there is way too much pressure to EBF?

[ArtFine]

Just that really.

I've had a difficult journey with BF, and when I look back I know it would have been better and much more healthier for my baby (forget me) if I hadn't breastfed. She has CMPA and other allergies (and had awful silent reflux etc), and this would have been picked up very early on had she been bottle fed, and saved her a lot of pain and tears.

Why is there so much pressure to EBF? Why is it always assumed that breast milk is THE best?

What's the harm for example in giving one bottle of formula per day so that babies get used to the bottle?

- "BF babies don't get wind or constipation." Well mine got both. Horrendous wind and at best poo'ed every couple of days during the first three or four months, and with great difficulty. I now know that these were signs, along with other things, of a bad latch and insufficient milk intake. Again, no HCP at the time made this link, despite the baby's poor weight gain and my ongoing pain which I constantly told them about.

My DD pooed every couple of days or less and she was EBF it's very normal whoever told you its constipation was seriously misinformed.

And if people wonder why it's anyone else's business who others feed their babies, please read this - www.unicef.org.uk/BabyFriendly/News-and-Research/News/Breastfeeding-could-save-the-NHS-millions/
If that's not in everyone's interest I don't know what is

IsChippy - pot, kettle?

mini has done a bit of attacking herself, including of my DH.

stuck TBF the way you worded what your DH said didn't come across all that well, if he really did sayings like "bF so you don't get cancer".

Hmm well Mini I'd never,ever leave a 5 week old baby so there you go.There are plenty of parenting choices we all make differently.

Re stats there seem to be an abundance of stats re parenting ie the effects of a not great diet,lack of pre school skills being taught,too much screen time,not enough exercise.Some you win and some you lose.

In this country bfing comes way down on my list re things to worry about as regards my parenting.6 weeks was waaaay more than enough for me and op yanbu.

Punk rocker - I was making a point about the tendency of people to to talk in absolutes about things that simply can't be spoken of in such a way without utterly distorting the point. It happens all the time when people are discussing this issue. It's a way of exaggerating and creating straw man arguments.

As for your children's health and the point you are trying to make in response to my comment about increased NHS costs associated with ff - well my aunty smoked and lived an active life until her death at 84.

IsChippy - I was told the constipation info by every HV and BF counsellor I asked in my area - and that's a lot. Lots of misinformed people in my local health service then it seems. One recently got an honour from the Queen for services to BF too....

Yes infant feeding is a public health issue but so are lots of things that don't attract the same level of promotion of the risks and the alternatives to them. And now we're going to lay the cost to the NHS of ill health that BF might prevent at the door of those wanting to but struggling to BF...?

Retro - are you thumbing your nose at me and saying 'I formula fed but you went back to work when your baby was 6 weeks, so ner ner ner ner ner'.

The difference is that I'm not stomping about insisting it's absolutely fine for women to go back to work at six weeks and it doesn't make any difference to their babies, because that's what I had to do to pay the mortgage. I think it's not great for babies to be separated from their mums so early, and it certainly wasn't a good experience for me. However I'm secure enough as a mother not to have to rubbish concerns about women being forced back into work/choosing to go back to work, because I'm more interested in self-justification than in having a sensible debate about the issue.

retropear congratulations you are clearly a better mother than mini and your post doesn't smack of bitterness at all

Again, double standards prevail.

Yes infant feeding is a public health issue but so are lots of things that don't attract the same level of promotion of the risks and the alternatives to them

Such as? This would be a weak argument for not promoting BFing. Think what £40 MILLION could do for the NHS. And it's not about blaming individual mums, it's not that simple of course, if there were better laws about the promotion of formula and better support to BF then that would be a huge help.

But the point is in this country the benefits of bfing are pretty small so really not worth the pushing,stat twisting and scare mongering.I often think those pushing it don't feel secure in other parenting choices as to be frank there are so many other choices far more worthy of worrying over the pushing of bfing really isn't justified.Ie a diet high in veg is going to be far more beneficial-not seeing many veg pushin threads though.

It's weird that this choice some feel they can push but mums doing the same re other choices is frowned upon.

Just saying.

And if safe bottle prep was pushed more it would save millions.

I wasn't given ANY advice about bottle feeding. Any HCPs I spoke to said they weren't allowed to give any bottle feeding advice, even if that bottle contained expressed breast milk, because rhthe trust was going for the silver UNICEF baby friendly award..

I had to rely on the internet (UNICEF PDF which instructed me to locate a safe source of water and boil it for X number of minutes, which gives you a huge clue as to its target audience) and latterly the tub of formula for advice.

Hot air I don't know where you got that stat but in my experience as a sonographer who looks at ovaries every day 8% of women do not have genuine pcos. In fact I rarely see it. It is massively over diagnosed.

HCPs are "allowed" and required to give advice about making up formula.
What is not considered good practice is encouraging formula to be given to a baby whose mother wishes to bf without very good clinical reason.

So if someone said that to you they were incorrect, sadly.

And the risks of using formula are not restricted to its improper preparation. Although of course poor hygiene and improperly prepad bottles will give rise to added problems.

And I second the point that constipation is overdiagnosed, especially in bf babies.

Bodicea, interesting. Genuine question, what is genuine PCOS and what is fake and overdiagnosed PCOS?

Feeling v concerned about all this overdiagnosing by HCPs tbh...

Helpful re BF and PCOS?

www.lalecheleague.org/llleaderweb/lv/lvaprmay05p27.html

Bodicea - this midwifery journal finds the opposite i.e. that PCOS is under-diagnosed and affects between 5-10% of women.

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/22594862/

But the point is in this country the benefits of bfing are pretty small so really not worth the pushing,stat twisting and scare mongering.

Why on earth then would the NHS want to push breastfeeding?! If there are so few benefits why waste time and money on encouraging women to do something that's not all that beneficial. They don't make money so they wouldn't have a hidden agenda.

Why on earth do people deny the benefits of breastfeeding when it's clear that human milk is the best for human consumption, and the fortified cows milk isn't nearly as good.

Kellymom on PCOS and BF - lots of journal evidence:

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/22594862/

Wrong link in last post.

Right one here: kellymom.com/bf/concerns/mother/pcos/

Mini, comparing nhs costs of ff babies with adults who smoke is just bloody ridiculous.

I think others push it far more than the NHS do and those in the NHS vary as to how much they do.