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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Aibu? to be pissed off at this: "The cost and social implications of using an infant milk should be considered when deciding how to feed your baby."

999 replies

Selyna · 03/05/2012 08:03

WTF do Hipp mean by social implications?

Both methods of feeding a baby are acceptable so fuck off with the whole acting like ff is poison! my dd is perfectly fine but i hate this constant making me feel like a failure because i failed to bf although i tried so so hard!

OP posts:
worldgonecrazy · 03/05/2012 13:06

I'd bet you'd find that FF is the economic choice for anyone working

I don't understand this statement at all. I bf to 15 months, ebf until weaned, no formula ever. I also went back to work full-time (away from DD 11 hours a day) when she was 14 weeks old.

Economically it was the best choice for both me and the company I work for.

Full-time working mums can breastfeed exclusively if they have the right support around them.

molly3478 · 03/05/2012 13:08

Shagmund - I went back at 10 days last time so that was one of the reasons I didnt bf

Shagmundfreud · 03/05/2012 13:08

Ok - just found one survey which suggests less than only a very tiny number returning within six months. I bet most of those would be self-employed.

Shagmundfreud · 03/05/2012 13:10

I can see why it'd be hard to bf if you were going back f/t at 10 days Molly - before bf was even established. Tough job. I thought I had it hard going back at 5 weeks, but at least I did have bf established by that point and could carry on even though I was separated from my dd!

molly3478 · 03/05/2012 13:12

I wasnt full time but I was at uni. I thought it would be way to difficult one mum in my class did it but they brought their dhs to wait in the cafe and they had to sit there all day waiting and bring the baby in when it needed its feed. I had to stay at uni as I needed student loan as wasnt entitled to hb (as mortgaged), no other benefits other than tcs and no maternity pay

Whatmeworry · 03/05/2012 13:16

whatmeworry as I replied to you earlier, a couple of extra slices of toast a day at most add up to a loaf of bread a week, so the additional cost doesn't need to.be more than £1 or so. As you say, it depends what you're eating.

You'll need more that 2 slices a day to get to 500 calories, a slice of medium white bread is about 75 calories. Now, if you load on the butter, peanut butter and jam maybe, but then up goes the cost too.

You can't get something for nothing, even motherhood obeys the basic laws of physics - and economics :)

Those women from social class 1 (doctors, lawyers, professionals) are also those who are most likely to breastfeed, and are most likely to breastfeed longest.

Because they are the very people who can afford to take time off work - and that is what is driving BF being seen as a MC thing in the West. The whole EBF/NCT movement in the West is very MC driven.

Shagmundfreud · 03/05/2012 13:17

molly - if universities and other places where mothers have to be were more accommodating of breastfeeding then it shouldn't have been more difficult. I suppose it depends on your subject as well. My undergraduate degree only required me to be on site for about 14 hours a week for lectures and tutorials. I could have done that with a newborn I reckon though it would have been a challenge.

Re the other student - that's a great sacrifice to sit in a cafe all day, every day for months on end to wait for a baby to need feeding. She must have had a very supportive OH!

margoandjerry · 03/05/2012 13:19

whatmeworry you are hitting all the nails on all the heads....

Shagmundfreud · 03/05/2012 13:20

Whatmeworry - you can get something for nothing if you're eating food which would normally be thrown out or go bad.

I have yet to meet a family who never throws food away!

"Because they are the very people who can afford to take time off work - and that is what is driving BF being seen as a MC thing in the West."

Sorry - how does that work? Almost all women get maternity pay in the UK and so can take a few months off. And in countries where they get NOTHING women are MORE likely to bf than in the UK!

And those women who are least likely to ever work are also least likely to breastfeed.

fuzzywuzzyhead · 03/05/2012 13:20

Funnily enough I remember reading that label on Aptamil FF and thinking 'ooh that makes me feel a bit guilty/like I've given up too easily rah de rah' what a stupid thing to put on there FGS.

Made a decision then & there to not feel guilty though. Bit of BF then FF worked for us and dc, earlier poster was right, there are LOTS of other things that'll crop up when raising children to feel guilty about...(I'm worried about the teenage years - 2 girls Confused)

One of my friends is rather smug she BF for 14 months though. Still no regrets Grin
FF or BF are not variables that determine how good a mum you are (too many confounding factors eh shagmund Wink

StealthPolarBear · 03/05/2012 13:21

So are there women who consciously make anbeffort to eat more? And does that equate to buying much more?

EdlessAllenPoe · 03/05/2012 13:26

if you look at when/why women stop BF, working or not doesn't factor highly...first 6 weeks is when, and it not going well is usually the reason. If you are in a low-paid job, you can actually be better off whilst on mat leave (so it is with many women at my workplace!) due to childcare cost/ CTX WTX tapers &mat leave disregard.

knowitallstrikesagain · 03/05/2012 13:33

I thought it was a myth that you need extra calories to BF. Surely people less privilaged than us in the UK who can't afford extra food still manage to BF? BF uses up extra calories, but the body will find them from somewhere.

though my body couldn't locate the extra million calories from my arse waiting to be used up

ArcticRain · 03/05/2012 13:33

Not all women need 500 extra calories! I believe it be 200-500 . But that's what the pregnancy fat stores are for .

I don't buy any extra food . I just give my husband less !

ohanotherone · 03/05/2012 13:34

Going out a getting shit faced wouldn't be on most mums agendas surely?

I wouldn't judge people about FF but I would judge people about the need to do that....

plus3 · 03/05/2012 13:36

I believe that the formula companies are not allowed to state that they think their product is brilliant, and that everyone should dump BF in favour of FF. They are bound by government policy to follow the WHO recommendations.

BUT - it is only a recommendation & there are always exceptions to the rules.

hipp (organic?) strike me as the sort of company that would target the BF's for all their follow on products. They probably think this statement covers all bases!

molly3478 · 03/05/2012 13:38

Oh they definitely would of let me shagmund but I was al ripped to pieces and it was missed by the hospital and I had to go back for an operation under general and I was doing a degree to. I just thought I would go mental. I did Childhood Studies out of 25 9 had babies whilst on the course. We were allowed to bring our babies to lessons if we wanted, they couldnt of been more accomodating.

Its hard work though nothing in my life has compared to doing degree and having a new born. This time its easy it just involves lots of mning and sitting around bliss Grin

To what meworry I think i am eating loads less calories than when I was pregnant I have lost 2 stone in 3 weeks. Its because when your pregnant you can get up and move about more to prepare food and I just think I cant be arsed with it so just eat little here and there.

fuzzywuzzyhead · 03/05/2012 13:39

That's right re: fat stores.

I did eat LOADS though when BF..think we only bought extra couple of packs of biccies a week though (& threw away less)

molly3478 · 03/05/2012 13:41

ohanotherone - Yeah it is common here most mums do go out quite early on, I dont judge it though as its so widespread, no different to the dad going out and no one judges that. Last time I went out for my birthday after 3 weeks and left dd last time I dont think its a big deal tbh and wouldnt really judge it personally.

EasilyBored · 03/05/2012 13:41

Am trying to imagine how anyone owuld feel up to going out on a 'mental one' two weeks after giving birth. DS is four months and one glass of wine knocks me on my arse. Am ready for my book at bed at half seven nine o'clock most nights!

molly3478 · 03/05/2012 13:43

I am going on a 'mental one' when this dd is 2 months regardless of her bfing, I am going to express. I cant wait if you havent gone out for a year in my eyes you deserve a night off Wink

knowitallstrikesagain · 03/05/2012 13:44

So if your body does not actuall need the extra calories, the cost of BF is negligable. You may or may not need lansinoh (sp), I don't know anyone who bought special nursing clothes, although they did buy nursing bras, but this outlay was before baby was born and many mothers who go on to FF buy these anyway, and breast pads, again, maybe. With FF you will DEFINATELY have to buy formula, you will have to steralise and you will have to boil the kettle to make feeds (Take 'will' to mean 'should' here, as I know there are people who use cold water and don't steralise etc.)

This is what I would assume they mean as Hipp sell formula anyway.

ohanotherone · 03/05/2012 13:46

Just because people do things it doesn't make it acceptable! I've had my fair share of partying but people need to grow up when they have a baby.

sausagesandmarmelade · 03/05/2012 13:47

I agree with you OP. Am sick of hearing how mothers who FF are made to feel guilty for that choice....

It's a mother's choice.....and personally I see no harm whatsoever in either option.

EdlessAllenPoe · 03/05/2012 13:48

"They are bound by government policy to follow the WHO recommendations. "

actually they aren't. the UK government has not adopted the WHO code as law, otherwise you wouldn't get those adverts on telly for follow-on milks (which are v. blatantly for all Formula sold by that manafacturer)

the UK has its own reduced legislation dealing with infant milk marketing which is much less stringent.