I've been following the discussion on breastfeeding rates in Ireland and France in recent posts.  With regard to Irish Breastfeeding Rates I  don't think religious beliefs has anything to do with the low breastfeeding rates in Ireland.    

On a national level the current breastfeeding rate is around 36% of mothers still breastfeeding when they leave hospital.  In the Dublin area the breastfeeding initiation rate in hospital is much higher at between 50% - 60%.  On discharge from hospital there is a fall-off rate of between 3% - 11% in Dublin.   It is thought that there are many reasons for the low breastfeeding rate such as:

1)  Ireland is a bottle-feeding culture as in formula-feeding culture.  I believe that Ireland is the 3rd highest exporter of Infant formula to other countries. 

2)  There is a general belief that there is not much difference between formula-feeding and breastfeeding even among some health professionals.  Although it must be said that the majority of midwives and public health nurses have completed the 18 Hour Breastfeeding Education Course and are very supportive of breastfeeding.  In Ireland, we now have 121 IBCLCs, most of whom are midwives, public health nurses and voluntary breastfeeding counsellors and one GP !   Ireland now also has a National Breastfeeding Co-ordinator so we hope for improvement in the breastfeeding rates in the future.  Also the BFHI initiative was introduced into Ireland around 2000/2001. About 10 hospitals have signed up to work towards BFHI status.  

3)  Many women go into hospital planning to breastfeed their babies and leave hospital not breastfeeding.  So, it is obvious that many of them are not receiving the appropriate help they need while in hospital.  This could be due to over-worked staff not having time to spend with new moms and babies in helping them to get off to a good start with breastfeeding.  Staffing issues are a huge problem here in Ireland at present.   It is estimated that if new mothers received help with breastfeeding we could double our breastfeeding rates in a very short period of time. 

4)  Ireland does not have proper breastfeeding statistical data.  Breastfeeding data in Ireland is very adhoc and is not co-ordinated on a national level.  However, our National Breastfeeding Co-ordinator, Maureen Fallon, is now working on this problem and has initiated a programme to address this issue. 

An Irish online health magazine recently carried out a breastfeeding survey of their 43,000+ subscribers.  Of those that replied it found that 81% favoured breastfeeding.  16% favoured bottle-feeding and 3% were undecided.  This survey can be accessed at www.irishhealth.com.  Type in "breastfeeding" in the search area and you will find out details of this survey plus other breastfeeding information related to the Irish situation. 

On this website you will also find details of a survey carried out by Cuidiu - The Irish Childbirth Trust in 1999.  The survey covered 24 maternity hospital and units nationwide.  This survey found that many of our Irish Maternity Hospital/Units failed to meet our National Breastfeeding Targets for 1994. 

Kind regards, 
Eileen O'Sullivan.

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