Breastfeeding in Norway

[Funkychicken]

I was sitting on the couch today,feeding DS, and having forgotten to grab my book before I sat, I reached for any reading material I could. It turned out to be an old copy of Byronchild (my fav mag) and I found myself reading a little snippet about Breastfeeding statistics in Norway. I know I have read this before but I wanted to share the article with all those that haven't read it and build some hope that we too as a nation can aspire to great things!

When you think of Norway, think of breastfeeding! With 99% of the country's new mothers nursing their children, Norway is far ahead of other 'progressive' countries such as the US and Australia, where the initiation rate is much lower.
Yet thirty years ago for Norway things were different. With the heavy promotion of formula companies, bottlefeeding was seen as hip and modern. But due to aggressive governmental policies, bottlefeeding has been abandoned in Norway.
In addition to the 99% initiation rate, 80% of Norwegian mums are still nursing when their babies are six months old. That compares with 20% in Britain and 33% in the US and 49% in Australia.
Three factors have led to Norway's breastfeeding success: hospital practices that encourage breastfeeding; a ten-month maternity leave at full pay; and for mothers who work outside the home, two hours off each day to nurse their children at home or in the office.

Now that's what a call the results of a successful breastfeeding campaign!
C'mon little Johnny, get with the program!!!!!:smiliedance:

[xkwzit]

Hi Funky
Thanks for posting that. Seems to support the idea that more real and useful support would really help mothers who would like to BF. I think longer mat leave and more ppl on the ground to assist young mothers could do a lot to extend Australia's average BF time and possibly boost BF initiation rates.

Cheers

[Ana Gram]

I'm wondering if it would be possible with our new industrial relation laws.

[Pixie]

Wow that is fantastic!

[Pippi Longstocking]

Wow, go Norway! :smiliedance:

It kinda makes you wonder then at all of the Aussie's who say they "couldn't" breastfeed, eh! If only 1% of mums in Norway have had problems, it seems a little far fetched that sooo many Aussie mums would have genuine problems.

Definitley agree - mums need more support, more emphasis needs to be put on the importance of breastfeeding (not just the reciting of "breast is best", but also genuine real actual support such as adequate maternity leaveetc). I also think that if that many people are breastfeeding, and the government is quite clearly behind breastfeeding, then you have the support of the nation as a whole. 'Tis a beautiful thing :yes:

[xkwzit]

To some extent I don't think it matters if problems are "genuine" or not - but I do think the solution to the vast majority of BF problems can be fixed with effective support. We need more people on the ground to help new mothers in those critical first weeks where early intervention can nip the problems in the bud.

Cheers

[misskittyfantastico]

Excellent article FC!......come on Johnny!!!

[jarrahsmumma]

bump

[punkbaby]

thats awesome! BF support is pretty poor here unless you go and look for it yourself! When i had dd9 i didnt know anything about it i just did it, my 2nd and third child i didnt get any pep up talk at hospital or anything just a oh ok your bf that was it. When i had bubs a few weeks ago i was suprised to get a lady from the ABA come and chat to me invite me along for a cuppa one morning etc etc and it was like WOW she come to me!!

Honestly i am stubborn, i was lucky i could BF but if i couldnt my pride would have got in the way and i wouldnt have contacted the ABA as i would have felt useless even though i wasnt :)

Bring it on i say :D

[shed]

I have just come from my first meeting with the ABA, (I don't know why I didn't join before, we had no problems so it just seemed like something I didn't need).

But anyway, as I said, I just went to a meeting and got the newsletter. What struck me was that its all run by volunteers, they are usually mums with very young children themselves...

um hellooooo??, these are the people who are struggling to help new mums with breastfeeding difficulties, its all voluntary, even the President of the ABA is a voluntary role. No wonder its such an uphill battle.

I aint no rocket scientist (those who know me will attest to this, lol) but one would think that an organisation that is run by volunteers who have small children of their own to deal with are always going to fight an uphill battle when working against formula companies who are making millions and millions of dollars from the low breastfeeding rates in this country.

Am I the only person who sees this as a no-brainer?

[dragonflyblu]

we are in germany and i thought it was good over here! go norway! in our playgroup there is 1 bottlefeeding mum. the other 12 mums bf. the babies range from 5 months-2 years old. all bf still. i asked them all why they bf. they took awhile to understand what i meant!!! anyway it came down to being a SAHM, having time to establish BFing and the social norm is bf till 12 months.
this is all reflected in the baby feeding section at the shops, a very small selection of formula, and a huge area for solids and food/drinks for babies over 12 months.
i love it, i can feed anywhere.

[gremily]

It's a fantastic achievement that Norweigians should be proud of :)

Did you see that Kevin Rudd has promised to give the ABA $500,000 a year for 4 years to set up a 24 hour counselling service?

http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,22806539-5013922,00.html

Quote from article:

Ms Carey said the money offered by Labor would help the association purchase software so they could run it off one single national number. This number would divert calls to counsellors rostered on in different parts of the country at different times.

[Funkychicken]

Goodness, I had forgotten about this thread! Thank-you for the bump.

Gremily, that's fantastic news on the ABA receiving help from our new government.

[shed]

Did you see that Kevin Rudd has promised to give the ABA $500,000 a year for 4 years to set up a 24 hour counselling service?

http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,22806539-5013922,00.html


About flippin time. I think formula companies should subsidise this.

[kymmy]

Wow that is great for Norway. Well done Kevin. There is hope.

[GraceUnhearing]

thats great!!!
i wish aussie rates were as great as that!

[Funkychicken]

thats great!!!
i wish aussie rates were as great as that!
You know, I believe we are doing a huge job of getting the message out there, just by participating on this forum.

We understand that having a positive impact, be it on environmental issues or any other for that matter, begins with us-the message carriers-and we know that to be seen effecting change is making change, so the very fact that we are here discussing this issue means we are not only acknowledging it, we are doing something about it.

The technological revolution has brought with it some pretty awful and scary results but it has also given us one of the most powerful weapons when it comes to making changes-the ability to reach millions of people at the click of a few buttons and spread the message.

Let's hope that we can work towards a similar result in breastfeeding numbers to that of Norway, through support and encouragement of other mums, and let them know that breastfeeding is acceptable-anywhere, anytime. :thumbsup:

[neostudded]

:detective: Just wondering if kevin is still going to do this?

[squiglet]

Good on Norway.:thumbsup:

[MrsMiggins]

Just saw this at the bottom of another thread I was reading & thought it was really interesting.

One thing that strikes me is that rates of breastfeeding (particularly as the age of bub increases) are lower in places where maternity leave is less.

For example, in the US, a large number of new mothers use formula because in many cases they have no maternity leave entitlements. Mothers also receive little or no government support for staying at home, so they are therefore often forced back to work when their babies are as young as 6 weeks old - often in a full time capacity.

While support & information are undoubtedly very important in establishing & maintaining successful breastfeeding, I think increasing maternity leave entitlements and keeping government funding for SAHM's is just as important. How many mothers do we all know who've given up BFing only because they've had to return to work?

[Hollywood]

While support & information are undoubtedly very important in establishing & maintaining successful breastfeeding, I think increasing maternity leave entitlements and keeping government funding for SAHM's is just as important. How many mothers do we all know who've given up BFing only because they've had to return to work?

:iagree: Bingo, you hit the nail on the head there, so true :yes: