'Breast is Best'

[OddSocksandRainbowDocs]

It's National Breastfeeding Week and I've seen the phrase 'Breast is Best' banded about quite a few times.

Whilst I agree breastfeeding is scientifically better, some mothers (myself included) physically could not breastfeed so chose to formula feed instead. I was made to feel like a failure by a midwife for choosing to do so.

My little one is now one and a half. She is happy, she is healthy.

I don't know who needs to hear this but 'Breast is Best' isn't always the case. 'Fed is Best' is most definitely the case. It doesn't matter how you feed your baby, as long as the baby is fed, that is all that matters

In my opinion, yes it is. It's better for a baby to be fed with formula than not to be fed at all because a mother cannot breastfeed.

You object to the slogan "breast is best" on the grounds it hurts your feelings. You want people not to say "breast is best". You are asking people not to state this fact about BF. I would say that equates to the same thing.

But that’s not what the slogan means. It doesn’t mean ‘breastfeeding or starvation’ it means ‘breast feeding is the best thing for your baby’.

And whilst it's lovely that the 'Breast is Best, how dare you say otherwise' brigade are out in force, you have completely turned the thread around from what it was supposed to be about. This thread was to tell people it is fine if you use formula but it is also fine if you BF.

Mother's should be given the choice. If they want to breastfeed, excellent. If not, that should be encouraged also.

Its not much of a choice if women aren’t even allowed to take about breastfeeding positively during World Breastfeeding Week.

I had zero relationship with my father besides a traumatic and abusive few months but I don't think Father's Day should be banned.

Very accurate analogy

@Pumperthepumper and if you bothered to read my post, you;ll see that I did say BF is scientifically better. I also said that if you can't breastfeed, formula feeding is fine.

NOBODY IS SAYING YOU CAN NOT TALK ABOUT IT.

JUST NOBODY MENTION THE BENEFITS.

@FourTeaFallOut Nobody mentions the benefits? That is all that 's rammed down women's throats throughout pregnancy! Not once is it said that it's fine to formula feed.

But your objection is to the awareness week. So you are objecting to people talking about it.

No. That's your demand. That nobody details the ways in which it is better than formula feeding. That we don't promote breastfeeding as being better. Not because it isn't truthful but because you don't like hearing it. It's crazy.

You are! You are literally saying that people shouldn’t say “breast is best” which you’ve agreed is scientifically true but you don’t like to hear it because you formula fed. (I formula fed also and yes I would have preferred to breastfeed my child but I couldn’t. That shouldn’t stop others talking about the objective benefits of breastfeeding.)

@theveg This is the third post you've written where you have wrongly assumed something I have said.

My objection is not about awareness week. My objection is about breastfeeding is rammed down people's throats as being 'the best, the one and only' when in reality, formula feeding is just as sufficient. The point of my post was to let other people know that breastfeeding is fine, though if all else fails, so is formula.

@karmakameleon Where have I said 'You must not talk about it?' I haven't. I have said that formula feeding is just as good as breastfeeding if all else fails.

Nobody is stopping anybody from saying anything.

That’s not true at all. The pressure to formula feed is immense.

No, I'm not assuming wrongly. You are not fully thinking through the implications and logic of your own words.

@theveg I was going to reply to op but you did it for me!

For me 'fed is best' is ambiguous and can be misleading. It could have 2 meanings: if you are physically unable to breastfeed your baby then formula feeding is great. Or it could also be seen to mean that FF and BF are equally as good and that is not right imo. Fed is best has the potential to be misleading. I do think breast is best and nothing can change my mind on this.

However that's just my opinion and well done on feeding your baby op. Dh was FF and is very healthy and robust. My friend FF and I was encouraging and have her a bottle warmer. I am breastfeeding and to be told that it 'doesn't matter' just seems a bit off to me. It matters to me a lot and any mother no matter how they feed their baby should be proud.

It’s ok. Most women use formula so they probably already realised it is sufficient. No public health campaign needed.

jas that mother that has tried bf but can’t for xy reason given the right support ? Access to lactation specialist ? They’re bloody expensive so not everyone can directly afford them. This should be provided by the nhs. Nhs encourages so much bf before giving birth but once you give birth … then 0 support. This is why so many experiences give up so early. Because they didn’t have access to the right help

I did see that but regardless, breast is best.

@OddSocksandRainbowDocs

Hope things are better now?

Oh goodness yes - ditched the idiot husband, and the DC are now happy, healthy adults. If/when my DC have children, it would be great if they wanted to breastfeed and it worked out. But I would also like them to be able to say "this isn't working for me/baby" and not feel bad about it. I would in fact like them to be able to say they don't even want to try, because no new mother needs to be pressurised about how to feed her baby.

Clearly not though, hence why a lot of women end up feeling so guilty for doing so.

@theveg How am I not thinking through? What a bizarre comment from somebody who has misread THREE of my comments and turned them to suit your own agenda.

Ok so there was nothing wrong with the message that “breast is best” and we can all go back to saying it then?

@sdfsdipf9ue I'm so pleased things are going the right way! It sounds like your idiot husband was precisely that!

I know what you mean. That's what I think too. So much pressure on new parents as it is!