Chamber and committees

I commend Stephanie Callaghan for her work on breastfeeding. I want to mention my experience in relation to health visitors. My daughter has not had all of her health visits. The health visiting service is so understaffed that it is unable to fulfil all the milestones in a baby’s journey. Does the member find that concerning? What can we do to encourage more people to become health visitors, to ensure that we have the support in place to help mums to breastfeed?

I do not think that anyone can dispute the health and wellbeing benefits that breastfeeding provides not just for mothers but for babies. I, too, welcome the tone of the debate.

It is right that we celebrate the progress that is being made in encouraging mothers to breastfeed, but we should also acknowledge that some mothers experience challenges when it comes to breastfeeding and that some mothers cannot breastfeed at all. We have struck the right balance today in making sure that the messaging is clear.

I have come to the chamber today with two asks of the Scottish Government: to carefully consider the messaging around stigma both against women who breastfeed in public and against mothers who cannot breastfeed—many members have pointed that out—and to carefully consider the support that mothers are meant to receive after their baby is born.

I make those asks of the Government because some mothers struggle to breastfeed. That was certainly my experience when I became a new mother in 2022. I do not think that I will ever forget how crippled by anxiety I was and how isolated I felt when I had to end my breastfeeding journey. I just felt as though I was not able to provide for my baby. It was an awful time. However, it is important to me to share my experience, because I want to give mothers who have struggled a voice and to ensure that they do not feel alone. The debate on breastfeeding is all very upbeat and positive, but it carries an undertone for those mothers who, for many reasons, struggle when they try to give their babies the best possible start in life.

I will draw on my own experience. I was so excited to start my own breastfeeding journey. In the run-up to Charlotte’s birth, I had spent weeks and months reading as much information as I could, I had bought equipment and I was so ready to welcome the new addition to my family. However, breastfeeding just was not meant to be. The reason was that I had a traumatic experience during my daughter’s birth, because I had taken morphine during her delivery. Charlotte was sleepy due to the side-effects of the medication that I had taken and she had absorbed, so the latching and the initial breastfeeding were not as natural as they should have been. However, as I had been going through labour, no one had explained to me the impacts of taking that medication and its consequences for my baby. Had I had another option, I would probably have reconsidered my decision for that reason—as I would do were I to be in the same circumstances again. In my view, it gave me a bit of a setback in breastfeeding my baby.

However, nothing that occurred during labour or the birth process stopped me breastfeeding; that happened shortly after I was able to bring Charlotte home. New mothers receive many visits from midwives and health visitors. A midwife who weighed Charlotte noticed that her weight had gone down. Again, I had not been informed before the birth that that was natural for breastfed babies. The midwife suggested to me that Charlotte could go on to combination feeding. However, that was not what I had planned or what I wanted for my baby. That put me in the position of asking myself what I should do. Should I still try to breastfeed, as had been my plan, or should my baby go on to combination feeding, as the midwife had suggested? We followed the latter path. In the end, Charlotte just wanted to bottle feed and was not much interested in breastfeeding any more. Unfortunately, that ended my breastfeeding journey after four months. It certainly was not what I had planned or what I wanted, but it was the option that was available to me at that point in time. I know so many other mothers to whom that has happened.

Another issue that cropped up throughout my pregnancy and after Charlotte was born was the number of midwives and health visitors I encountered and was introduced to—they chopped and changed so many times. I ended up with three midwives, and I am currently on my fourth health visitor. Such inconsistency does not allow new mothers to bond, build important relationships and share information. They need to build a level of trust and feel that the professionals are looking after them so that they can then give them the best information to help them to support their babies.

That is why one of my asks of the Minister for Children, Young People and Keeping the Promise concerns the support that new mothers receive once they have had their babies. We must examine the resources that are available for midwives and health visitors. I know that the lack of such resources is rife in Lanarkshire, the area where I am from, but it is replicated in many other health board areas across Scotland. That does not give mothers and babies the best start, because they do not have a bond with someone they trust. We must consider the support that women receive once their babies are home and they are starting the process of being new mothers.

Having said that, I do not blame our incredible NHS workers, who do so much. Being understaffed and overworked adds to the pressures that they face, which in turn does not give mums the best start when they bring their babies home.

I know that I am over time, so I will conclude there. I say to the minister that we need to listen to mothers if we can, particularly those who are struggling to breastfeed, and we need to look at the process and the support that mothers receive once they bring their baby home. We need to ensure that they have access to a consistent health visitor and a consistent midwife to ensure that they get the best possible support so that they can provide for their baby.

I have been listening to what the minister is saying because I am really interested in this subject. In particular, take-up of breastfeeding tends to be lower in areas of high deprivation. Has the Scottish Government done any research on that? Is there a clear focus on ensuring that we are getting to the people whom we really need to get to?

Does Claire Baker welcome the recent efforts by some supermarkets to lower the price of formula to make it more affordable for families who are experiencing a tough time just now because of the cost of living crisis?

Thank you. Finally, I have a question on data sets and monitoring because one of the concerns that I have had with the Scottish Government for quite some time is to do with the lack of data that records human-rights-based issues or other issues that are contained within the action points you have raised. Are you actively encouraging the Scottish Government to record more data to make sure that we can benchmark against the 54 action points that you have outlined? Certainly, MSPs would be keen to see that so that we can effectively scrutinise the work of the Scottish Government on the action points that you have highlighted within your report.

We have had SNAP and we are now on SNAP 2. You harnessed data back in late 2017, when about 1,500 people participated in various community events, your online surveys and of course your national participation event. Since then, we have had a pandemic and we are currently experiencing a global cost of living crisis. Is the data that you harnessed back in 2017 still relevant to the action points that you gathered? We live in an ever-changing world and I am interested in whether the action points and opinions of the Scottish people back in 2017 are still relevant.

Thank you. The reason why I am asking that question is that SNAP 2 is described as a “living action plan”. If SNAP 2 were included in a human rights bill, how would that work in an ever-changing environment? How would that fit into the scope of legislation that might go through the Parliament?

Thank you very much.

To ask the Scottish Government what work it is undertaking to reduce the rates of male suicide in Scotland, in light of the issues raised in the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s “Equality and Human Rights Monitor” report for 2023. (S6O-02950)

I welcome the minister’s answer, because the suicide rate for boys and young men aged five to 24 is two times higher than that for girls and young women in the same age group. One of the recommendations in the report is that the Scottish Government sets a national equality outcome to reduce the suicide rate among five to 24-year-olds, particularly in males. Will the minister commit to implementing that?

What other recommendations from the report could be implemented to provide support to boys and young men and prevent more lives from being lost to suicide?