'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

@UniBallEye 's experience of breastfeeding is very common and similar to my own. EMCS under GA and ds in SCBU for a couple of days was never going to be a good start. I was knackered, drugged up to the eyeballs on pain killers and milk didn't come in for 3-4 days, right when the baby blues hit so I spent the day in tears, combined with trying to hold and latch a very heavy 9lb 10oz ds onto my basketball-esk painfully engorged breasts for the 100th time.

I was poorly prepared for breastfeeding, I had focused on reading about pregnancy and penultimate birth and I wasn't informed about the absolutely normal challenges of establishing breastfeeding. The information is all out there, I just didn't realise it would have been a good idea to learn about it so I would know what was happening.

Breast is best, and that message is important to encourage mothers to try it. But the promotional message needs to include a way to educate before the birth so mothers have more confidence when they hit the inevitable problems.

I'll never forget coming across a young woman in tesco, barefoot frantically looking at the baby formula and bottles and sobbing. I talked to her and she said her midwife and hv couldn't help her and she didn't have a clue what to buy to feed her baby. Having been through ff myself I talked her through what she needed but she should have had support from the health care professionals. Totally neglectful not to help a terrified mum.

Another reason why 'fed is best' would be a better way of promotion. At least then, everybody would get the information you need, instead of midwives and HVs not being allowed to advise in case it encourges a woman to FF!

@Pumperthepumper You seem to be forgetting that I have already said that breast is scientifically better

@Franca123 I agree! Especially if a woman is struggling. Then, if a 'poverty stricken woman' as was quoted up above cannot afford formula, she won't then give cows milk as that is the only thing she would be able to afford.

As for the people suggesting that a mother leaving their baby is bad parenting, get a grip. I left my daughter from a young age for periods with her Dad when he went back to work when she was three weeks old. At a month old, I left her with my Mum so I could get some stuff done. I dread to think how she has managed to survive!

Now, looks like we'll both be burned at the stake

Just reread my post & have to apologise for all the typos. I'm posting from my phone & don't always catch the autocorrects but hopefully you could get the main gist of it.

Someone asked what support women gey in developing countries- and it has to be remembered that in these countries it is absolutely the norm, not a potential choice, to bf & the women will be surrounded by family, friends, community who all bf & understand the challenges etc

Lots of us don't have that in our lives.

As i said proper education during pregnancy about the common pitfalls & stumbling blocks most of us face when establishing bf would be immensely helpful. Though I suspect this is shyed away from a bit in favour of breast is best for fear of putting off even more of the small numbers who try it in the first place

That did influence me as we have breast and ovarian cancer in the family. Subsequently found out it was BRCA1 and I was lucky and didn't inherit it but yes the breast cancer protection was part of it.

The other thing, I'm going to be really honest here, is that once it is established it is so easy. No worries about running out, no worries about if you have a sterilised bottle ready or making sure you take enough with you if you go out. No getting up in the middle of the night to get a bottle. Basically I'm to lazy to formula feed.

I have 4, one was EMCS and I was amazed at how much more difficult I found breastfeeding after a CS and I was an experienced mother and experienced breastfeeder.

That’s not what my post says though. It’s almost like you’re looking for an argument.

@Pumperthepumper Maybe have a look through YOUR posts and see who is the argumentative one...

Oh wow. OP supports formula being supplied by the state. A policy which would actively harm newborns and the maternal health of the population.

Christ, you’re tagging me to argue about my response to someone else AND THEN tagging me to argue further 🙄

Oh wow, because we see so many newborns harmed by formula feeding. What is affecting people's mental health is judgemental people like you who believe that breastfeeding is the only way. THAT is what the real issue is!

I've tagged most of my posts! If you don't agree, don't comment. It really isn't that hard

Breast IS best. Human milk is perfectly designed for human babies. Cows milk is perfectly designed for cow babies. Hence so many formula fed babies needing prescription formula because of cows milk allergies etc.

I do feel sorry for the women who wanted to breastfeed, weren’t able to get the support they needed, and now regret or feel bad about not breastfeeding. But it’s simply not true that breast milk and formula are equally beneficial for babies

No, you’re not tagging me with an intelligent argument or a new point, it’s just the same old shit for a reaction. Like I said earlier, your defensiveness about how you fed your own kid will not support women who formula feed. You’re on a crusade by yourself. Have you ever even said what you’d like the new public health baby food campaign to be, or just the same Fed is Best garbage?

This x 100

fed is the bare minimum, breast feeding is best for mum & baby

stop trying to shame people for celebrating breastfeeding. I have been so frustrated with the amount of people who seem to want to reduce breastfeeding to not being important - it’s so unfair. Our breastfeeding rates are staggeringly low in the UK because of attitudes like ‘fed is best’ and zero support for mums who want to breastfeed.

for mums who have struggled to breastfeed but kept going as it’s the best thing for their babies it’s utterly heartbreaking for people to say that formula would have been just as good.

Im so happy formula is available for those who need it or want it. But that doesn’t take away from the fact that breastfeeding is better for babies.

@Pumperthepumper Well lets agree to disagree. Goodbye!

So no answer? Just ‘I don’t like it when people talk about breastfeeding, and it’s all about me!’? What do you want the campaign to be instead?

End of the day though the purpose of the "breast is best' campaign is to encourage more women to breastfeed.

So public health are not going to change it to 'fed is best' because it won't advance the public health message.

@Namechangetime89 Well good for you! Good for you that you didn't give up and were given the chance to breastfeed. You do you - nobody is bothered if you BF or FF - the point of this post was to say that FF is perfectly fine if it needs to be used!

What is 'utterly heartbreaking' is what is happening in Ukraine. 'Heartbreaking' is not the word to use to describe somebody saying FF is just as good

@Pumperthepumper Now who is looking for an argument?!

I do think you’ve started a goady thread, during World Breastfeeding Week most likely because it’s dragged up feelings of insecurity and regret. But that shouldn’t mean wanting to pick fights with breastfeeding mothers.

You've not actually experienced heartbreak have you. Good for you

I fully agree with your sentiment but I hate the phrase "fed is best". How can the bare minimum of parenting be "best"? Grammatically it doesn't make any sense. And if you follow it to its logical consequence then anything other than having your child removed by social services for malnutrition is "best". It's such a stupid expression. I wish there was a better one such as "informed choice is best".