to think that not everything is a matter of opinion and.

[seeker]

.."you know your baby best" is absolute claptrap. As is 'happy mother=happy baby"

Where I do think things are not a matter of opinion is where there is very sound evidence that one path works far, far better than another.

If it's one of these never ending debateable things then IMO doing what works best for you is the best approach.

Also - am sick to death of hearing 'happy mum, happy baby' being trotted out as a 'catch all' response to someone stopping breastfeeding. Because frankly, mum being happier not to breastfeed won't provide some sort of magic protection against infection for her baby which will stand in for the protection they no longer have from breastfeeding.

Agree with you shagmund

Read some up to date science.

yes you are a far superior parent because you obey all the rules I am a shit parent

I know my stuff thanks and you are talking crap montysma

okey dokey love.

Month, what is up to date today may not be up to date tomorrow. Therefore opinion does have to come into it, because there will always be conflicting research on bf/ff depending on where the study was conducted or who paid for it and what they were looking for.

What is best for Mum is not always going to be what is best for the baby and vice versa, it's just that the Mother has a choice and the baby does not.

Month?! I meant Monty, stupid auto correct.

I fancy being a bit of a judgey, smug bastard today, as my halo could do with a polish, and the best shine comes from looking down at other people who I know nothing about.
Have I come to the right place?

Glad you see sense monty love

Hmmm what's the betting you didn't breastfeed and need to justify your reason with laughable 'research'????

I went on Google scholar for 30 seconds. The first result was from 2007 for studies from developed countries. It said:

'Results: We screened over 9,000 abstracts. Forty-three primary studies on infant health
outcomes, 43 primary studies on maternal health outcomes, and 29 systematic reviews or meta-
analyses that covered approximately 400 individual studies were included in this review. We
found that a history of breastfeeding was associated with a reduction in the risk of acute otitis
media, non-specific gastroenteritis, severe lower respiratory tract infections, atopic dermatitis,
asthma (young children), obesity, type 1 and 2 diabetes, childhood leukemia, sudden infant death
syndrome (SIDS), and necrotizing enterocolitis. There was no relationship between breastfeeding
in term infants and cognitive performance. The relationship between breastfeeding and
cardiovascular diseases was unclear. Similarly, it was also unclear concerning the relationship
between breastfeeding and infant mortality in developed countries. For maternal outcomes, a
history of lactation was associated with a reduced risk of type 2 diabetes, breast, and ovarian
cancer. Early cessation of breastfeeding or not breastfeeding was associated with an increased
risk of maternal postpartum depression. There was no relationship between a history of lactation
and the risk of osteoporosis. The effect of breastfeeding in mothers on return-to-pre-pregnancy
weight was negligible, and the effect of breastfeeding on postpartum weight loss was unclear. '

ifanz-ibfan.org.nz/documents/health-outcomes-in-developed-countries_Apr'07.pdf

If you have a more recent literature review than this, perhaps you should link to it, because people on MN tend to not respect an argument based on authority - i.e. that you 'work in the field.'

Where did montysma say that formula and breastmilk are the same? As far as i can see, she said the outcomes in the long term were the same.

Oh gawd not another bf v ff debate please NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"Often used by selfish mothers who don't want to put in the work"

Oh for goodness sake. Fine if you want to be miserable for the good of your child, go ahead. It doesn't mean that someone who does something that is not 100 per cent child centred is a neglectful mother who only cares about herself. If childless women looked at MN before having children they would never have them.

I don't think the OP meant that.

Those phrases can be used as excuses for things other than ff. Like early weaning, using a baby walker, endless trips to the doctor with a perfectly healthy baby, leaving a baby in a playpen for hours at a time without stimulating them because you need to watch Jeremy Kyle in peace....

Well that conclusion that she came up with is also crap sis

It's not always about miserable though Haziedoll. Sometimes it's just about making more effort.

Pmsl! And how the fuck would you know?

Using a baby walker?

Are baby walkers selfish then?

I didn't use one but I did use an activity centre for ds2 that he loved round a friends house but then looked at it like it was the devil when we got him one.

Frankly, whatever gets you through the day without committing suicide will do sometimes. I have completely run out if energy for competitive parenting.

Babies can be entertained well in baby walkers, unsurprisingly, but they are not good for their development when it comes to walking and gross motor skills. They can encourage babies to put weight on the wrong part of their feet which can lead to problems.