aibu to love this blog post about why formula feeding is brilliant?!

[girlwithasecretsmile]

I think it's great to have a post talking about good things about formula for once but part of me feels bad for laughing so much.

passmethebottleblog.wordpress.com/

Why no pressure re sugar,red meat,lack lack of fruit/veg, of exercise,too much screen time,not enough language exposure......?

You're right. No one ever, ever criticises mothers, shames them or makes them feel inferior over any of those things.

There are never any sneery or judgemental blogs on Mumsnet, and the Sanctimommy Facebook page is entirely populated by content about infant feeding.

There are also definitely no high-budget public health campaigns about fruit and vegetables, or what children are fed at school, or childhood obesity.

That level of ignorance of which the tiniest babies are the victims, is a disgrace.
True

Newborn babies who were born prematurely or sick generally have more fragile bowels. It is often impossible to know why a baby develops NEC but many different factors may be involved

From the bliss website under the heading "What causes NEC"

Humans tearing apart severely distressed calves and their mothers from each another so human mothers can have their babies suck on cows' boobies instead of their own.

I absolutely love it.

Summersun - your post illustrates exactly why people get animated about this subject. You have so missed the point.

You talk about it as though

• it makes no difference anyway how a baby is fed

• whether you find feeding easy or hard and give up or keep going is random and uncontrollable.

People like me look at the evidence and feel it really matters for babies and for women - that babies who don't get human milk are denied access to optimal health and development and that this matters. Sometimes a lot. And women too.

• That how hard or easy you find breastfeeding and how likely you are to be able to continue depends on a whole host of cultural and medical factors ALL of which are amenable to change and improvement, as evidenced by the very much higher rates of breastfeeding in countries where it's valued, understood and supported.

are you suggesting I should not have been told? Or told it didn't matter when all the research suggests it does?

are you suggesting I should not have been told? Or told it didn't matter when all the research suggests it does?

Hellosquirrels - if a baby's bowel is vulnerable and underdeveloped, what milk is least likely to result in blockages and inflammation? Human milk which is easily digested and full of anti-infective, anti-inflammatory and anti-viral factors, or modified cows milk reconstituted with tap water which has none of these properties?

dixie
At the time in that room they were all under 25 weeks.

You're not getting my point. Formula is not to blame for NEC. Breast milk may reduce risk of getting it. Formula milk does not cause it as many babies are born with it from what I gather from my brief research.

3 in 10,000 babies get NEC. If formula milk was the cause it would be a higher figure surely?

So do you think I should have been informed that to give my child a better chance of avoiding a life threatening condition I should express breast milk?

Hellosquirrel - formula use results in more babies needing surgery and dying from NEC than human milk.

Do you prefer that wording?

If you can give me evidence for that then Yes?

Hellosquirrel - have you read the research?

A higher proportion in nicu.
It's a big thing in extreme prems.
You want to avoid if you can, no?

So do you think I should have been informed that to give my child a better chance of avoiding a life threatening condition I should express breast milk?
I know you're not specifically asking me but "yes" fwiw

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.unicef.org.uk/babyfriendly/news-and-research/baby-friendly-research/infant-health-research/infant-health-research-necrotising-enterocolitis/amp/

And although I don't have the papers and references to hand, I've read enough to appreciate the evidence in favour of human milk for human babies

do we actually think it's more important to toe the line of promoting formula than it is to offer useful advice to prevent devastating neonatal illness?