Breast milk is the best thing for your baby...

[Starwhisperer]

Please hear me out on this one.

I know that advertising regulations are in line with the WHO advice that breast milk is the best thing for a baby until at least 6 months of age.

My issue is with the specifics in what we see and read as soon to be and new mothers.

I combi fed my first child for 18m as my supply never seemed to be where I needed it to be. The first 2 months were a hellish cycle of pumping and formula milk. I firmly believe the failure to feed as I'd wanted led to my PND. I met other mothers struggling at the time who felt the same way and there has been research done which has confirmed this.

Everytime I formula fed my baby there in front of me was the message "breast milk is the best thing for your baby". Am I being unreasonable to think that this would do more harm than good. I know it made me feel rotten. I'd have thought that by the time a mother is preparing and giving formula feeds it's generally too late to be converted to the idea of BFing. The message is either going to women entirely happy with their decision to FF or women like me who see it as a kick in the teeth because they tried their hardest and didn't get the hang of it.

I feel that instead more effort should be put in before birth to get the facts out there, all i had was ony little leaflet with no opportunity promoted to ask aboit tjings in more detail. Perhaps a blanket ban on formula advertising. They use babies as close to 6m as possible for the pictures which does far more in the way of promoting FF than a little message promoting BF on a box.

Perhaps I'm getting my knickers in a twist over nothing bit I feel the formula manufacturers are doing way more harm than good here.

Why would a message on a bottle then make a woman feel more shit though than a poster in the doctors

Because it's there, in her face, every time she makes a bottle of formula, sometimes in the night when she's sleep deprived and emotional, reminding her that she isn't doing what's 'best' for her child.

Well they are triggers yes. i had to sit when my baby was in hospital due to weight loss in a waiting room with 'breast is best' posters all over the wall. But I don't live in a hospital. Yes, I was jealous of BF'ing mothers but they have a right to live and feed and did I want them to have gone through the same? No, not really.

The message on the can is there everytime you feed your baby, so when you are having a good day or a bad day.

It needs to be on the formula because many people are buying it thinking it is as good as it the same as Breast milk!

But not a mother in the land hasn't got the 'breast is best' message from the doctors and the midwife.

If they don't take it on board there, being printed on the formula tin (after they've made a decision to formula feed) is not going to make a button of difference.

It needs to be on the formula because many people are buying it thinking it is as good as it the same as Breast milk!

But if they think that then it isn't working is it? You could print it wherever you like and they will still think it's a conspiracy.

See when I buy a product I look at the labelling to make an informed choice.

Are you actually suggesting that the labelling should not offer the information to make an informed choice and instead we are supposed to assume women get that information elsewhere.

If that is the case then I am wishing you well and bowing out because this is unbelievably frustrating.

panic have you had a baby recently in the UK or know anyone who has? You see dozens of leaflets about breastfeeding and will be told by multiple midwives that breast is best and told about the benefits plus there is a section in your notes which tells you all about the benefits. I would be genuinely astonished if anyone managed to get to the end of their pregnancy and miss it.

Of course the message alone will not cause PND. It didn’t even upset me personally, but it makes some women feel a bit shit. It’s completely uneccessary.

Formula was demonised by every midwife I spoke to, that’s how I felt. They’re not even allowed to talk about it. FWIW I was never told how to make up a bottle, store them or sterilise them all of which could have made my baby ill.

I find is strange that people feel judged for bottle feeding. Less than 20% of babies are breastfed at 4 months. I think the judgement is largely self criticism.

I do think a different approach to encouraging breastfeeding is needed. If it wasn't then bfeeding rates would be higher. For probably most women it can be really, really difficult for the first month or so. Then you eventually reach a point where it is really easy. So many women tell stories of breastfeeding being hard because they have only done the hard bit and then haven't had the support and realistic information to move on to the bit where it gets really easy.

See when I buy a product I look at the labelling to make an informed choice

But no-one makes a choice between breastfeeding and formula feeding by sauntering down the aisles and checking out the formula tins. No one thinks, 'oh let's have a look at the tins and see what they say'.

The choice is made long before that. The main influencers will be midwifes, friends, partners as well as more deep rooted things about how you feel about your body.

I knew I wanted to breast feed. I never looked at a tin of formula. My best friend also wanted to breast feed. It didn't work out for her. She only entered the formula aisle when she was left with no other choice.

The message doesn't get through as well because formula companies have billions to spend on marketing and subtly getting their message across. The government on the other hand have a fraction of the funds and have to contend with people getting offended if anybody dares to suggest formula is making babies poorly!

Well labelling for most things usually just tells you what the ingredients are rather than offering advice such as 'wholemeal is superior' on white bread; or 'home cooked food is best practice' on the side of baby food jars so I'm not entirely sure what you look at on labels for 'informed choice'.

I have. In fact in a group of five friends we have all been lucky enough to have a baby in the last three years.

One of us made the decision to breastfeed and managed to do so for a while.
One of us managed two days.
The other three for various reasons chose not to. One because ‘there’s really no difference’

My midwife ‘sold’ me the breast is best by saying yeah it is best but it’s hard and I didn’t do it.

Again you assume that that message really gets across but I’ll remind you again that mn is a bit of a middle class bubble and my experience and my line of work shows me that that message is important and it can and does save children’s lives.

I appreciate this thread accepts that and is really about putting it on a bottle of formula or not but to accept the message but suggest that it should be demonstrated everywhere except the actual bottle is surely quite ridiculous?

Also to the poster who said that the breastfeeding posters aren’t up in your house - I’m assuming you don’t seek out the aptamil bottle to read it regularly do you?

But panic if people aren't believing that breastmilk is best then printing it on the side of the can isn't working is it? I'm not disputing that some people think it's a conspiracy but there is no evidence at all that this does anything other than further alienate women who are FF.

That’s great Laurie but some people (see my previous post) do choose to formula feed and so then that information should be on the bottle for when they do wander down he aisle.

Again the assumption here is that most woman turn to formula after a hardened battle at the breast which is not the case.

I think you're just fortunate enough to be naive about just how horrendous some women are made to feel about this and the impact it can have on your life daily.

So because it doesn’t work we should remove it? I could list a million things that for most people don’t work but we keep them because for some they do.

So because it doesn’t work we should remove it?

Well if it doesn't work then we might as well surely and look at better ways of supporting women to feed their babies.

i hope no uninformed pregnant women are reading this thread because according to some formula is equal to breast milk. absolutely ridiculous.

no one would be allowed to do anything if we banned things for causing offence to someone

We should of it being there does no good but it does do harm

Pink is entirely missing the point of the whole discussion. Way to set women against each other all.over again.a

Pink who has said that Formula is equal to breast milk? I must have missed that bit.

no i’m not missing the point. i know what you are trying to say but i don’t agree at all

As stated down post I cried for the first six weeks of my child’s life. Mynipples bled and cracked and I felt pain like I could not believe. I didn’t sleep and I begged my partner to go and buy me aptamil at 3am from the 24 hour Tesco.

I phoned the breastfeeding helpline in tears many a time to be told it was all good and just to keep going.

I am not naive in any way. I know how it feels.

I am now that I have come through the other side however able to see the bigger picture and appreciate that my feelings and guilt and insecurities don’t take priority over a very important societal message.

up the thread there’s been lots of “breast milk was not best for my baby” comments

Again the assumption here is that most woman turn to formula after a hardened battle at the breast which is not the case.

That may not be the case, though it's true of significant numbers.

However, what is definitely true is that women who turn to formula have been told at length during their pregnancy that breast is best. At their midwife appointments, at the GPs, at the hospital.

If anybody tries their absolute best to breastfeed and isn't successful, they won't get upset by a message and feel guilt. However if its a half hearted effort and then and quick switch without persevering as much as they could then I can see why the message would be upsetting.