>Does anyone know why the bf rates so low in Ireland? What
combination of social factors leads to a bf initiation rate
of 31%???<
in my understanding, Ireland in general received the prosperity that England
started to have in the 19th century, later. All kinds of social things
which followed that prosperity -- from domestic appliances to women's
education etc -- and the abondonment of breastfeeding -- were lagged behind
the experience of most of England (regional variations, of course). The low
point in breastfeeding initation in England was in the 1970's -- I don't
know if we have now reached that in Ireland or if it has begun to swing up.
[This is a gross overview picture, but always good to keep the larger
historical trend in mind].
Also, I assume you are talking about the republic, but if you look at UK
figures you will notice that NI is our region with lowest uptake, by a long
chalk. Its always hard to know what the republic and NI share and what they
don't -- remembering that many, many things have been completely
overshadowed and distorted by the on-going civil war and British military
occupation. As you might see in Gaza and maybe we will see in Iraq, these
macro-situations can impact heavily on the ability of societies to change
and grow and involve their members in positive actions, since so much energy
is spent in resistence and mourning. I recently had a small taste of this
personally as, for the first time in 15 years, I found myself waking up and
feeling 'breastfeeding is irrelevant' during the Iraq invasion. Scary.
Someone I know was raised in the republic, she might be about 60 now. She
lived in a working class area - you know, 9 children and carrying the coal
through the house and the kids doing heavy chores. In the evening, in the
summer, she can remember women sitting out on the steps (these would be two
up, two down terraces), often breastfeeding their babies, and talking. It
is unlikely that anyone in most of England could remember such a scene, in
this time frame. Anyone of this age in the States remember breastfeeding on
the stoop? If you do, bet we can guess non-white ethnic neighbourhood, or
maybe deep south. (if you think of Ireland, in a way, as the deep south of
the USA its an insight into some of the ways its one of our underdogs).
Magda Sachs
Breastfeeding Supporter, BfN, UK
ps Disclaimer!!: I have never lived in Ireland -- this observation is
gathered from life in the UK and my degree in modern (that is post-1770's)
Europe.
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