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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to ask if you would use donated breastmilk if it was available rather than formula?

712 replies

bubbleymummy · 15/02/2011 11:32

Inspired by another thread.

I personally would rather use donated milk. If you wouldn't - why not?

OP posts:
TimeWasting · 15/02/2011 22:30

Mila, the recommendation for breastfeeding is exclusivity til 6 months when complementary weaning foods are given alongside breastfeeding which should continue til the child is at least two years.

So yes, I have a problem with you going on about 6 months, it's wrong.

FFFS · 15/02/2011 22:31

TimeWasting - ha ha ha!

HHLimbo · 15/02/2011 22:34

Hello MrsSparkle - Have you tried to breastfeed? what has been your experience?
We talked earlier on the board about how important it was to have good BF support available, and how some people were not supported properly and had to FF. Did this happen to you?

Original poster
bubbleymummy · 15/02/2011 22:35

Where is your evidence mrssparkle? You havent produced anything. It would be very easy to find if it existed.The large population scale studies do take lifestyle into account btw.

OP posts:
Original poster
bubbleymummy · 15/02/2011 22:36

Timewasting - I think you are actually wasting your time with fffs :)

OP posts:
MrsSparkle · 15/02/2011 22:38

I do have things to prove my argument, life! People, different circumstances, different environment, diet, genetics. What do you have? Studies in a lab that haven't taken any of these things into account.

Doing studies of people living the exact same lives with ff and bf people is pointless because no two people are the same nor do they live the same lives! Egnore all the other factors of health all you like, but your evidence doesn't stand if you don't .

Original poster
bubbleymummy · 15/02/2011 22:41

Mrssparkle, I'm sorry but that is just not how it works. These studies do allow for those factors and bf babies do still come out on top. Your own interpretation of society as a whole is not 'proof' of anything.

OP posts:
OliveMalay · 15/02/2011 22:42

No, I'd go for formula.

DreamsInBinary · 15/02/2011 22:42

"I think all that bf really has adled your brain"

"Take your tits out your brain"

Shock
Original poster
bubbleymummy · 15/02/2011 22:43

Milamae, you were doing something similar to mrssparkle and not keeping controlled variables in order the see the effect of bf or ff.

OP posts:
TimeWasting · 15/02/2011 22:43

MrsSparkle, that's not proof.

They don't do these studies in labs, they look at large populations retrospectively.

How do you know that diet for instance has an effect on health outcomes?

DreamsInBinary · 15/02/2011 22:43

To get back to the OP, yes, I would prefer donated bm.

Beaaware · 15/02/2011 22:45

Just to clear up some confusion on here regarding donated breast milk this is the advice from the Health Protection Agency website:

PUBLIC HEALTH ADVICE ON HOW TO STOP THE SPREAD OF CJD/VCJD SPREADING TO OtHER PEOPLE,
this advice is for people who have been identified as being at increased risk of CJD. To reduce the risk of spreading CJD to other people please follow this advice:
1.Don't donate blood, No-one who is at increased risk of CJD or who has received blood donated in the UK since 1980 should donate blood.

2.Don't donate organs, tissues, including bone marrow, sperm, eggs or breast milk.

3.If you are going to have any medical, dental or surgical procedures, tell whoever is treating you beforehand so they can make special arrangements for the instruments used to treat you.

last reviewed 16 July 2009

What is totally laughable about this advice is that prior to 1996 virtually the whole population was been exposed to vCJD according to leading scientists, nobody knows how many of us are asymptomatic carriers, what is true is that vcJD can be transmitted through blood transfusions, just google "Mark Buckland" he was given a blood transfusion during an operation, the blood was from a blood donor who had vCJD who also had recieved a blood transfusion from a donor who had vCJD, thankfully mark was not a blood donor himself.
Would I accept donated breast milk for my baby, no way.

MissyKLo · 15/02/2011 22:45

Love the way that people like ms sparkle try to come up with utter rubbish here to try and ignore the fact that formula cannot ever be comparable to breast milk in terms of its benefits.

She will surely keep her head firmly in the sand on this as it obviously makes her feel better about her choice to formula feed so really, we 'militant' bf'ers who are just stating facts but being classed as militant - should just leave her to it! Poor lady...

HHLimbo · 15/02/2011 22:46

MrsSparkle - the scientific studies are carried out by looking at people in the population. So they will ask many thousands of people whether they BF or FF, AND will also find out all sorts of things about their lifestyle that could affect the outcome (diet, excercise, smoking etc).

They can then compare all these thousands of people; they can look at people who eat well, and see if the BF people have more or less advantages. Then they can look at all the people who have a bad diet, and see if there are BF advantages/disadvantages there. Then they can look at all the people who exercise regularly.. etc.

Original poster
bubbleymummy · 15/02/2011 22:47

Thank you Dreams! It's all going a bit pear shaped in here.

OP posts:
MilaMae · 15/02/2011 22:48

It's pointless diction twisting. The fact is if you give your dc a healthy diet,exercise,stimulation and lifestyle over all they'll grow up into healthy,intelligent adults. Mums want healthy kids ,they can have healthy kids by giving them above,not a big issue really,it isn't dependent on bm.

Also bf is just another thing on a loooooooong list of ideals in motherhood.I do well on some,not so good on others.

1)too much screen time is not good-big tick for me on that score(I limit it)could do better so maybe half a tick

2)reading to your kids improves literacy-big tick for me on that one too

  1. breast is best-bummer only managed 6 weeks on that one

4)exercise is good-another big tick for me on that one,kids get masses

  1. a healthy balanced diet is good,has lifelong benefits and protects against many things-yay big tick on that one

  2. not enough sleep can hinder academic progress and health-yay another big tick for Mila there.....I could go on but won't,you get my drift and reading somebody else's mothering highs and lows aren't good and pretty pointless.

The fact is it's not a sprint but a marathon and we're all in it for the long haul,we'll do many things the ideal way and some not so. Some things will improve then wane.

The fact is no one thing on my list is going to guarantee me healthy children,several things give you healthy children over many years so it would be great if perhaps discussions which involve bm could include just a little perspective.Bf doesn't trump every important factor on the arduous road of producing healthy kids-sorry. You may wish it to but it simply doesn't.

TimeWasting · 15/02/2011 22:51

And your evidence?

Original poster
bubbleymummy · 15/02/2011 22:52

"Bf doesn't trump every important factor on the arduous road of producing healthy kids-sorry. You may wish it to but it simply doesn't."

No one says it does! It's just that if you control all those other factors and then compare whether the children were bf or ff there is a difference. That is what the epidemiological studies show too.

OP posts:
MrsSparkle · 15/02/2011 22:53

I had a go with dd but couldn't bare it. I have really sensitive nipples and I hate them being touched. I tried for 5 days, was anxious the whole time, didn't like my dd at all and was generally withdrawn because I felt so pressured. Being a first time mum I was made to feel I was a failure if I gave up. After day 5 and after dd threw up my blood that she had swollowed, I called it a day. The transformation in me and my dd when I switched to formular was astonishing.

With ds I gave it ago and could feel those same feelings I had with dd so being more confident as a mum, said no to bf. I was made to feel like I didn't care about my baby by people all accept this one lady. She was so lovely and said to me it doesn't matter as long as you and your baby are happy. I said I had a ff dd and the lady said "right and I bet she is a happy healthy girl isn't she" and I replied she was and she said there you go then. She was very pro choice and the best health worker I have ever known.

MilaMae · 15/02/2011 22:53

Common sense,you might want to try it.

TimeWasting · 15/02/2011 22:54

Common sense? Are you serious?

MissyKLo · 15/02/2011 22:58

Millymae

Who are you trying to convince with your constant bleatings that bf doesnt matter that much?!

Actually it does matter and can a very very significant impact on a child's life but you strike me as the sort of person to put her hands over her ears and scream 'nah, nah, nah' when this is said as you just can't take it can you?!

Breast milk is one of the greatest things a child can have and there are countless studies to show the benefits but I you had better get back in your bubble as this is obviously too too much for you to hear!

MilaMae · 15/02/2011 22:58

Oh yes,it's just great. You get to read highly questionable statements,twisted stats(to suit an argument) and see it for what is -scaremongering from over zealous bf mothers who feel crap in other areas of their mothering so like to obsess about the one area they feel they've excelled in.

MilaMae · 15/02/2011 23:00

Hmmmm "significant impact on a child's life" I think the fantastic diet my kids have been fed,the books I've read to them every night and the active lifestyle I provide have had far more of an impact.If thats living in a bubble so be it.