Topic of debate: Improving the uptake of breastfeeding would reduce health inequalities by social class in the UK.

At the moment people from higher social classes breastfeed more than people from lower classes. The for argument is that if people from lower classes were to breastfeed their children (instead of formula) this would improve overall health and therefore reduce health inequalities. I have to argue against this (not so bad, just need to find research to back my points).

I wanna make sure im fully prepared and have all bases covered so if you guys can think of any arguments the other team can put forth, so that I can counter argue that if need be. all clear???? if not (most likely the case cos im rubbish at explaining, just let me know and ill try my best to make things clear!) or anything else u wanna point out, will be most helpful thnk u!

Against arguments so far: (most of them arent fully developed btw)

1)Increasing uptake of breastfeeding increases unemployment because women would have to take longer maternal leave.
-lower income = bad diet; affecting both mother and child…
(i know people can use pumps, but theyre pretty expensive, bacterial contamination, and lack of education (people from lower classes tend to be less educated) may bring difficulties when trying to store milk safely?????)

2) Other factors play a more important role in health inequalities. some research I found: " Class is a complex construct that may involve status, health, culture, background and employment. It would therefore be naive to look for a single causal relationship between class and ill health.

3)Breastfeeding is only beneficial if the mother is in good health. If this is not the case, increasing the uptake of breastfeeding does not address the issue of health inequalities, but would only increase them. or in some cases mums cant breastfeed eg. HIV, excessive alcohol intake/smoking or the child has a condition where breastfeeding isnt an option

4) Post breast feeding stage: the length of time, a child gets breastfed differs, but recommendations are that a child is weaned (started on solid food) between 4-6 months. If at this stage, the child cannot be provided with a balanced nutritious diet (or other factors come into play) then this would still increase their health inequalities and have more of an effect than a few months of breastfeeding.

5) Something else I was thinking: Im assuming that the shift of breastfeeding to formula amongst the lower classes is a recent thing, so a few years back, chances are that mums from lower classes were breastfeeding in general cos there werent any formula/breast pumps around. If this is the case then health inequalities should have beenless prevalent in those years, but they probably werent, which back up my point that other factors should be considered more in trying to reduce health inequalities - whatdya think??????

Theres more points, but I dont wanna make the blog any longer thn i already have (sorry)