have you or your partner experienced?
2. What supports for bodyfeeding have you or your partner experienced?

If you or your partner are intending to bodyfeed:

1. What barriers to bodyfeeding do you anticipate?
2. What supports for bodyfeeding do you anticipate?

Everyone:

3. Did this piece bring up any emotions for you? Is there someone you can talk this through with?

My services

Free postpartum support service

If you have concerns, challenges, or questions related to breastfeeding/bodyfeeding (or any other topics related to postpartum and parenting), feel free to come and see me at my drop-in service.

I am available every Thursday during school term from 11:30am-12 at Yarraville Library on Wembley Avenue (if you’re reading this as it comes out, that’s tomorrow!). I can help you articulate your challenges, brainstorm options, support you to find helpful, reliable information, and I can refer you to other services if needed.

Queer Parents’ Circle

Another service I offer is Queer Parents’ Circle, a six-week program for local like-minded parents to form deep connections by discussing topics related to postpartum and early parenthood in an inclusive space. This is for people on the parenting journey from planning to conceive to seven years postpartum.

Each week we have a topic to discuss and one week the topic is infant feeding. Everyone who has had a baby has a story to tell about their infant feeding journey — often a very emotional story — and so rarely as parents do we have the space to tell those stories without fear of judgment or fear of offending others. I hold space for all stories so we can connect with and learn from each other. This space is also helpful for pre-conception or expecting/intended parents, as they can learn from those who have been there before!