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/

I don't think she was saying breastfeeding is terrible, just that her experience was bad and here is how she made her peace with switching to formula?

Did we read different articles?

Because all I can see is massive generalisations/exaggerations about how breastfeeding is hideously painful, slow and leaky for months, involves flashing people in public, makes you regret having children and/or want to die, involves ugly lingerie, etc etc, interspersed with a fallacies about how your kid will probably sleep better, that breastfeeding mums can't spend an hour away from their children, and that breastmilk needs supplementation.

And then just a tiny bit at the end about how her baby seems happy so everyone else who disagrees with her wild exaggerations and melodrama can just fuck off.

OP we read this very differently I see it as someone who hasn't made peace with the fact she has to formula feed hence all the anger

She just sounds angry. Especially mentioning the vitamins. All babies are recomended to be given vitamins breast or bottle fed. If its in the formula or given on top of breast feeding, it is still being given as additional so not sure about her point there! I breast fed all of mine. Actually out of pure laziness. I couldt be getting up to get bottles with a crying baby. I was lucky enough to be able to breast feed so i took the oppertunity and used it to my advantage... do whats going to make life easier for you!
Breast feeding is easier for me but bottle feeding is equally easier for another mum. So what! As long as baby is fed and parents are happy does it matter!?!?

I get the opposite reaction to her! Oh yoy are still breastfeding!? Oh i wouldnt do it longer than 6 months that would feel weird! [Hmm]
I just smile nod and ignore because i dont care
I just care about us regarding this

I think every one needs to shut up about it and just get on with it!

Oh i also dont leak or flash people! So she shouldnt write such things unless she has experience of it!

converse, the trouble is people's expectations of newborn behaviour, especially breastfed newborn behaviour, are massively distorted by the huge predominance of formula. The only way to judge whether s baby is getting adequate nutrition from bf are weight gain and nappy output. That's it. It's normal for breastfed infants to feed frequently, even constantly, in their early weeks and during growth spurts. It's normal for breastfed babies (and indeed FF babies) to wake frequently at night (due to the speed with which breastmilk is digested - frequent a waking a is also believed to be protective against
SIDS), to cry when put down, and indeed to cry a lot in general. These are not signs of discontent or low nutrition, they are the perfectly normal ways that tiny, helpless mammals with tiny bellies get their needs met. So many mums have their breastfeeding journeys sabotaged by fear mongering that their infant's perfectly normal behaviour is a sign of some deep malaise to be fixed by formula. If the number of mums whose milk supposedly 'didn't come in" so started FF on day 2 (milk can take several days to come in!!) actually had no milk, and this was indicative of the population as a whole, we'd never have survived as a species. Pathologist normal infant behaviour is in the interests of formula companies, and they do it deliberately.

I second what lela said. I know a mum who said after 3 hours she changed to formula because her milk didnt come in! I said it can take 3 days to come in and she looked at me like i was an idiot. I blame midwives for not explaining this!
I actually dont know how the human race has survived sometimes.

I have had comments saying breastfeeding isnt natural! Right so if no one ever breast fed before formula we wouldnt even exist! So how is it not natuaral. Thats what breast milk is for!

Breast or formula doesnt really matter at the end of the day. Just feed your baby

I find that article offensive and i think the writer come across as bitter and guilty. OP - did you formula feed your baby? is that why you feel the need to post the link and have a good 'laugh'? Personally I find it rather distasteful. I fed my daughter till she was 2 and i am feeding my 1-year old son now - i have friends who didn't want to bf/couldnt bf and formula feed - who bloody cares. They never seem to have to 'justify' themselves and they shouldn't. Its only on mumsnet that i read these sorts of posts and it makes me quite surprised.

Think it's a pretty unoriginal post. I've noticed that it's becoming increasingly trendy to bash breastfeeding mothers and bang on about the superiority of FF.
Why can't we respect each other and our choices rather than being unkind?
FF is clearly not going to harm your baby and is obviously a great thing - especially if you are finding breastfeeding so stressful it is affecting your mental health or your baby is losing weight because they can't latch etc
But why can't we acknowledge that although formula is still an excellent food, multiple scientific studies have shown that breastmilk is better. That's different from saying that if you choose to FF you've failed or are feeding your baby poison.
The fact is that breastfeeding can be hard and in the UK at least you are still swimming against societal norms. So surely it shouldn't be taboo to celebrate and encourage the women who give it a try. At least we shouldn't be telling them they look like saggy sacks or making them feel awkward about flashing their boobs!

I'm cosleeping and BFing an almost-two year old and I've got to say, it is brilliant being able to instantly settle any tantrum in 10 seconds or less. I am not a hippy and I didn't "set out" to breastfeed a toddler, whatever that means, and he eats three square meals a day - but I'm very reluctant to give up this magic argument winning machine. I'll stop as soon as it becomes more of a hassle to do it than not to do it.

FWIW my son has been a reasonably good sleeper from the beginning. He'll stir on average twice enough to wake me between 7pm and 7am but the light doesn't need to go on and no one needs to get out of bed.

Also it's free?!? Why give £20 a week to Unilever unless you have to?

Mummy milk though 😷

I haven't read all the replies on here but I really don't understand the need to champion formula. I FF one child and breastfed another. Once or twice, max, did I have comments about the bottle. It's never, ever stopped with the breastfeeding. From the suggestions that I shouldn't do it in front of people, that my baby is too old (that started at 6 weeks), I'm pushing her father out etc.
Maybe I'm in a complete bubble but I've never felt the pressure from health care professionals either
Everybody I know bottle feeds, if not from birth then within a few weeks. It's the norm.

lelapaletute I also feel a bit aggrieved at the implication on this and another current FF/BF thread that BF is somehow ‘anti-progress’, ‘anti-science’ and ‘anti-feminist’.

I'm not sure how many people I've known who haven't breast fed but they all seem to feel the need to explain their reasons to me ( even though I'm not necessarily asking for an explanation) I suspect some were not very keen on the idea from the beginning and only gave it a quick go before heading for the formula ( within 24 hours) I know it was extremely difficult for me to bf and took me 9 weeks before I resolved my problems so I recognise the difficulties she described....however she just comes across as a bit desperate to me. Desperate to show that she gave it a good go before giving up, desperate to show that formula is as good as breast milk ( when we know it isn't ) and even desperate to show how more alluring it is because of the hideousness of nursing bras. Overall I think she's just desperate to prove to herself that she was right to make the switch.

Also every baby is different and it's pointless to compare....my BF baby slept through at 10 weeks and my friends BF baby wasn't sleeping through at 10 months. Pointless comparisons.

Also, it's very clear that formula feeding has some advantages that breastfeeding doesn't (like sharing feeds). There's no need to pretend that there aren't any advantages to breastfeeding as well or to take petty swipes at BFing mothers. And using the word "bitty" is just gross, that just calls to mind the little britain sketch.

After seeing some people have a horrible time bfing, I think this is needed, but I hope it doesn't put off someone who hasn't tried bfing. Some of it is bollocks for some people. IME cluster feeding didn't go on for months and by four months both of mine could chug a feed back in 5-10 mins at which point it was incredibly convenient.

For my part, I found bf a bloody nightmare to start, largely because I was so unprepared for what it would involve and because my baby had tongue tie. Didn't really find our groove until about 5 months. Now 8 months, 6 teeth, no problems - so glad I didn't give up, and has really helped me recover from my traumatic labour to have this way of giving to her - without bf I feel I was in real danger of pnd.

Yes, my sleep isn't great and I do sometimes wish I could go out for the night - but then I marvel at how fast 8 months has gone and realise she will only be little for a little while, and only once. I can wait a year or so for her to need me less. And there really is nothing like holding your baby as she feeds to sleep and the happy hormones flood you both, especially in the middle of a tough day. I never thought at 2 weeks, or even three months, that I'd ever say it, but I'll be sorry when it's over!

And I never leaked btw. Not everyone does. Never used a breast pad after the first week, bloody waste of money that was...

My first bf baby slept from midnight-7am every night from being 3 weeks old. My second bf baby didn't sleep through until she was 2. My conclusion is that any claims about sleep are unscientific at best.

Yes YANBU. If only because her blog post is poorly written and not very witty.

She makes some good points.

I breastfeed. There are positives and negatives to both. The benefits of breastfeeding are grossly overstated.

I disagree with most points she has made. I'm guessing she chose to bottle feed early as most of her negative points are only valid for the first couple of months. After the first few months I couldn't believe how easy it was. It was so painful at first we were mix feeding (literally had tears running down my face at every feed) but then it all of a sudden got as easy as breathing so we cut out the bottles.

I am not a martyr, I'm just stubborn and promised myself I would give it my best shot for two weeks, then thought I could get to six, then just the first lot of vaccinations, then I was over halfway to 6 months. Got to 5 months and it became so easy that I'm still feeding my 1 year old.

If she needed to bottle feed for her own mental health that's fine and was the best decision for her, but she doesn't need to belittle women who chose to breastfeed because that's the best decision for them.

I really don't care how babies are fed as long as they are fed, I'm not judging formula, I used it myself! I just wish people would accept either decision as valid without needing to justify themselves as it often ends up criticising whichever method they didn't use.

I didn't like the article.

@kimchi please go in to it expecting to succeed at bf if that's what you want! If breasts failed as often as formula companies led us to believe we wouldn't be here as a species!

@ironing dummies only reduce the risk of SIDs if they have been introduced to the child. A baby who has never had a dummy is not of an increased risk. However, a dummy taking baby who has his/her dummy taken off them prior to 6 months is more at risk. The lullaby charity explains it all very well.

The article is horrific.

Wow what a torrent of hate.
This blogger seems to have had an horrific experience that I don't recognise.
Some points I agree with, like the lack of education antenatally, but the rest are points that I personally found no issue with.
She seems quite embittered and I'm. It sure that's helpful to meaningful debate