A RECENT study published by the Medical Journal of Australia has revealed a startling discrepancy in breastfeeding rates between women on high incomes and those on low incomes.

In the past 10 years the breastfeeding gap between women on higher incomes and those on low incomes has widened significantly, according to an article in this month’s issue of the MJA.

The article, “Socioeconomic status and rates of breastfeeding in Australia: evidence from three recent national health surveys”, revealed the number of women from higher socioeconomic backgrounds who breastfed had increased while the number of women from lower socioeconomic backgrounds who breastfed remained relatively the same.

In 1995, 53% of women with higher incomes were breastfeeding at six months. In 2005, 66% of women in this group were still breastfeeding at six months.
However, the number of breastfeeding women on low incomes decreased from 38% in 1995, to 37% in 2005.

La Trobe University’s Lisa Amir, who co-wrote the article, said while this gap between the two socioeconomic backgrounds had always existed, particularly in developed countries, it had widened considerably and this was worrying.

“Babies should be breastfed for six months and most low-income babies aren’t being breastfed for six months,” Dr Amir said.

“[Women with lower incomes] need support. You’re a lot more constrained if you are under pressure to go back to work and less likely to be in an environment which is supportive of breastfeeding.

“In more affluent areas it is more likely to see a woman breastfeeding whereas poorer women are … more self conscious about their bodies and less confident, and they tend to be younger and may have partners who are also uncomfortable with them breastfeeding in public.”

Australian Breastfeeding Association director of the Lactation Resource Centre, Kate Mortensen, said breastfeeding women needed more support.

“The fact that the gap is widening means as a society we are really not looking after lower income mothers,” she said.

“Breastfeeding has for a long time correlated with levels of education in Australia.

“Ninety per cent of mothers in Australia want to breastfeed so it’s a matter of giving them the support they need. We need to support mothers’ maternity leave, mothers need good professional support, and health professionals need to be well educated in breastfeeding management.

“The other thing is educating mothers about the importance of breastfeeding and educating partners because partner support is very important. They need to be told before birth because this is when they make their decision.”

Dr Amir said hospitals played an important role in a woman’s decision to breastfeed.

“Not all hospitals are equally as supportive of breastfeeding,” Dr Amir said.

“Some hospitals will be credited as ‘baby-friendly hospitals’ and it means that there is more education and mothers are more likely to get consistent advice.

“The most common problem mothers have is getting confusing conflicting advice.”

Ms Mortensen said access to free or cheaper services was also an issue.

“The ABA offers breastfeeding classes for a nominal sum but once again for mothers with low socioeconomic backgrounds they need to be further subsidised and we often ask for grants for this.

“Hospitals offer breastfeeding education but this varies from hospital to hospital … many hospitals charge extra for antenatal education.”

Both women agreed the way breastfeeding information was presented was crucial.

“There is evidence to suggest that quite a lot of people don’t realise there is a vast difference between the two and that it really is important to breastfeed,” Ms Mortensen said.

“We don’t talk about benefits of breastfeeding so much because a breastfed baby actually represents normal growth, and development and artificial feeding represents risks.

“When you look at it that way you realise that talking about the benefits of breastfeeding actually normalises bottle feeding.

“So is anything being done about [the gap]? That’s a good question to ask our government,” she said.

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