When a baby is born, the mother's body prepares to continue providing nutrients and defenses to the baby, almost as if she had not left her body, through a liquid tissue that is commonly called breast milk. Let's say that, to explain it in a colloquial way, a baby breast because it is what he needs to continue with his development and a mother breastfeeds her son for the same, to continue doing externally the same thing he did internally.
However, as we know, there are women who for whatever reason fail to breastfeed their babies and women who choose not to do so by their own decision. In Britain, in order to get more breastfeeding mothers, they have decided to carry out a pilot plan so that mothers who breastfeed their baby receive a monthly help of € 237 (200 pounds sterling).
It is not for all of Britain
The pilot plan is not for the whole country, far from it. It is a test they want to do in the areas of South Yorkshire and Derbyshire, considered disadvantaged areas, in which breastfeeding rates are very low compared to the rest of the country, since the national average is 55% of mothers who breastfeed when the baby is between six and eight weeks, while in these areas only breastfeed one in four mothers.
Now, it seems that a third area is planned to be added shortly to finance about 130 women who will have children from now to March and, if the test works, if there is success, the plan could be deployed throughout the country next year .
The help is in the form of bonuses
The € 237 with which women will be compensated will be given month to month, up to six months, and will be delivered in the form of vouchers and vouchers that can then be used in supermarkets and stores.
To ensure that mothers continue to breastfeed their children, midwives and health professionals should periodically verify that the baby feeds exclusively on breast milk.
Why pay mothers
The team that has devised the project has commented that they have decided to opt for this measure because they have observed that Breastfeeding is one of the causes that children in these areas suffer health inequalities. An investigation prior to the implementation of the project concluded that breastfed children suffered less stomach problems, less lung infections and a better level of education.
After knowing the results, they thought that an economic compensation could make the mothers of that area end up seeing that breastfeeding is the norm, and not artificial milk. Incidentally, they considered that it was also a way to recognize the value of breastfeeding for mother, baby and society.
The motivation cannot be economic
The measure has received numerous criticisms, as mothers are paid to do something that, in reality, It is normal, logical, what they should choose for the sake of their babies and the mother's own. The motivation of a woman to breastfeed her baby should not be economical, because it is an external motivation offered by others, a motivation that will also disappear after six months. By ceasing to receive money (or discount vouchers), many mothers may lose interest in continuing to breastfeed, since if they did it for money they will have no reason to continue doing so. In addition, if the measure is not maintained over time, if one day it disappears, the following mothers will be in the same situation: "you no longer give money, I no longer breastfeed."
A person without resources does not need you to fix his life for a few days, he needs you to explain how he can fix his life, if possible, so he can always do it. If in disadvantaged neighborhoods women barely breastfeed it is because there the information does not arrive, because they do not have enough support and because they still believe that the best for children is the bottle (Come on, they have not yet been "recycled").
Decades ago it was said that breastfeeding was a thing of people without resources ("gypsies", come on), because the bottle was considered a sign of progress and liberation of the mother. In the disadvantaged areas it took a while to make the change, until, some with difficulties, the majority ended up buying milk for their babies, such as women of higher classes. Now the tables have changed and the women with the highest educational level and culture are the ones who breastfeed the most. The problem is that working-class women have not yet made the change and that is why they have had the worst breastfeeding rates. Gradually, sooner or later, they will end up doing the same thing that women with a higher cultural level do.
That is one of the motivations, to do what is best for the baby because everyone does it, but to do it primero have to find out what is best for the baby. Another motivation, if we have to enter the economic field, is that of saving of breastfeeding and not buy artificial milk. Come on, without needing to give them anything, breastfeeding families can have money they wouldn't have if they bought milk and bottles.
For all this, I join the criticism of the project carried out by the midwives of England, who have declared that instead of allocating resources to pay the mothers they should allocate them to have more health professionals to inform, help and support mothers. With the same information as the rest of the population and with the same support (or more if necessary), these population groups, with fewer resources, would surely achieve breastfeeding rates equal to or higher than those of the average.
