to think that the formula companies are succeeding with their campaign to promote formula to be as good as breast milk...

[MissyKLo]

...when it isn't?

this article rang true in so many ways

www.analyticalarmadillo.co.uk/2010/10/how-breast-is-best-came-to-be.html

Breast milk is of course, full of amazing antibodies and nourishment etc that formula can never replicate - but the formula companies are winning in their campaign to make people believe that formula is as good as breast milk aren't they? A lot of people don't see bf as a big deal and that babies are 'perfectly fine' on formula. But what about all the benefits of breast milk and the fact that so many babies don't ever get these?

Breast milk cannot be beaten on so many levels so why are the formula companies allowed to get away with this?!!!!!!

Maybe I could just get really extremr in my views and blame it on my fascist phone. Hmmmm...

I feel really sorry for all the women who want to feed but for what ever reason don't manage and feel quilty about this.

Babies aren't going to come to any harm having formula.

However, if the correct support was in place for all women then maybe more would manage to establish breastfeeding. I count myself very lucky to have had the support of my family as well as an amazing breast feeding counsellor and support group.

I do think the advertising companies run very close to the mark with the implication that formula is as good as breast milk even if they don't quite say it, but they've got a business to run and money to make!!

i think we should save phone abuse for another thread!!

although quite like the idea of being able to blame it for out spoken moments :)

I really don't understand why some women get so wound up about how other women choose to feed. I seriously don't care what other women choose to feed their kids.

In my own case I tried to BF in hospital and after 3 days my baby lost so much weight she ended up with dehydration seizures in SBU. I was basically made to FF her as she wasnt latching. I decided that I would not give up and kept trying with no luck. I started expressing so she's been getting a mixture of BF and FF. She refuses the breast and screams when I try to give it to her...

I kept telling the breastfeeding counsellers that she wasn't latching and they kept telling me to persevere and that I shouldn't have given her the bottle so early because she's now confused and finds the bottle easier. They put the baby in various positions and at one point she stayed on for 2 mins at the cxounseller declared it a success and told me to persevere(sp?).

I was finally recommended my 3rd breast counseller who immediately diagnosed DD (by this time 8 weeks old) as being severly tongue tied.

Told my GP who told me that the official line on tongue ties are that they don't affect BF. The BF counseller then refered me on to the only specialist in London that believes they are an issue and when he checked DD he said her TT was so severe she would never have been able to BF. He cut it off and I'm now trying to reastablish BF but I fear its now too late.

I have spoken to other women and it seems TTs can often be a factor in a baby not latching on but many health professionals don't take it seriously.

My DD was seen by countless midwives a pediatrician and 3 breast feeding counsellors before it was dealt with!!

Please stop making women who FF feel guilty, you have no idea why sone of us go down that path.

YABU

At all NCT groups a fair percentage of the ante natal classes are taken up on breast feeding are they not?
At most ante natal groups there is a strong emphasis on breast is best is there not?
There is article upon article showing that breast is best, I don't know anyone who thinks that formula is better.
Formula companies are not allowed to market to the under 6 month olds.

Based upon these points how can you say that formula companies are winning?

It's also terribly patronising to think that women are so ill read and stupid that they don't know that breast is best. WE ALL KNOW BREAST IS BEST!

It's just that some women can't breast feed and others CHOOSE not to for their own personal reasons.

Why on earth feel guilty or the need to justify????

Are you expecting to do everything perfectly? Are you going to feed your kids the finest organic food their whole childhood? Are you going to ban screen time completely? Are your children never going to have months of picky eating?Are your children going to be fully exercised every day etc,etc,etc?

Bf is one of many ideals in raising a child,it's not the be all and end all of health(far from it). You won't do everything the ideal way and if you give your child the majority of their childhood a healthy lifestyle they'll be just extremely healthy,just tickety boo regardless of how they were fed in the early days.It really is absolutely nothing to worry about.

Don't feed the bf obsessive.

I mix fed from DS birth - partly becuase my milk took a week to appear and partly because it gave me more freedom and DP more contact with DS. For those who return to work early BF can be logistically very difficult. As a teacher, when I return to work when future DD is about 4 months I will have stopped BF because even if I wanted to, I don't think it is feasible to ask for a timetabled free period once or twice a day to go and express and if I used break / lunchtime I would not be able to a) eat b) run around photocopying. There is a need for formula in these cases and it might actually be useful to those who do use it if there was more info, not less, about what is in it, making it up correctly etc.

YABU

MilaMae - my EBF til food 5mo is currently watching TV

In my opinion a healthy as you can possibly be pregnancy is the best start for a baby. How women choose to feed their babies is entirely up to them whether they BF or FF. Why do women always have to worry about how the next woman is feeding her baby?

"Bf is one of many ideals in raising a child" - but that's the point - it isn't the 'ideal' - it is the normal way of feeding a baby.

"Babies aren't going to come to any harm having formula."

Unfortunately that isn't the case. Many babies do come to harm by missing out on the antibodies in bm and also from being exposed to the risks of ff. I know people will jump on me now and tell me I am making them feel bad because ff was something they had to do but that is not my intention - I am just pointing out the facts and we can't just sweep them under the carpet at the risk of offending someone.

I really don't want this to turn into another bf vs formula debate because that isn't what it is supposed to be. It is about whether or not people are beginning to see formula as not really that different to bm so what's the big deal?

Today he would not eat my lovingly prepared food, but did eat a jar [shock, horror emoticon]

I am very curious to see where FF is advertised? I've not seen it anywhere? And I would have noticed it!

I dont understand why formula isnt completely synthesised based on BM, and is instead modified cows milk?
Does anyone know??

trixie, my sister is a teacher in a secondary school and managed to continue bf when she returned to work. She expressed once a day for the nursery to give a bottle feed and then she just bf in the morning and evening. He was 9 months when she went back to work. So it is possible if you want to continue :)

bubbleymummy - I'm not sure babies come to harm by missing out on antibodies in BM. There is thought to be some benefit but I think it is grossly sensationalistic to say that babies will be harmed without it. How very tabloid.

How are those babies going to come to harm exactly?

What are the risks of ff?

If you mean the over hyped 1 in 20 more chance of getting the trots any one time which is highly unlikely if you prepare formula correctly you are scaremongering.

Missy and Bubbly what is it with this obsession,it's seriously concerning?

So women who can't feed their babies are abnormal! That's such a nice way to put it bubbleyummy..not!

That's exactly why people feel like they've failed and get upset because people like yourself use wording like that and in turn makes others feel like they failed.

allsquare - probably because cows milk is more readily available. Also (quite sadly) people think bm is 'weird' and 'icky' whereas cow's milk is 'real' milk

Sorry bubbleyummy not you my mistake

Also, there are a million anecdotes on here of babies who were FF and have had a much better run of health than those who were BF. It seems to depend far more on how much they mix with other DCs at playgroups etc.

Babies dont "come to harm". Thats a rather skewed vies of the fact bm provides benefits.

Not at all Diablo - maternal antibodies from bm are very important for the protection of newborns. If you want to provide a link to a study that says otherwise then please feel free to do so. :)

Protection of newborns from what exactly?

BM provides benefits and there have been studies to show it can protect but this does not allow us to draw the conclusion that not bf "harms".