NEWS that Barrow has one of the worst breastfeeding rates in the country has sparked a wave of debate. MOLLY LYNCH went to found out why the town, and county as a whole, is performing so badly - and what is being done about it.

IT is one of the most natural things in the world, and yet it is plagued by a myriad of dos and don'ts; myths and misinformation.

I’m talking about - yes, you guessed it - breastfeeding. Somehow, this most basic of biological functions has become a topic which has the power to polarise opinion and induce extreme levels of anxiety in women at what should be a sacred time.

It’s no wonder so many women give up at the first hurdle, or don’t bother trying in the first place. That’s certainly the case in Barrow, where a national survey recently placed it among the bottom four towns in England for the number of mums who breastfeed.

Latest available figures from 2015 put the rate in Barrow at 49 per cent, well below the national average of 74.3 per cent. Cumbria-wide, the figure is 64.9 per cent.


Stories like that of first-time mum Sadie Edmondson, 32, of Lowick, who spent five weeks in agony after first child Ivor, now nine months, had a tongue tie help to explain why.

A tongue tie is a common problem which restricts movement of the tongue, but the medical professionals failed to spot it, and only Sadie’s persistence got to the root of the problem.

She said: “He wouldn’t latch properly when he was first born. They offered me formula milk in hospital but I refused. He was checked by a pediatrician and he said he’s fine, there’s nothing wrong.

“I was in a lot of pain and I was expressing a lot.”

Luckily, Sadie knew where to turn. Charity South Cumbria Breastfeeding Support, which runs a weekly drop-in at Ulverston Library, rechecked her son and found the tie.

Sadie said: “After they sorted that, it was completely fine. If I hadn’t have got that support it could have been different and I’d have been heartbroken if I had to stop.”

The fact that mums who stop before they want to are at high risk of postnatal depression makes this tale all the more worrying.


Breastfeeding counsellor Ann Bruce, who set up SCBS after having her daughter, said: “We really try and challenge this idea that breastfeeding can hurt. It’s a biological norm. If it hurt every time you ate food you wouldn’t just accept it. You wouldn’t accept it with other normal body functions, so you shouldn’t with breastfeeding.”

Pressure can also come from even the most well-meaning family and friends, as mum-of-two and peer supporter at the Ulverston group Kate Stagg, aged 30, explained.

She said: “Obviously people love to hold my baby and spend time with her but when I feed her, I have to take her back. I was being told that I should be starting to bottle feed.

“I realised I was just thinking I had to do it to please other people. I was perfectly happy breastfeeding and there was no reason to stop.”

There is hope, however. For the past year, there has been a concerted effort among health professionals, the third sector, volunteers and mums across the south of the county to improve the picture.

Furness General Hospital’s operator University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust are developing an infant feeding strategy designed to give better support to new mums from the very beginning.

And Cumbria Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, which oversees health visitors, is working towards accreditation to the UNICEF baby-friendly initiative.

Fiona Sim, one of two specialist leads rolling out the scheme, explained: “My colleague, Diane Clark, and I have been in post for a year now.

“We’ve got to make sure that women have got the right support from health professionals and that’s why we are working on the UNICEF scheme. All of our staff were recently given two days of training and there are a number of ways in which we are driving up standards to meet the criteria.

Ann, who works alongside both trusts on ways to help women, said: “There is a lot of hard work and effort going on. We all want to achieve the same thing, so it’s great that finally we’re all working together to try and do that.”

While the benefits of breastfeeding for both mum and baby are well documented, it is worth pointing them out in order to understand the bigger picture and implications for the whole of society.

Babies who aren’t breastfed are at an increased risk of chest infections, ear infections, diarrhoea and vomiting, tooth decay and more. Now think of the thousands of GP appointments and hospital visits which happen for these very same problems every year. Not to mention the worry they cause parents.

In other words, it is in the interests of every health professional, and indeed taxpayer, to make things better. This is best summed up by Fiona.

She said: “Breastfeeding is not just a mother’s responsibility. She’s got to have the right consistency information, and the support of her friends and family and the wider community.