FFS yet another reason to feel guilty about formula feeding!

[BigMommaOfAlmost4]

So in addition to potentially lethal bacteria, some formula milks also contain dangerously high levels of aluminuim.

www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1308517/Health-fear-Up-40-times-aluminium-formula-milk-breast-milk.html

Just what I needed to read with a 6 week old DS who will not breastfeed fulltime (uses me as a dummy and then screams for a bottle as well) as I was in such agony with bleeding nipples that I had to run out to Asda in tears in the early hours of the morning to get him bottles and formula and of course since then he prefers bottles!

Of course the article says that there is less aluminium in the powder but I have been giving DS the ready made cartons to avoid the risk of the bacteria in the bloody powder!!

AIBU in being fucking furious that formula milk manufacturers cannot provide a product that will not potentially harm my baby? Apparently the aluminuim residues come from the packaging. Why can't they sell it in glass jars then? I am positive that people would not mind paying extra for that.

Oh apparently they've know about this for years so at least my other 3 DCs who were all on FM at some point have all been potentially poisoned too not just this one FFS.

Where are the government is all this? I know they are promoting breastfeeding but some people can't and have no option but to buy formula. Why are these companies not more tightly controlled?

here is a link to the campaign to make formula safer

reallytired It was a joke leading on from one made earlier in the thread. But go ahead, demonise me. I use formula.

Oh for goodness sake. This is what happens when you base your knowledge on articles in the Daily Mail and The Sun.

Read some proper newspapers. And stop freaking out. You have NOT poisoned your children.

lol TSC

I have a whole "xxxxx...FFS" series. It's a bit like Computing for Dummies etc

I FF my 3. All happy & healthy. My Sil BF her 3. All happy & healthy.
I read the Daily Mail for a laugh.
I FF & couldn't give a monkeys what anyone else thinks. My kids, my body, my choice.

As you've already got 3 other dc you'll know that from 6 months you and most other mums (bfing included) will be weaning your babies.They'll be eating foods over the next few years stored in the same/other packaging- nobody will bat an eyelid.

As you know formula = carte blanche for scaremongering-ignore it and enjoy your baby.

i think formula manufacturers have it easy - any concerns about the safety of their product and mothers start arguing with each other, not asking for a safer product. this doesn't happen with, for example, safety of prams, or cars, or eggs, usually there is a public outcry and systems are improved to reduce the danger to consumers.

Most diseases are multifactorial, and you cannot say ff causes a disease, but it might increase the risk of it. So not all smokers die because of smoking so just if great uncle jack smoked 60 a day and lived to be 100 doesn't make it safe. i was ff and am quite healthy but that doesn't mean ff is as good as bf.

as an aside, I heard Ben Goldacre explaining risk very well on the radio. Say the risk of a certain disease is 2 in 1000, but some lifestyle choice doubles the risk, so it is then 4 in 1000 it is still quite a small chance of getting that disease. But if everyone chooses that lifestyle factor, the disease burden for the NHS doubles, and so the country has to pay a lot more money for the consequences of this lifestyle choice.

well said weasle - particularly your first paragraph.

In a few weeks your child may start attempting to eat the Daily Mail. That's when you worry.

"There are hundreds of factors which lead to obesity - formula just increases the risk - it doesn't mean that it directly means for sure that your baby will end up obese."

THANK YOU peppapighastakenovermylife!!!

Whenever I try and follow advice I've been given people always say "well it worked fine for me and borthers/sisters/etc so it must be fine" I can't seem to get through to people that I'm following advice because it increases the chances of something happening. I'm sick of being told that I'm being paranoid or I should just do what was done 30/40 years ago just because it worked for the majority of people...anyway. I'm going off on a tangent now...

SkiHorse I don't know if your post was meant to be funny.. but it made me giggle. maybe the pink bubbles (with dark chocolate that taste bery good together!!) has had an impact on me!!

seriously - surely there are trace elements in everything? Bigmomma good luck in whatever you decide. Some of my neighbours' kids were fed carnation condensed milk as kids and are absolutely fine now!

When the BF argument comes up I always suggest going to the local nursery/primary/secondary school and trying to work out which were BF or FF - chances are you won't be able to tell the difference.

Incidently DD FF(i too COULDN'T BF her) - a healthy 4 yr old and eats anything. DS breast feed (initial 2/3 weeks)- threw up everything (inc breast milk) for the first 9 months and was lactose intolarant. Go figure

BF and FF is a choice, But you should enjoy feeding your child. I really enjoyed FF my children, bleeding nipples and constantly hungry babies somewhat took the shine of BF!!!

Whether you chose to continue BF or switch to FF , enjoy the experience and never feel guilty for your choice!!!!!!

Why are you reading that rubbish?

Maybe this anecdote will cheer you up - my SIL BF her DS until he was 18 months old. He then broke his leg and tests showed he was both anaemic and vit D deficient, hence the fracture.

Doc said much more common (anaemia / vit d def) in breastfed babies.

Nothing is perfect, we are all doing the best we can etc.

I don't think it's in any way unreasonable to ask that formula manufacturers should seek to minimise the amount of aluminium in their product. It's generally accepted that it is not good for you.

And I'm not sure how saying that is the huge personal attack on FF mums that half the thread seems to have taken it as.

Maybe it was the title?

Not unreasonable at all to expect that formula should be safe and nutritionally appropriate.

Direct quote from that Baby Milk Action link:
Formula...should include the ingredients proven by independent science to be necessary and beneficial. Ingredients should not be added without proper testing, nor should they be added simply for marketing reasons.

It is unreasonable* to feel guilty about it when you have no viable alternative! It's the COMPANIES who should feel guilty, not parents. :(

*wrong word probably, but makes the point better.

No one has taken it as a huge attack ...?? They've been responding to OP's misplaced (imo) guilt and slight hysertia.
Posters like Skihorse have tried to lighten the very school ma'am-ish tone and been shot down by humourless worthingtons (ooh just coined a new word).
Nearly every FF mum on here has sought merely to appease and reassure the OP that she is not poisoning her child (FFS!!)
And many of us FF mums are pointing out that we felt no guilt at all and urge OP not to beat herself up about it.

Has anyone thought about mums like me who have had mastectomy so can't make choices? One in 9 will get it so am not being sensationalist. I bf my previous children but can't this one due in Jan. Point me in the direction of anyone who says it causes this that and the other and ill smother them with my implants!

OP, YANBU.

The Daily Mail is BU.

Agree with other posters - there are risks in not BF long enough (or at all) there are risks in BF too long, there are risks of "poisoning" babies if you FF, there are risks of "poisoning" them if you BF (and that's even more your fault in Daily Mail land, because you choose what you eat, right?).

Ignore them. There are risks in being alive. You're doing the best you can - enjoy this special time with your little one and don't let the Daily Wail spoil it.

And as a BF mum, I though the fashion sense post was hysterical.

Good bloody point ledkr and ha ha to smothering militants with your implants!! Hope you are ok.

agree with mamatomany women can't wait to tell each other about the pain of birth but I had no idea when dd1 was born that breastfeeding was hard work and had to be learnt. I lasted 2 agonising, tearful weeks and then switched completely to formula, with dd3 I am still bfing at 6 weeks. This is because I am mix feeding her and giving myself a break. I know if I was solely bfing I wouldn't have lasted this long.It doesn't have to be one or the other

P and sad...thanks very well thanks.
Am almost looking forward to opposing the nipple natzi mws in hospital. already had one suggest referral to bf mw ''just in case'' in case what? they grow back! Think she got the message when dh and I posl.
Must admit am looking forward to dh being able to do night feeds.
Don't feel guilt op. Just make it as safe and pleasant as possible. Everything kills you these days.

girlsyearapart - thank god someone has the courage to say it, possibly we would have a lot more breastfeeding mums if HV were allowed to encourage people to do both!!! (and talk more honestly about the risk of malnutrician when Babies don't get enough from Breastmilk)