Sally Etheridge is an IBCLC who will be giving a presentation at our conference entitled “Breastfeeding Struggles”. Here she gives some background to the subject and explores how stress can impact on feeding journeys. Come along to the conference on 6th October to hear more – information and tickets here.
As mother to mother breastfeeding supporters, we may often be especially aware of some of the personal challenges she is facing that are affecting how she feels about life, and becoming a mum, and how these might be affecting how breastfeeding is going – and her chances of achieving her goals around feeding her baby. While there has been a shift in understanding around maternal mental health issues, and better support offered to mothers with depression and anxiety, breastfeeding supporters may recognise that many mums face challenges that we can do little or nothing to change. We may recognise too that there are many mothers who never access our groups and who are much less likely to access breastfeeding support. Poorer communities, women from different cultures and ethnicities, those for whom English is not their first language, women facing all manner of stressful situations that may be outside our experience. Yet as breastfeeding supporters, we want every mum and baby to be able to enjoy a loving relationship, and enjoy breastfeeding, especially those mothers who always expected to breastfeed.
Leicester has high numbers of mothers like this, and Mammas Community Breastfeeding Support Programme works hard to find innovative and low cost ways to support every mum whatever personal challenges she faces. My presentation focuses on a study I carried out, talking to a number of mums who faced high levels of stress, about how this impacted on how they fed their baby – and what helped most.