Nurse said something strange about breastfed babies

'Ultra processed' doesn't actually say anything about the nutritional quality or content of a food. Formula has to be ultra processed to ensure it contains all of the necessary nutrients for a growing baby.

Drinking raw milk straight from the udder of a cow isn't ultra-processed yet it's incredibly dangerous.

Just more scare tactics to push the breast is best ideology.

Formula is a lifesaving invention and I guarantee, anyone whose baby needed it would quickly change their tune to being extremely grateful.

Some people cannot breastfeed due to various factors.

No it isn't. It's akin to a regulated medicine. Do you give your kids vitamins??

You don’t think that all A’s at GCSE and A levels, 1st in their degrees from RG Unis (Engineering and MFL), post grad qualifications and being trilingual are a good sign of high intellect?

Depends what the degrees is in, doesn’t it?
don’t think we’ve been able to rely on those as a Measure for quite some time

My DC’s were solely fed on formula as babies. Now very healthy young adults without any allergies or health issues and both got 1st in their degrees so doesn’t seem to have impacted their intelligence

Do you have any evidence regarding the GCSE results. My DC’s weren’t asked when they did their exams as to how they were fed !

Formula is an ultra processed food. If that’s what you want to give your baby good luck to you

Why wouldn’t a baby thrive on formula - the majority of the population do? A baby on formula with a happy mother will do better than a baby bf with a mother struggling with her mental health.

What do you mean “your version of health and mine are different too”

God some people are total arseholes about this issue and I will never understand it. Why does it matter so much to some people how other mothers choose to feed their babies? Just do what you want to do.

Maybe they will thrive maybe they won’t.
The truth is nobody but the parents care. The nice is trying to advise as is her job to do so following the nice guidelines.
Whether your DC are healthy or not is completely irrelevant because they have a completely different genetic make up to every other DC
Maybe your version of health and mine are different too
The point is nobody is that invested

The OP shouldn’t do anything she doesn’t want to. She is struggling with bf so can use formula and her baby will continue to thrive.

I didn’t bf at all - DC’s are healthy.

People really aren't ready to acknowledge this, I've found.

I get it, so many of us were sold absolute nonsense about how crucial breastfeeding is, it can be really hard when you find out that it makes no difference to your child long term. A very minor short term difference, yes, but by the time they're out of babyhood it's gone.

What a stupid, and tone death comment.

There is absolutely no provable link between breast milk and IQ. Zilch. It makes no difference to your baby. And I'd be really concerned at a health professional not knowing that, and going around spreading myths willy nilly. Especially to a new parent that has stated they're finding breastfeeding really hard.

This is the sort of thing I'd write a complaint to the surgery about. This could do real damage to the mental health of new mums, being told misinformation could lead to completely unnecessary guilt.

She’s trying to encourage you to breastfeed that is not a bad thing and you should if you can

🤣This is the most ludicrous thing I’ve read.

A few weeks or months of breast milk is not going to trump or even add to the advantages of genes, upbringing, maternal education, diet throughout childhood, access to books, schooling, SATs results, good MH,no SEN,disabilities or trauma etc, etc.

A bit of breast milk wouldn’t even get you an extra point.

Complain - like a previous PP I suffered terribly not being able to breastfeed and this would have seriously affected me!

Sorry to hear this. I felt similarly awful at the time. Two years on I never ever think about breastfeeding. I have other things to focus my mum guilt on!

I think breastfed babies tend to get better gcses.
But this is probably due to the families being better resources and supported and confident and educated in general.

I pumped for 6 months due to all this breast is best messages and I did miss out on a lot of fun as I was chained to home!

🤣🤣🤣

I'm not saying breastfeeding isn't important for the health and wellbeing of a child, and therefore its intelligence, just that it is not the only factor.

Education, finances, nutrition, genetics and family life all play a role. If a woman is struggling to breastfeed and chooses not to, it is not condemning that child to being less intelligent to its breastfed peers. She shouldn't be made to feel guilty over that by healthcare professionals.

I have just checked on AI if UK babies in ICU are still given donated breast milk and they are.
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+5

Yes, premature babies in the UK are often given donated breast milk when their own mothers' milk is not available or sufficient. Donor milk is considered the next best option after maternal breast milk, particularly for very premature or vulnerable babies.

Fed is best. She shouldn't have said what she said - so untrue!

However as so many posters have written, middle class, intelligent women are more likely to breast feed so that is also a significant factor.
As MN indicates there are many, many anecdotal stories of very intelligent babies being formula fed.
I know my sister’s premature babies were given breast milk from the hospital breast milk bank donated by other mothers. Does this still happen?
The NCT slogan many years ago was , ‘Breast is best’, and one of the services it used to offer was support with breast feeding.
Undoubtedly, babies will also thrive on formula. However, there is so much evidence that promotes breast feeding provides a positive start for babies that it would be disingenuous to pretend the evidence doesn’t exist.

https://www.wbur.org/news/2014/02/28/sibling-study-finds-no-long-term-breastfeeding-benefits-for-kids

This study covered a 25 year period.