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/

Lowers eczema
Like you said nodogs

"Justify the effort and time and pain"
Well it was less effort, took less time and wasn't painful in my experience so it doesn't have to be a great deal better in the health stakes if I followed your reasoning!

Well it was less effort, took less time and wasn't painful in my experience so it doesn't have to be a great deal better in the health stakes if I followed your reasoning!

Yes, the cost/benefit will be highly individual, which is important to remember.

In a scenario such as this in which the benefit is fixed, the way to drive uptake is either to articulate the benefits better (NB not more loudly) and accept that it still may not shift the balance, or reduce the cost as far as possible.

In this scenario, I'd put the bulk of my money and effort into reducing the cost if the desired outcome is increased breastfeeding rates to six months.

That includes physical and social costs.

nodog, well said. The majority of people do not understand research, methods, stats and conclusions, nor how to critically view them. Its always "a justify my stance" approach.

And it’s ‘natural term breastfeeding’ not ‘extended’.
Not necessarily. Some mothers feed for 3 years and then decide to stop.

Milk teeth are for children who still take their mother’s milk, until aged 7ish.
No. Milk teeth are simply the smaller set of teeth designed to fit a child's small mouth.

Would anybody ever be asked to justify the time and effort required to ff?

I understand perfectly well how to appraise research, having worked in it!
It's the interpretation that differs.
I would regard a 4% reduction as beneficial, whereas nodogs feels that doesn't matter.

As I understand it the infection risks regarding formula are largely that it isn't breast milk. Human milk contains immunoglobulins, tissue fragments and an optimal form of iron that has a protective effect on the gut and systemically.

Well I'm not a research scientist, my experience is the basics required to write a research proposal and dissertation for a BSc, but I do have a certain degree of medical/ clinical knowledge and the advantages of bf I read about certainly make sense biologically. The WHO and the NHS and the UNICEF BFI seem happy with the associated stats.
I don't imagine that breastfeeding/avoiding formula is by any stretch the only activity required to promote health but it seems such a shame to have to so frequently defend a natural biological process

No need for arguments about this study and that. It's bloody obvious one species' milk is going to be more suited to that species than a completely different species.

I only got a couple of pages in....

But breastfeeding is the biological norm for the human race. It gives normal risk, not any benefit. Adding in forumla (generally speaking) adds in risks. For the average full term healthy baby these are very minor risks but risks all the same.

There are ofcourse exceptions, cases of true lactose intolerance (not cmpa) or not enough milk (rare but it happens). And there are many curcumstances that make taking that risk worth it, mums mh, not being able to access the correct help to over come bf problems, tones and tones of others. But that doesn't change that formula adds risk. All of my dc have been mix fed for a number of reasons that meant it was worth taking that tiny risk but i still acknowledge that's what it is.

It is important that the accurate terminology around this is used as while it is a very minor risk for most babies there are still circumstances where the risk is increased. Research indicates that very premature babies are at much higher risk of NEC and of not surviving from NEC if ff. Circumstances of very premature births mean that these babies are sometimes the least likely to recieve bm if mums health is comprimised (i was in a coma at the time my prem twins were in nicu). If every hospital had milk banks or access to milk banks that would be fine but that's not true of all. The cost involved in milk banks mean babies are put at risk by being given formula if mum doesn't or can't meet all their needs. And this gets no attension or funding because people are too busy pussyfooting around wording.

It's bloody obvious one species' milk is going to be more suited to that species than a completely different species.

Which might make sense if babies were being fed unadulterated cow's milk.

Given that's not the case (and even if it were), an evidence base is nice.

Many scientific breakthroughs have been made on the back of testing and disproving the 'bloody obvious', after all.

Risks / benefits on a social level don't always, of course, map across to individuals. People can smoke 40 a day and somehow not get lung cancer; others get horrific cancers despite eating organic mung beans all their life.

Bf doesn't wave a magic wand and automatically confer benefits on every baby, whilst ff doesn't automatically make babies fat but sleeping through the night.

Breast milk is a live substance that has the ability to adapt to babies needs. It has anti viral, anti fungal and anti bacterial properties. It has the exact right balance of healthy gut bacteria for your babies stage. It has the easiest to digest form of nutrients for your baby. It has healthy hormones. It has immuglobin that lines the newborns porus gut.

Formula is freeze dried cows milk with added synthetic (so harder to digest) forms of nutrients. It has a generic balance of nutrients and a generic balance of synthetic probiotics. It does not adapt to individual babies needs. It has unhealthy bacteria living in it.

Formula saved my sanity with my first born while we struggled with bf problems we got no help with. It felt necessary as my milk came in very late due to massive hemorage and because bf wasn't working and no one knew why. It saved my twins lives as they were in a nicu with no milk bank and i was in a coma for their first day of life and it took time to establish supply after that.
I am very greatful we have formula, but i'm aware it isn't the same stuff as breastmilk.

Would anybody ever be asked to justify the time and effort required to ff?

It really didn't take any time of effort to formula feed.

No need for arguments about this study and that. It's bloody obvious one species' milk is going to be more suited to that species than a completely different species.
Lol, well you'd think so wouldn't you.

nomore
I think it's an interesting way of looking at it adding risk

I agree with you.

hello I couldn’t be arsed FF, I’m extremely lazy and hate fuss-arsing around preparing stuff. BF was a much more convenient choice for me.

There was no fuss arsing around I had a prep machine and a cold water steriliser.

2 mins to make a bottle to the perfect temp and just slung bottles in after washing up (which I have to do regardless) water only needed changing every 24hrs.

If breastfeeding had of worked for us I would have continued because no doubt it is less fuss, but it didn't so we ff. It doesn't have to be this long annoying process that everyone makes it out to be if you don't want it to!

Which might make sense if babies were being fed unadulterated cow's milk.
Given that's not the case (and even if it were), an evidence base is nice.

I don't believe that makes much sense tbh. If one looks at the process for the manufacture of infant formula there's nothing that makes me, for one, want to ask for a peer reviewed paper about the appropriateness of giving human milk to human babies.

Unless you are going to bf until school age all babies end up drinking formula Anyway.

Greenday of course they don't. I fed until my eldest was 2 and she's never had formula. By the time she was 1 she was having a mixture of soya milk (cmpa) and breast milk. I didn't have a problem with her having formula we just didn't need to use it.

Because school now starts at 12 months old?

No, that's not correct.. It's not a choice between Breast feeding till 5 or giving formula

Unless you are going to bf until school age all babies end up drinking formula Anyway
No they won't. Why would they?
If a child is breastfed until a year they'll not need formula at all.