Coupons for breastfeeding? U.K. offers new incentives to mothers

Breastfeeding pays — or at least it will in two low-income regions of the U.K.

While studies have long shown the countless benefits to breastfeeding for both mother and child, breastfeeding rates worldwide are still significantly lower than most health experts would like to see.

Even in Canada, where we're given year-long maternity leave, only 15 per cent of new moms are still exclusively breastfeeding at the six-month mark as Health Canada recommends. The U.K., however, has some of the lowest breastfeeding rates in the world.

As part of a strategy to encourage new moms to breastfeed their children, a program called NOSH — "NOurishing Start for Health" — will be offering coupons for several department and grocery stores to British moms who stick with breastfeeding.

New mothers in the regions of South Yorkshire and Derbyshire, areas known for their "exceptionally low breastfeeding rates," will be offered $190 in coupons if they breastfeed their newborns for six weeks. If they're still breastfeeding at six months, they'll be handed a $125 bonus.

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"Breast milk is perfectly designed for babies and provides all they need for the first six months of their life. The NOSH Scheme offers vouchers to mothers who breastfeed as a way of acknowledging both the value of breastfeeding to babies, mothers and society, and the effort involved in breastfeeding," says principal investigator Dr. Clare Relton, from the University of Sheffield's School of Health and Related Research.

"We tried many, many things to improve breastfeeding rates in the U.K. and we failed dismally. We think that vouchers might be the way ahead for this group," Dr. Colin Michie of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health tells CTV News.

If the NOSH program works to improve breastfeeding rates — researchers from the University of Sheffield will be monitoring its success — it will likely expand across the U.K.

Not all experts believe the voucher strategy is the best approach.

Some express skepticism that breastfeeding will be hard to monitor. Others worry that lower income women will turn into "cash cows."

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And others believe that peer support is the most crucial element in encouraging moms to stick with breastfeeding — a commitment that's often frustrating, exhausting and painful— and that government funds would be better spent on support programs.

A recent study found that new moms often aren't provided with proper support and education about breastfeeding, and that their anxiety often leads to them stopping nursing.

"These things are frightening for women and if they don't get the right support, women are going to quit," Oakville, Ont.-based lactation consultant Jean Kouba tells CTV News.

Professor Mitch Blair, Officer for Health Promotion for the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, agrees:

"It is more important that those mothers who wish to breastfeed are appropriately and fully supported to do so prior to, and following the birth and know the best techniques to feed their baby and keep themselves comfortable at the same time.

"Financial incentives may work as it has done for immunizations in some places but should not be seen as a substitution for such practical support," he adds.

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Janet Fyle, professional policy advisor at the Royal College of Midwives, says the low breastfeeding rates indicate "a much bigger social and cultural problem here" that needs to be tackled.

In an area where many generations of women haven't been given the example of breastfeeding, she says offering vouchers isn't the answer.

"The motive for breastfeeding cannot be rooted by offering financial reward. It has to be something that a mother wants to do in the interest of the health and well-being of her child," Fyle says in a statement.

"Improving breastfeeding rates will come from a concerted effort by midwives and other health professionals to promote and inform women of the benefits of breastfeeding. This will not happen without the right health professionals in the right places. This is why the RCM is campaigning to ensure that women have the right amount of support after the birth of their baby so that midwives can support mothers with breastfeeding in those crucial early days."

Another criticism of a breastfeeding-for-money program is the likelihood of unintentionally shaming women who cannot — or consciously choose not to — breastfeed.

Sheffield mother Lucy Birks, 31, breastfeeds her 13-week-old son, but is concerned that the NOSH program will "penalize" her peers for their parenting decisions.

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"I don't have a problem with anyone who bottle-feeds. You don't need an incentive to feed your child. I just think it's daft," she tells The Star. "It's penalizing other women for bottle-feeding.

"It's really derogatory to the areas that they have chosen. Are you going to get people saying they won't breastfeed unless they get the vouchers? If people learned more about bringing up children, and not just necessarily about feeding them, it would not be as bad.”

Blair echoes Birks' concern:

"It will be important for us to ensure that mothers who physically cannot breastfeed or whose baby has a specific medical condition do not feel penalized inadvertently."

Matthew Sinclair, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, slams NOSH as "nanny state interference."

"Health chiefs should focus on ­ensuring parents can make an informed choice, rather than dreaming up costly, bureaucratic schemes which would be a nightmare to police," he tells the Daily Express.

Despite NOSH's mixed reception, experts still believe the approach is one worth testing.

"This is a feasibility study – we don't know if it will be effective or not. In the case of breastfeeding, where the benefit to mother, child and society is so great, it's worth finding out whether such a novel intervention might work," says Professor Laurence Moore of the National Prevention Research Initiative (NPRI).

Did you breastfeed? Would vouchers have contributed in any way to your decision to do so?