to point out that formula feeding doesn't necessarily require you to be sterilising bottles and scooping out powder in the middle of the night...

[itsakindarabbit]

Keep seeing this on threads which mention ff...how people couldnt be doing with getting up in the night andstsrilising bottles/making up feeds.

I bf and ff but found ff no problem at night - i would take up a carton of ready made formula and a pre sterilised bottle and i could feed without getting out of bed.

And yes, i know ready made formula is expensive and not everyone uses it. But some of us do/did.

I always read on these threads lots of shouting about how breast feeding rates are down because of lack of support, because of formula advertising, because people are ignorant about breast feeding and information is kept secret, because bf is seen as shameful In this country and I think it's all bollocks. Surely we have more access to information than ever and if more people choose to ff then maybe it's because in this country we are free to make choices about what's best for us.

I have two DCs 16 years apart and the level of bf support I was given for both was excellent (with DS1 a nurse massaged my gigantic boobs for an hour while I bfed baby! And I was encouraged to stay in for four nights till milk had come in). I wasn't, on the other hand, given any advice or info About formula. At anti natal classes for both (attended at two different hospitals in both England And Wales) we were given advice/leaflets about Bf and watched videos but were told nothing at all about formula and how to make it safely or how much or how often to feed etc. despite this at both groups most women formula fed. I think it's because most women do what's best for them and their family. They have weighed up the pros and cons and have made a decision that has fuck all to do with anyone else and to say that anyone who does so is misinformed is crap.

In the interests of balance, another one here who barely has to open an eye for night feeds.

Btw also agree with babies this thread title comes across as aimed at thosewho are trying to decide on feeding methods. Surely people already ffing already have their nightfeeding routine sorted and won't be particularly benefited by the observation that ready made cartons exist.

"Btw also agree with babies this thread title comes across as aimed at thosewho are trying to decide on feeding methods"

Nope, you're wrong.

Just a bit of mythbusting! I don't consider myself any kind of public information service. What a weird viewpoint you have, it's in AIBU FGS!

I bf btw, ds doesn't sort himself out with a night time bottle.

Cunderella, you claim to be balanced and accuse others of descending to a bunfight, but yet you come out with crap like "100% guarantee of sore baps" wtaf!! You come across as having a negative view of bf'ing and a bit of a chip on your shoulder

itsakindarabbit What myth has been busted?? From my own experience I know for a fact that formula feeding would have to have been more faff for me than the ease with which I can bf during the night. I understand that bf is not the same for everyone, but for those of us who get it well established and are happy to do it it is certainly less work than ff'ing.

for those of us who get it well established and are happy to do it it is certainly less work than ff'ing

That's your opinion, not a collective fact I always found ff much easier than bf so clearly this is not the experience of everyone.

Sorry, very lazy, I haven't read the whole thread!

I planned to breastfeed, but when it came down to it, it just didn't work for me. It took me well over an hour to get the baby to latch on, by which time she was exhausted and fell asleep after a few minutes. Then she would wake up and take another hour to latch on etc. It was a nightmare. And, there was absolutely no way I could do it discreetly!

It was very easy to make up bottles in advance, and just heat one up for 30 seconds. In the end bottle feeding was much easier for me, although I'd been very pro-breastfeeding (before I actually tried it!)

most women do what's best for them and their family.

What does this mean exactly? I hear it a lot.

have to agree, this seems like the same old bunfightery bollocks, just dressed up?!

Agree that if you ff you know about cartons? expensive, wasteful and cold????!!!

PrettyKitty - most people who find ff easier than breastfeeding, haven't experienced established, normal breastfeeding. You can't take the first few weeks of breastfeeding (beyond which the majority of UK mums never get) as representative of the whole experience. You can't take breastfeeding which is hampered by a poor latch, tongue tie, mastitis or thrush as being 'normal breastfeeding'. It's not. Most women who find breastfeeding really difficult are either in the early stages, or have a problem which hasn't been resolved. Sometimes can't be resolved, but is usually amenable to expert help if the mother can find it.

Point being - breastfeeding problems can usually be sorted. They're not 'normal' or 'intrinsic' to breastfeeding per se.

You know, sometimes I read these posts and I extrapolate the views to any other situation where a bit of your body wasn't working properly. I can't think of any other situation where someone would assume that the response to not being able to walk or go to the toilet without a lot of pain, would be to assume that walking or emptying your bowels IS just horribly painful for a lot of healthy people and that the sensible response isn't to see a health expert, find out what's going wrong and deal with it, but to just buy a pair of crutches or have a colostomy bag fitted, even if doing the latter things was an easy and convenient solution (which of course they're not). It just seems a bit BONKERS to me.

Chunders - I will come back to your point re: confounding factors in a minute.

Re: colostomy bag example. May I play the part of the overly-earnest and agitated bf advocate for a moment?

"BREASTFEEDING IS NOT THE SAME AS GOING TO THE TOILET!! I do not shit in my baby's mouth!"

Sorry just stirring and being cheeky, I couldn't resist. This thread is still bonkers, sigh....

whathellcall, er this one, pointing out that "formula feeding doesn't necessarily require you to be sterilising bottles and scooping out powder in the middle of the night"

Everyone else took it off on a tangent!

Morning everyone,

We'd just like to remind everyone that the raison d'être of Mumsnet is to make parents lives easier, and we should try to support everyone in their individual choices.

It wasn't a comparison of bf vs ff - if you see it as a comparison it's one version of ff versus another!!

fgs.

such a lot of fuckwittery on this thread

yes!

Ah jeez they haven't come here to give me detention have they??

READ THE OP PEOPLE, READ IT!!!!

ONE VERSION OF FORMULA FEEDING (MAKING UP BOTTLES) VERSUS ANOTHER (READY MADE CARTONS)!!!!!!

AND YES I'M SHOUTING, COS I CAN'T MAKE MYSELF HEARD OVER ALL THE FUCKWITTERY.

To go back to OP

Cartons for DS still mostly require heating up, he is not as good as he used to be about room temp stuff.

Bottle out of fridge, in warmer/jug of water, meanwhile DS gets nappy changed. I reckon no faff.

If your baby doesn't mind cold temp formula and you don't mind cost, cartons easier.

Helps for me I live in an apt so don't have to go downstairs to kitchen.

This is consistent with most mums I know.

If you got those teats that connect to carton would be even easier.

Poss stupid q but can you heat up formula in the carton? I assume definitely no...?

Still here cos I have a sleeping baby in my arms and can't move

Oh dear God-well when your "babies" get to 23,21 and 14, there are lots more important things to worry about than how you fed them.
Honestly-teenage drinking and sex, homework,boyfriends, whether they will get a job, if they are going to get into uni and what happens to them after that, worrying about if they are okay on nights out and giving umpteen lectures on keeping safe.
Nowadays-I really don't know why I ever worried about bloody breast/bottlefeeding.