Benefits of breastfeeding 'wear off' by 5

[greygal]

Had 6 week check for DS today with my GP. He asked all the 'normal' questions, including how I was finding breastfeeding.

I've been really lucky and had no pain, soreness etc and DS is gaining wait incredibly well so I explained that despite my longest sleep in 6 weeks being 4 hours in one go, I felt that it was going really well and felt positive about continuing.

He then launched into a rant about there being far too much pressure on mothers to breastfeed and that by the age of 5, any benefits to a baby of being breast-fed had worn off!

AIBU to wonder why the bloody hell we're all bothering (especially people who have cracked, bloody nipples/ blocked milk ducts/ mastitis etc)?

Is it true that there is no difference between a breast fed and formula fed child by 5 years of age?

I didn't know about this research. To me it makes a mockery of the 'breast is best' idea.
And yes I did bf both ds's.

As you can see in my earlier post, I FF DC1. I'm pregnant with DC2 and plan v much on BF, as I think it'll be easier than faffing with bottles and sterilisers while looking after 2 kids. I also just really want to give it a go, breastmilk is there and it's free so I'd feel daft if I didn't try.

That said, if it doesn't go well I will be much less anxious about turning to formula than I was last time! No guilt!

Rebel but far more often you hear all the downsides of breastfeeding

Really? That’s the total opposite of my experience tbh.

Just saw someone referring to formula and formula feeding as "breastmilk substitute " and "artificial feeding". I might be paranoid,but the contempt is overwhelming.

Well it is a substitute for breast milk, that's literally what it is (actually the literal translation of the Finnish word for formula is mother's milk substitute). Calling it artificial feeding is a bit off though.

Formula has been around for about 150 years, so before that all evolution was based on babies being breast fed. My brother had the colostrum he was breast fed for a day or something after which my mum said she wasn’t doing that anymore. He has had much better health than me. My own son who was breast fed for his first few years was rarely ill and when he was it never got serious, no hospital visits. Breast feeding is about so much more than food, which is all that formula milk is (and it’s processed food at that).

Wait a minute... formula milk is PROCESSED?!? I never knew!

I wonder where on the processed food scale it is.
Above or under greggs sausage rolls and fruit shoots?

I might as well just give my newborn a Cheestring to munch...

Nah just go straight to the pot noodle.

There is so much more to mothering than how you feed your child. Six weeks in this feels so important but get a few more years in and it really isn’t.

I have one DC largely ff and one largely bf. They are as healthy as one another. In the U.K., with clean water etc it really doesn’t deserve the angst.

@lookingforthecorkscrew your post about your son is beautiful

I joined a large bfing group on Facebook when my twins were in nicu and I was pumping and hoping to latch them when they were able. The women in that group were some of the nastiest, cruellest, most sanctimonious women I’ve ever encountered (well, at least until baby led weaning groups!) I was called a liar for saying that one of my twins needed some formula for medical reasons, that this was impossible, and that I was negligent for not sourcing donor milk for him - they failed to grasp that he didn’t need breastmilk, he needed formula. I was told prematurity doesn’t affect breastfeeding (it does if they can’t go anywhere near your breast, I reckon!). When I asked if any pumping mums had advice on how to bottle feed twins at the same time I was told “I wouldn’t, I’d just breast feed them” (which was lovely when my children were confined to plastic boxes for 23 hours a day and were too weak to latch at all). Or the “well I don’t agree with formula for ANY reason” ones.

Honestly, those women pushed me to the brink of suicide over my failure to breastfeed - apparently they had all overcome terrible difficulties and succeeded so if I couldn’t I wasn’t trying hard enough. The bile they spewed about women who don’t bf was just disgusting. And then the regurgitation of misinterpreted statistics etc: “only 2% of women can’t breast feed so you just need to try harder” (Oh and “food before one is just for fun” - actually that’s bullshit, ESPECIALLY if you’re breastfeeding as at least formula has added iron and zinc when the baby’s stores start to fall).

Honestly I’m not surprised some women are put off from even trying. I’ve never encountered anything like it and I hope I never do again!

@TammySwansonTwo . Sorry for what you had to put up with .

"Otherwise the benefits of BF are real but marginal"

This is from the Lullaby Trust, the UK's main SIDS charity:

"Studies have consistently shown
a reduced risk of SIDS in breastfed infants. Exclusive breastfeeding
(i.e. those who have never fed with formula milk) is associated with the lowest risk, but breastfeeding of any duration may be beneficial for lowering the chance of SIDS compared to formula feeding alone."

"I do find it annoying that people obsess over ‘evidence’ for breastfeeding, yet formula companies get away with printing complete fantasies on their tins and marketing that has literally zero evidence to support it. Also new products aren’t studied and regulated anywhere near as much as people think they are. Why is that not the focus?"

Because half of all babies in the UK are partially formula fed by 4 weeks, and fully formula fed by 8 weeks. We're a formula feeding country which trusts the information put out by multinational corporations who sell baby milk more than we trust the information produced by scientists and epidemiologists with absolutely no vested in 'selling' breastfeeding.

And there's one reason for that - it's because we are emotionally invested in believing that formula is a great product, completely safe, and a good replacement for breastmilk.

in believing that formula is a great product, completely safe, and a good replacement for breastmilk.

That's because it is.

"There is so much more to mothering than how you feed your child. Six weeks in this feels so important but get a few more years in and it really isn’t."

For you.

Not for everyone.

I would have been devastated if I hadn't been able to breastfeed. It shaped the way I parented for the years that I did it, and actually the older I get and the further away from that point in my life I am, the more I look back and feel grateful that I had that experience, and so did my babies.

Very well done OP on breastfeeding thus far. It is without a doubt, the best thing you can possibly be doing for your little one at this age.

Statistically speaking, the fact that you've managed 6 weeks means you will most likely breeze through the next few months so I'd argue that the hard bit is over. People on here suggesting that you're smug or somehow boasting are giving off a bit of a green eyed monster vibe so ignore them. Some women do just find breastfeeding easy and as it's the natural way of feeding your baby, it's even more rewarding.

Also ignore your GP: there are so many benefits to bfing, as discussed up thread: decreased risk of SIDS, decreased risk of suffering from illnesses and allergies, exposure to antibodies from Mum. Also don't forget that it's how nature intended for you to feed your baby! Cows milk is designed for cows, not babies and that is why formula will never be as good. Keep it up!

That's definitely not right.

This document is a very interesting read into the longer term health benefits for mother and child (and the savings it would create for three Nhs). It's an estimation but based on the health benefits of breastfeeding:
www.nhs.uk/news/pregnancy-and-child/more-breastfeeding-would-save-nhs-millions/#conclusion

"This economic model estimates that increasing the number of women who start and continue to breastfeed would save the NHS tens of millions of pounds.
These savings would come through reduced incidence of three infectious diseases that occur in infancy, reducing the number of newborns who have necrotising enterocolitis, and reducing the incidence of maternal breast cancer, all of which are beneficial to the health of mother and baby."

"That's because it is."

That's your opinion.

I don't agree.

Anything which negatively affects a baby's microbiome, makes them more vulnerable to SIDS, is more likely to land them in hospital with gastric illnesses, increases their risk of ear and respiratory infections, and appears to affect the development of white matter in the brain to the degree that how a baby is fed can be identified using MRI scans is not a 'great product'. news.brown.edu/articles/2013/06/breastfeeding

It's necessary when a mother can't or won't breastfeed and when donor milk isn't available, but it's not a 'great' product. Just a necessary one.

Wow @minifingerz - that study is amazing!

That is really, really interesting!

Look I have no vested interest in this. My bf or ff days are done. DD is healthy,happy and clever.

But you've had two women at least post about how difficulty with breastfeeding made them suicidal and you still bang on with trite shite about the magic breast milk, cow milk is for cows and what not. And then innocently and wide eyed wonder why people defend ff.
Too bad breastfeeding doesn't also increase empathy,compassion and respect for others and their choices.

It’s necessary in many more instances than that.

DS2 has an illness which means he produces too much insulin. Breastmilk alone was not sufficient to maintain his blood sugar levels even with medication. If I had just taken him home and breastfed him, if he hadn’t been premature and diagnosed in nicu and his diet adjusted and managed, he would have brain damage now. For his first six months he required a careful balance of breastmilk, specialist formula and carbohydrate supplement. He had to have very precise amounts of milk within specific time frames so had to be either tube or bottle fed.

It’s not as black and white as some think.

Hear hear.

The 'breast is best' brigade often forget that it's the same issue as with pro life or pro choice: my boobs, my choice. However many studies are produced about the alleged benefits, I'll never reconsider my opinion that I don't want a baby sucking on my breast whenever it feels like it. If breast milk prevented allergies then how come allergies have increased since the 1970s while the share of breastfed children has also done so? A little bit of common sense wouldn't go amiss.

Knowing that I don't want to be on tap whenever doesn't make me a bad mother and I shouldn't be forced to think differently because I'd cost less to the system (which is too arbitrary to quantify anyway).