Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To expect Aptamil NOT to contain fish!

414 replies

Millie1206 · 11/02/2011 20:16

I'm not veggie (luckily!) but just noticed this on the carton. Do all infant formulas contain fish oil? Bizarre

OP posts:
TimeWasting · 13/02/2011 10:51

altinkum I'm not using the word substitute in a derogatory way.

I think I'm understanding your argument as if we have taken bm out of the equation, for whatever reason, then we need to discuss the merits of different formulations and it's pointless to mention breastfeeding.
But as the goal of any infant formula is to replicate what bm does it isn't a completely separate issue.

altinkum · 13/02/2011 10:55

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

squeakytoy · 13/02/2011 10:59

A meat eating child could choose NOT to eat meat though. A vegetarian child would not be allowed to choose meat.

What I would like to know is, do vegetarians allow their children the choice to eat meat if they want to try it.

The point I am getting at here is, fish oils are proven as being beneficial to a childs development and health. Therefore a parent, in my view, should not force their food choices onto the child, by not allowing them the formula.

altinkum · 13/02/2011 11:01

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

squeakytoy · 13/02/2011 11:02

and then what when they ask themselves? would the vegetarian parent allow the child to make their own choices?

altinkum · 13/02/2011 11:03

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Morloth · 13/02/2011 11:39

I wonder if milk from the other great apes would need as much changing as cow's milk to make formula?

NorthernComfort · 13/02/2011 11:55

squeakytoy- that argument is mental. All parents "force" their food choices on their children. My new meat eating family forced their meat eating choices on me after my parents broke up and totally screwed with my head. My children can opt into meat eating later if they like, but they can't opt out if I've already made them eat it. As a parent you "force" most of your choices on your children from the second they get out of bed. So it pays to look into it and try to make good ones.

Cosmosis · 13/02/2011 12:01

In the politics of bfing she mentions a zookeeper looking fo human milk for an elephant as he thought it was closest so maybe we need to use elephant milk to make formula Grin

NorthernComfort · 13/02/2011 12:05

oh, and personally I'm fine with my children choosing to eat meat if they wish to. But they can make this choice when they are at an age to understand the moral, ethical and environmental impact of their choice. Which is a few years off yet. Grin I'm not prepared to buy, cook or touch it myself though.

jaggythistle · 13/02/2011 12:06

don't fancy a job milking elephants. Shock

yanbu to be a bit surprised op, but i guess formula can contain pretty much anything the manufacturers think will sound good. they have to prove it's not harmful, but don't really have to prove the benefits i believe.

NorthernComfort · 13/02/2011 12:20

squeakytoy- that argument is mental. All parents "force" their food choices on their children. My new meat eating family forced their meat eating choices on me after my parents broke up and totally screwed with my head. My children can opt into meat eating later if they like, but they can't opt out if I've already made them eat it. As a parent you "force" most of your choices on your children from the second they get out of bed. So it pays to look into it and try to make good ones.

Cosmosis · 13/02/2011 12:39

Agree, you might as well say meat eating parents force meat on their children. As a parent you force all your values on your children, it's then up to them to change them or keep them.

splashyy · 13/02/2011 13:44

squeakytoy I was brought up vegetarian and have remained so by choice. I think you would find that your question is largely academic as from experience all children I know who are brought up vegetarian choose to remain so. I have never eaten me and have never had any desire too - this is only reinforced by having visited a relative's farm for a few weeks and seeing first-hand exactly where meat comes from.

NorthernComfort · 13/02/2011 13:51

oops, not sure how I posted that twice...

bagelmonster · 13/02/2011 14:18

oh my god LOSHAD!!! how closed minded you are..... so after I had DS2 I developed septacaemia and nearly died, spent 2 weeks in hospital after having an emergency laparotomy for saving my life. All my milk dried up as a result of the trauma and the very little I had left in the end was too toxic to feed him. I tried very hard but it didn't come back. how do you suggest I give him breast milk then?? He has been on formula for 8 months now and thriving, not everybody's story is easy and peachy!!!

ArthurPewty · 13/02/2011 17:41

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

squeakytoy · 13/02/2011 19:37

There is no conclusive, official research that proves too much soy is bad for you.

altinkum · 14/02/2011 12:28

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Hiyoulot · 14/02/2011 21:59

I used fish-free cow and gate in 2002 before all the omega stuff hit the headlines. No 1 was bf but desperately tried to get them to sleep longer by giving her a bottle of formula at night. By the time no2 child came along fish was in everything (even baked beans for a while until, probably when loads of veggies like me complained). In fact Health Visitor was insistent that I ought to eat fish when pregnant for the baby's brain development. No. 2 was bf until 3 years 6 mths. No formula nor fish. Both kids never eaten meat. Both in top sets. Little one got a reading age 5 years above her actual age.

If you read the 'bad science' column in the Guardian you'll see a lot of the research on brain/fish oil was a statisically flawed study sponsored by a health food company.

I did a MSc in Animal Welfare at Edinburgh 10 years ago and they disussed how much heavy metal is concentrated in fish - so much so that lots of them have cancers. This fact kept me going when the HV was telling me to eat fish. I didn't.

splashyy · 14/02/2011 23:09

hiyoulot well done for sticking to your guns!

I hated when people kept on telling me I should be eating meat when I was pregnant. I was vegetarian throughout and was never aneamic, and my baby was a very healthy 8 lb 4.

Research shows that as long as you are taking vitamin supplements (pregnacare is sufficient) there is no detrimental effect of being veggie in pregnancy.

In fact pregnant women are advised to limit their fish consumption because of the reasons you highlighted.

splashyy · 14/02/2011 23:20

altinkum Don't worry about people winding you up about soya formula. I grew up on soya formula and have drunk soya milk my whole life instead of cow's milk. Initially because of allergy, and now because I prefer the taste :)

I certainly wasn't harmed by it (and my teeth are fine!), I got 5 As in my A-levels and into a top university so it definately didn't affect my brain development Grin

My mother also never vaccinated me (not that I think that was wise, but that's a whole other thread) and I was very rarely sick - only had 2 days off sick throughout primary school.

Just ignore them :)

TimeWasting · 15/02/2011 09:12

If I recall my vociferous bfers correctly Wink Leonie was brought up on soya formula and was damaged by it, so an argument of opposing anecdotes isn't going to result in a win.
I was going purely on the information I've read regarding UK government scientists advising against soya formula wherever possible.

ArthurPewty · 15/02/2011 09:23

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

AnnieLobeseder · 15/02/2011 09:29

splashyy - fish counts as Kosher Parve so there may well have been fish in your Israeli formula.