What to watch
Dispatches: Breastfeeding Uncovered CHANNEL 4, 8.00PM
The breastfeeding versus baby formula debate is something that touches a raw nerve in even the most laid-back women, which presenter Kate Quilton (on a break from Food Unwrapped) acknowledges early in this report. Quilton, a new mother herself, is at pains to stress that she is not here to suggest that those who choose formula are bad mothers. Instead, she wishes to look at why breastfeeding is so problematic in Britain.
To do that she assembles an army of breastfeeding mothers who record diaries about their sleep-deprived experiences: “I’ve been sat on this sofa all day long – sometimes you just feel like a milking cow,” states one, while the vanity-free Quilton also shares her own 3am moments. The report’s real power, however, comes once Quilton starts to look at how much breastfeeding support funding has been cut in recent years, arguing that too often the debate focuses on blaming women rather than looking at how society is letting mothers down. There’s also an eyeopening segment in which members of the public explain what they think of women breast-feeding in public. Hint: they’re not generally in favour. Sarah Hughes