Furious debate erupts over ‘mum-shaming’ after mother-of-four insists ‘breast feeding is always best’ and ‘free to do’
- Broadcasters debated the merits of breastfeeding for children’s health
- READ MORE: The rise of mum rage: Motherhood made us so furious we needed anger management and marriage therapy
A furious debate over ‘mum-shaming’ has ensued after mother-of-four insisted that breast feeding is a better option than giving newborns formula.
Broadcaster Clare Muldon appeared on Good Morning Britain on Wednesday to discuss a new study which suggested breastfeeding for longer could help children do better in their exams.
She insisted that breastfeeding was a public health issue, and that new parents need ‘more education’ around early years care.
However, journalist Ella Whelan also appeared on the show saying that some women simply ‘don’t want to’ breastfeed while others struggle to for various health reasons.
Many quickly took to social media to reveal their opinions on the debate, with one person writing: ‘Breastfeeding is only free if the time, effort and energy of the person doing it are considered worthless.
‘Breastfeeding is *work*, it also requires a minimum of 500 calories a day and food is NOT FREE’.
Speaking to Susanna Reid and Ed Balls, Clare explained that encouraging mums to breastfeed ‘isn’t about shaming’.
She explained that she breastfed her four children, who are now between the ages of 19 and 25, for six months.
‘We didn’t have the education then.
‘We didn’t know how much more beneficial breast milk was for your child, I think that’s really sad, it’s a public health issue.
‘It’s free, it’s sterile, it’s the right temperature, you don’t have to faff around at any time in the middle of the night’.
Broadcaster Clare Muldon (left) appeared on Good Morning Britain on Wednesday to discuss a new study which suggested breastfeeding for longer could help children do better in their exams. However, journalist Ella Whelan (right) also appeared on the show saying that some women simply ‘don’t want to’ breastfeed while others struggle to for various health reasons
However, Ella argued that breastfeeding isn’t free because women have to skip work to in order to do it.
‘There is enough evidence to say breast is best,’ she added.
‘Most women like myself find themselves crying in the middle of the night [in order to breastfeed].
‘After those initial weeks there isn’t enough evidence to show moving to formula is bad’.
After the clip was shared to Twitter, many social media users fumed.
‘It’s already been shown breast is best, especially colostrum. But not everyone can. Health conditions and medications can make it unsafe. Sick of formula being vilified. It shouldn’t be breast vs formula, it should be supporting whatever works. Formula should not be unaffordable,’ one person wrote.
Speaking to Susanna Reid and Ed Balls, Clare explained that encouraging mums to breastfeed ‘isn’t about shaming’
‘You don’t “faff around in the middle of the night” when you bottle feed. You don’t just make a bottle- it’s pre-made and in the fridge and you warm it a little. Drop the ‘it’s free’ chat… more support for formula fed babies and mothers is needed too,’ added another.
‘No one tells you how painful it is either in the early days. No one showed me how to do it properly and then I suffered from damage and bleeding and had to swap to bottles for a while and mix feed. Breast feeding doesn’t just happen. Women need help,’ commented a third.
‘I tweeted about this and currently have a fellow mum telling me breast is best, and people give up too soon. I’m so pleased for those who don’t struggle, but some of us did, and it wasn’t out of laziness,’ said another.
‘There might be medical reasons a mother can’t breastfeed. All my kids were formula fed and they’re growing up fine. I refuse to feel guilty for bottle feeding. Plus my babies were bottomless pits, breast milk wasn’t filling enough for them,’ wrote another.
After the clip was shared to Twitter, many social media users fumed
‘Mothers should do what is best for them and their baby and not pressurised into doing something else. I also think there needs to be more consideration shown towards mothers who nurse in public. Quite frankly attitudes were better 30 or 40 years ago than now,’ wrote one person.
‘Are we still doing this thing where we shame mothers who don’t breastfeed? I thought with it being the 21st century we’d kind of moved on a bit? Just for the record, I’m a father of two boys both of whom weren’t breastfed. They’re doing absolutely fine,’ added one.
It comes following an Oxford University study that showed breastfeeding for longer could help children do better in their exams.
Children breastfed for at least a year were 38 per cent more likely to get a high pass – the equivalent of an A or A* – in their English GCSE exam, compared to children who were not breastfed, a study found.
‘There might be medical reasons a mother can’t breastfeed. All my kids were formula fed and they’re growing up fine. I refuse to feel guilty for bottle feeding. Plus my babies were bottomless pits, breast milk wasn’t filling enough for them,’ one person wrote
These children were 39 per cent more likely to get the same top grade in their Maths GCSE.
Breast milk contains important polyunsaturated fatty acids, which are believed to boost brain development.
The study, involving almost 5,000 children in England, found those breastfed for at least four months were around 12 per cent more likely than non-breastfed children to pass at least five GCSEs, including English and Maths, with the equivalent of a low B or a high C grade.
Some previous studies suggesting children breastfed for longer are more intelligent have faced criticism.
It comes following an Oxford University study that showed breastfeeding for longer could help children do better in their exams
This is because they failed to take into account that children who are breastfed for longer tend to have more educated and well-off mothers, whose children may do better at school because of these advantages.
But the new research found a link between exam results and being breastfed even when accounting for parents’ socioeconomic position, based on their jobs and level of education.
It also took into account mothers’ intelligence, which was tested by giving women a vocabulary test of 20 words.
However the researchers note that the difference in exam results linked to whether teenagers were breastfed is ‘modest’, and they did not look at other factors including children’s family wealth directly, which could make a further difference to their achievement at school.
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