AIBU to not follow new guidelines?

[LittleSugaPlum]

Im pregnant with first baby and im almost 33 weeks.
I plan to bottle feed and have brought all the equipment already.

When i was a nursery nurse, around 5 years ago, it was common to "bulk make bottles" and store them in the fridge for upto 24hours.

When i mentioned to my midwife that i was bottlefeeding, she mentioned that the new guidelines were to make up a feed when needed and its not recommended to "bulk make feeds"

Have people honestly stopped doing this? Do people actually only make one feed at a time?

Im seriously considering bulk making, if it was fine for years, whats the difference now?

AIBU to not follow the new guidelines?

And i dont want my daughter to see me as the "milk supply" whenever she sees me, which is something i ve read alot on, on here

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! She will see you as her food/milk/comfort supply for the next 16 odd years regardless of wether you BF or not

Just want to observe that women are continually reminded on these boards that they should have 100 percent control over their bodies, that no one else should coerce them to do anything with it they don't to. Yet over and over women are attacked for choosing not to or being unable to breastfeed.

I wanted to repeat this because it's a fantastic point.

I want to agree that it's a fantastic point!

"Another thing (and I'm not getting into the BF/FF debate) surely your boobs aren't sterile and pose some sort of risk or am I just being thick!?"

Boobs are probably not sterile, but they are designed for a baby to suck them and safely drink for them...
Feeding a baby breastmilk direct from the breast is normal.... they way nature intends, and the least risky way of feeding a baby (in terms of getting food poisoning from their milk)

feeding a baby breast milk from a bottle has similar risks to formula feeding from a bottle (though not as many risks as breast milk is different and can be safely stored un-refrigerated for a lot longer than formula)

The reason you have to sterilise bottles is that the milk is really prone to bacteria in the teat especially I thought formula.

Your norks don't get this problem, you have skin to skin contact even if you ff too.

Kirsty, breastmilk contains substances that kill certain bacteria and boost the child's immune system. It's actually quite scary what it can do. Google 'Hamlet protein'.

Actually I misread that article . So ignore HAMLET protein and stick to:

Breastmilk contains substances that kill certain bacteria and boost the child's immune system. It's actually quite scary what it can do.

'About 80 percent of the cells in breast milk are macrophages, cells that kill bacteria, fungi and viruses. Breast-fed babies are protected, in varying degrees, from a number of illnesses, including pneumonia, botulism, bronchitis, staphylococcal infections, influenza, ear infections, and German measles. Furthermore, mothers produce antibodies to whatever disease is present in their environment, making their milk custom-designed to fight the diseases their babies are exposed to as well.'

A lot of the problem, I think, is that bf/ff are essentially viewed as lifestyle choices. It seems we "choose" how to feed babies to fit in with our lives, in the same way that you choose a 4WD car or a people-carrier or a Mondeo. So many parents seem to spend ages researching what will be the best pram to get, and then don't think about something so fundamental as the food that will be their baby's sole source of nutrition for six months. I can't believe as many people would blithely say "bf isn't for me, I don't like the feeling of it" if they had done much research into the benefits of bf. Most people will tell you it lowers risk of asthma or ear infections, but they don't know that an ff baby has a smaller thalamus (section of the brain) than a bf baby, or that bf babies have a lifetime lower risk of leukaemia than ff babies, or that when you (the mother) are exposed to viruses and illnesses, the chemistry of your milk alters to actively protect your baby from these illnesses. In fact, if your baby is ill, when they feed, minute amounts of their saliva enter your body, and your immune system responds by altering your milk so that it is tailor-made with the antibodies to whatever is making your baby ill.

I am not mentioning any of this to make ff mothers feel guilty. There is a lot of ignorance out there about the benefits of bf, and many, many people who think that the difference between powdered, dried milk in a box and breastmilk, which is a living substance (in the same way that blood is), is not that big a deal. A lot of that is due to the devious tactics of formula manufacturers, who are very good at convincing us that the two are almost the same. They're not. If you tried to bf and it didn't work, then obviously formula is the best option for your baby and there is nothing to feel guilty about. But I do find it sad when women don't want to try, and are closed-minded about it.

And regarding the whole "women should have control of their own bodies" argument. Yes, of course they should. However, a society which encourages women to think that a baby suckling from their breast is "weird" or unpleasant is hardly doing much for the cause of feminism. Nor are formula companies, who use underhand tactics to make women doubt their own abilities to nourish their babies and persuade them to pay money for an inferior product.

Kirsty - the easiest way I can put this is breastmilk is like a carton of sterilised formula. It's sterile in its host container until its exposed to air.

Though I imagine if you are terribly filthy and never wash, breastfeeding may not be safest. But that's my view and maybe if dirty mum's immune system is used to it, the breastmilk may provide the antibodies!

I think the percentage of people who view feeding as a lifestyle choice are very very low indeed.

"If you are terribly filthy and never wash, breastfeeding may not be the safest".

Yes it would - even if you are dirty, your skin and milk are not contaminated with salmonella or Cronobacter sakazakii. They are very particular bacteria which are only found in certain foods (raw chicken, eggs, formula etc). It's like the difference between your baby putting a dummy from the floor in her mouth or putting a piece of raw chicken in her mouth. Both are germy, but all she's likely to get from the dummy would be a cold or virus - the chicken, on the other hand...

Pickles - really? There are a lot of women I work with who ff because they want DH to be able to do night feeds or they don't want to feed in public. Those are lifestyle choices.

Lurcherlover - it may be better if you quoted the whole two sentences.

Stillorsparkling, I can link to many studies showing the benefits of bf, a few of which I have referred to. Please link to some which have proven the benefits to be marginal.

Belly, I didn't quote the second sentence as I didn't see it is relevant. It has nothing to do with the immune system - it's to do with the fact that the risky bacteria aren't present in the first place.

Not wanting to feed in public isn't a lifestyle choice to me, that's a real issue to some people and can lead to them being very isolated.

Wanting dh to feed as feel he will bond and share the experience more.

You might not AGREE with these things and think they are wrong, however misguided you may think people are, they have genuine concerns and reasons.

I find it quite annoying to look down on other peoples rationale. If you want to change it, discuss educate. Don't judge.

So colds and other viruses aren't risky for babies? Then where does the immuno boost come into it? And why do we need medical gels in hospital. The second sentence is totally valid.

I can't believe this thread is STILL going. I commented several times last night and tried to 'round off' the discussion to "kill the thread" and unfortunately, BOTH sides are offering their pennies worth which is having little affect on reducing the divide between FF and BF mothers or helping any one reading this regardless of how they feed or plan to feed (as each 'argument' and counter argument is being lost and misinterpreted)

Just leave it now.

I'll repeat again, if there is anyone on here that wants advice on infant feeding, please start a thread or search the threads in Bottle and Breast topics under Feed the World. There are lots of people with hands on experience, either BF counsellors or infant feeding peer support people who will offer an objective and non judgement view and advice.

It's a shame yet another OP has disappeared

A lifestyle choice doesn't mean something isn't a genuine concern. I fully appreciate there are very serious fears some people have about feeding in public. I had to overcome those fears myself. However, it is still not a decision made for health reasons, it is a decision made for lifestyle factors. Wanting DH to feel involved is a bit insulting to those dads of breastfed babies - was my Dh not as "involved" with our son's life in the early days, just because he didn't give him a bottle? Of course not. He cuddled him, rocked him to sleep, bathed him, changed him, carried him...

It is not my wish to judge people. It really isn't. It just makes me sad when people give reasons like not wanting to feed in public for why they won't bf. There are ways round it. You can actually avoid feeding in public altogether if you want, by expressing or by giving formula in public once your supply's established (because formula isn't poison, and some breastmilk is infinitely better than none). It makes me sad that bf is seen as something that shouldn't be done in public by a lot of the general public.

Belly, sorry if I'm not being clear here. You said you thought women who don't wash/are dirty but bf might be putting their babies at risk. My point was that they wouldn't, because the bacteria that are in formula are not in breastmilk or found on skin (you won't catch salmonella by shaking hands with someone - unless they have been cutting up raw chicken and haven't washed their hands). Therefore, the bit about the immune system protecting them isn't relevant as the bacteria aren't there in the first place.

Colds and viruses are risky, yes, but not generally potentially lethal in the same way that these bacteria are. And breastmilk offers protection against colds and viruses.

Hand gel in hospital is an attempt to combat serious bacteria such as C.Diff, which are very dangerous and thankfully not something most of us have on our living room floors.

I'm not saying the reasons are factually correct but they are to that person.

No one should let another persons reason for feeding undermine theirs as well.

Anyway God is a bossy boots but does have a point. I'm leaving this lie now.

I don't understand how we can live in a world where a woman's choice over her own body is hers to make alone... Ie abortion, contraception, whether to have a baby in the first place

Yet she still gets Pressure off other women about what to do with her body in regards to feeding.

It's sad. Choice is choice is choice - and it isn't yours to try and influence.

I don't believe all the stuff about bm either, yes I believe it's better for the baby but I doubt the benefits are as great as what is implied.

They should give people stats, ie your baby is likely to get a cold 1 more time in the first year than a bf baby

I took part in a feeding and weening study when ds1 was born, looking back it didn't take into account all sorts of environmental, social factors that I think it probably should have done