Capital ‘lacks space’ for breastfeeding mothers
A LEADING academic has looked at the challenges faced by mums looking to breastfeed in the Welsh capital.
Researchers have said that disapproval or even disgust from the general public is one of the reasons why some women are reluctant to breastfeed outside of the home, according to researchers.
Cardiff and Swansea University experts, who have studied the experiences of more than 17,000 mums, say attitudes of strangers are having a direct impact on families’ behaviour when it comes to feeding babies.
Dr Aimee Grant, of Swansea University, led the study which looked at existing research mostly from the UK, USA and Australia.
Her team not only examined 17,700 pregnant women and mothers’ responses but also those of 156 male partners, 46 grandparents and 438 members of the public.
According to Dr Grant Cardiff has limited places for mothers to express. “Take the train station,” she said. “I couldn’t even find the breastfeeding room.
“There was one single sign to it and I just couldn’t find another sign or anything anywhere.
“Also Cardiff Airport, it said online that they had a breastfeeding room. But when I went there, there wasn’t a breastfeeding room. I went up to a member of staff and asked if there was anywhere that I could go to express, which would need a plug as well as a private space, and she just said there wasn’t anywhere at all.”
There are a few dedicated rooms in the city centre but according to Dr Grant many are not comfortable or lack the plugs required for breast pumps.
She says one of the best rooms is in John Lewis but because of this it is always busy.
Dr Grant said: “The John Lewis mother and baby room is literally where everybody says to go. When I went there there were lots of people inside and there was just a constant stream of people in.
“Because it’s the good one then it’s really busy. But this means there often isn’t space and if you need access to a plug, you’ve got to wait.”
However ultimately, the best solution is for women to feel comfortable breastfeeding in public. It is a totally natural thing to do and medical professionals agree that it is an ideal way to feed your baby.
“If you think about the Scandinavian countries breastfeeding rates are much higher particularly in Norway,” said Dr Grant. “If almost everybody is breastfeeding then people see breastfeeding really quite often out and about and it’s just not the same kind of big deal that it is in the UK.
“The thing that we want people from Cardiff to do, if they see someone breastfeeding, is just treat it as though anybody else who was eating or drinking. I think that would make a much bigger impact. People in Cardiff just need to be their usual friendly selves.”
Speaking about the results of her in-depth study, Dr Grant said: “The attention of members of the public who observed breastfeeding was incorrectly focused on mothers as sexualised women, rather than as caregivers to infants who needed feeding.
“This created a hostile environment in which it was harder for mothers to feed their babies, which was stressful and unpleasant.”
Dr Grant explained why it is important that mothers have private spaces where they can feed their baby.
“Members of the public misunderstand why people are breastfeeding in public,” she said. “So they think that mums do it for convenience, or to make a political point or evil, even for sexual gratification. Therefore they will often stare and make comments. This doesn’t happen to every single mum, but once mothers feel that they might have that experience, looks that are longer than a usual look would be really common for example, that then makes mums really selfconscious.”
Mums with young children in particular need to express their breast milk very regularly in order to be able to maintain breastfeeding. Many will feel more comfortable being able to do this in private but there are often few places to be able to do this.
The most recent study has just been published in the journal Maternal & Child Nutrition and its findings include:
■ In Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries, there was limited evidence that women routinely breastfed outside of the home; those who did often found the experience uncomfortable;
■ Legal protections for breastfeeding in public, where present, were not widely known and appeared to be under-enforced;
■ Mothers were aware of stigma relating to breastfeeding in public and feared conflict with strangers. This fear was not felt evenly, with mothers who were young, poor, and from marginalised ethnicities reporting increased surveillance and stigma; and,
■ Observers of breastfeeding in public had poor understanding of normal infant feeding behaviour and the need to breastfeed in public spaces. They also experienced reactions of disgust at breastfeeding.
Breastfeeding in public is legal in England and Wales as part of the Equality Act 2010.