Demonisation of formula!!!

[Summertimehaze]

Don’t know if anyone watched the Dispatches programme last night on breastfeeding? The more I think about that programme the more annoyed I’m getting!!! The demonisation of formula really doesn’t help mothers who struggle to breastfeed and have to start using formula or even as a top up!! Most mothers want to do what’s right for their babies and know that breast is best. But some mums just can’t do it and so formula literally becomes a lifesaver. I’m sick of seeing mums feel so guilty about it and letting their children bloody starve because they surely can’t give them the evil formula!!!!!! The programme basically tells a new mum that it’s really tough to breastfeed, there is no support, they will be judged BUT formula is not an option!!! Grrrrrrrrr 😡. AIBU

There is nothing convenient about cluster feeding. It's gruelling and also pretty isolating, at a time when my working friends become available I'm stuck on the sofa with a hungry baby going from breast to breast.

I can see how a lot of this would have been easier when more people lived in bigger multigenerational households.

And it isn't convenient or easy for many. For many it's a total nightmare and ffing far easier. Ff was a breeze by comparison in our case. If I'd have known how hard bfing was going to be I'd have been better prepared. Not educating mothers into the realities of bfing for many is really not the answer.

@P3onyPenny whilst I don’t doubt what you say and agree that in the U.K. where we can boil water etc there will probably be little difference between ff and bf adults that doesn’t mean public health bodies should give up on promoting or supporting breast feeding. It does make a difference for infants, less gastro/ear infections etc. It’s much much better for the environment and it has protective elements for women too. All of these things are positives at population level. But I always come back to the point that most women would prefer to breastfeed if they can, so more support and a change in attitudes needs to happen.

“To be fair this was in reaction the the survey that showed 68% (or whatever the figure was) thought b/milk and formula were the same.“

The majority of people might accept that breastmilk contains hundreds of more active ‘ingredients’ than formula, but I suspect they think these ingredients don’t actually have any function in the body. This is the logical conclusion if you believe that growth and development are absolutely identical in babies regardless of feeding method. People say all the time ‘it’s not made any difference to my child’ because they can’t see it with their own eyes.

But now we’re seeing studies which are flagging up identifiable and consistent physiological differences in bf and ff children - for example, evidence that infant diet influences the size of the thymus gland. Formula fed children have a smaller thymus.

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/8888912/

And researchers from Brown University identified differences between the structure of the brains of bf and ff babies using MRI

news.brown.edu/articles/2013/06/breastfeeding

If these studies are taken seriously, then they suggest that how a baby is fed does have an impact on normal growth and development, which we have only recently had the tools to identify and measure.

BTW -the loud chorus of ‘stop making parents feel guilty’ and ‘scare mongering!’ in response to any discussion of concerns around formula does such a massive disservice to babies and children.

As responsible parents we should be closely scrutinising the product that the majority of babies in the U.K. are eating as their sole food for many months as babies.

Watching people metaphorically put their fingers in their ears and scream ‘stop trying to upset me’ every time an important piece of research comes out which raises concern about this issue has made me lose respect for a lot of English parents. They seem more interested in protecting their own feelings than in the well-being of babies.

‘For many it's a total nightmare and ffing far easier.’

this ^ Surely happy Mum is the most important thing. Great if you’re happy breastfeeding and loving it butif you’re miserable like I was for months how is it worth it??

SnuggyBuggy
This goes back to a previous point about modern lives expecting babies to fit in, in a way that just wasn't expected years ago. Biologically speaking, we are supposed to spend weeks almost "isolated" with our newborns.

For a baby who's losing weight bfing, it's not the best choice.

Oh for goodness sake now we're supposed to feel shit about the environment too

Well we all feel shit about the environment anyway don’t we? On a global scale formula sales are rising at a pretty alarming rate. There is not a medical need for the increase so quickly, so a considerable amount of people are making the choice to use it as a product (probably due to marketing, especially in developing countries). This is a valid environmental concern as any other. All the extra dairy produced/plastics/lorries. Why wouldn’t people be concerned about substituting a free specially tailored product that has zero environmental impact for one that’s going to cause harm?

I wonder if trying to promote something as good on the population is too difficult to do in an individualistic society like ours, we don't naturally think about what's good for the population but what works for us and our families.

minifingerz-I agree with you 100%

'Can I ask the women who from their review of the evidence are unconvinced by the purported health benefits of breastfeeding over formula, and who think breastfeeding is inherently painful, exhausting, and harmful to mothers' emotional well-being and mental health, think that in spite of this (allowing for the moment that all that is true) there are any legitimate reasons for a woman to still want to breastfeed her child instead of formula feed?'

Well, if they want to then that's a legitimate reason. Supposedly it helps with bonding, although some of the bf mums I know are very resentful of their babies constant demands on their body.

For a baby who's losing weight bfing, it's not the best choice.

Of course I agree, I don’t think anyone has said otherwise. Some women do have supply issues and some babies can’t feed, thank god we have formula but this is not the norm and most women (I never said all) that encounter the so called supply issues do have adequate supply.

ferntwist exactly! When DS2 was weaning, my aunt came out with, "It must be so much easier." Not really, I now have to take baby jars, spoons and bibs (he just didn't eat when we tried BLW the first time), instead of just my breasts!

Being pregnant is inconvenient and tiring.
Do you think we might one day get the choice of whether to grow out baby outside the womb or inside? And be told they are both just as good as each other?

I had a perfectly adequate supply Grandma, DD2 had a weak suck, and nobody was listening to me. As I said, at 10, she still can't manage some drinks bottles. Everyone goes on about supply, but sometimes the baby has issues.

“For a baby who's losing weight bfing, it's not the best choice.”

The best choice would be - expert input to address supply issues while supplementing with donated human milk.

The next best choice would be - expert input to address supply issues while supplementing with formula. Maybe continue mixed feeding until ready to wean.

The typical response: stop breastfeeding completely and tell everyone bottlefeeding is better for your baby because you didn’t have enough milk.

Totally agree it really irritates me! My SIL is constantly tweeting about breastfeeding and retweeting things, she was tweeting about how NI has the lowest breastfeeding rates in the U.K. and that our politicians should do something about it, can she not just let people choose how they want to feed their child without getting involved just because she done it successfully? BILs gf is a hippy who encapsulated her placenta so she obvs breastfeeds too and I can tell both of them are a bit precious about their choices.

I on the other hand was severely traumatised by my birth and absolutely wouldn't have survived mentally without the option to FF - best decision I ever made was to stop breastfeeding and I'd do it again. Wish the demonisation of formula would fuck off

Um parents do scrutinise. How insulting to infer otherwise. We read and decide quite rationally that formula is a perfectly safe and good alternative. I do this constantly about everything. Actually I find research in other areas on other parenting choices far more worthy of worry. Formula is highly scrutinised,for all its scrutiny the research with anything even slightly worthy of thought often gets debunked and any benefits from bf often seem to disappear further down the line in a child's life.

You read research and weigh it up with life circumstances and environment for your individual child. I knew my 3 would never be obese as I made sure I never overfed and maintained a healthy balanced diet for them minimising foods there really is cause for concern and providing exercise. I know their IQ would be fine as that theory is continuously debunked,was only a couple of points and genes/ environment were very favourable for my 3. I knew I was scrupulously clean in bottle prep so gastro admissions were unlikely.......My parenting instinct has been very accurate so far.I really don't need to be lectured to re making myself aware as to what is best for my dc.

@PerfectlySymmetricalButtocks yes I know. I don’t want to be pedantic but I did say that also some babies can’t feed. I know this to be the case and I’m glad we have formula as a product for those babies and also for women who just don’t want to breastfeed. I’m not glad that the formula industry is largely unregulated, unscientific and prices their product extortionately.

Those of us in our 50s who were exclusively ff and healthy,surrounded by an ever older population really don't. see your need for drama Mini.

What I also find interesting is that formula is, I assume, a massively processed product based on the ingredients list. There's a huge snobbery and concern over processed food and worries over 'what we put in our bodies' and how it should be more natural stuff. But this concern doesn't seem to stretch to formula. I say this as someone who eats freezer food 5 days a week and several packets of biscuits/chocolate a week.

I formula fed my first because I wasn't interested in trying breastfeeding; noone in my family had and I knew nothing about it. I'm currently breastfeeding my second because I hated making bottles and remembering to sterilise everything and figuring out how many bottles I would need for the day.

It hasn't been easy and because noone around me has done it, my family haven't been particularly supportive when I've found it difficult. I persevered only because I really, really didn't want to make bottles in the night again!

Not read the whole thread but I bf my 5 yr old and 18 month old.
My first lost 12 % at first weighing at 3 days. Luckily for us we were in hospital with an amazing team who supported our bf journey and gave me support to ensure I produced milk and had the confidence to continue.
My 2nd lost 9% AND this time the midwife was awful pushing me to switch to formula as I couldn't be producing enough milk. Suggesting I had pnd because I got upset and said I didn't want to switch. I asked if he doesn't regain in next weighing what could be cause. Her responce was it will be that would aren't producing enough milk.
SHE was wrong but without the support of my family and the knowledge that I'd produced milk for my first I would have followed her pressured advice and switched or topped up with formula unnecessarily.

I have received poor and conflicting advice from midwives and health visitors. Told with first at 6 months that it was time to stop and give formula as BMW was boring for babies by 6 months. Not just a flippant comment but she phoned me twice to check I was following her advice and wasn't impressed that I hadn't.

SOMETHING in the UK needs to change. Mums should not feel guilty if the support isn't there but we should all regardless of views campaign and raise awareness to ensure that for mums that choice to use formula that this choice is respected and that those who want to breast feed are fully supported to do so.

It is not good enough that tongue ties are undiagnosed, it is not good enough that if a tie is diagnosed that the wait to get it cut is too long. It is not good enough that mums are given incorrect advice by professionals. It is not good enough that SFS are not easily available. It is not good enough that support isn't available

‘There is not a medical need for the increase so quickly, so a considerable amount of people are making the choice to use it as a product.’

Are you proposing this choice be taken away grandma??

@ferntwist

absolutely...the amount of myths I hear and see written used to justify not breastfeeding, just continues to damage future Mum's chances at success.

Myth 1 -All the "my breastmilk didn't come in for 3 days so I switched"...My breastmilk didn't come in for 3 days, breastmilk doesn't come in for 3 days, that's how it works, it is just minute amounts of colostrum up until then. If people where led to believe that and switch because of it, that is very sad, and for those people their narrative for formula feeding should be that they were misinformed and unsupported. For people who never really wanted to breastfeed but tried because of pressure on them, please don't use this reason as an excuse, stand-by your decision and your choice not the breastfeed. But saying "my breastmilk didn't come in for 3 days is ruining so many other women's chances!!!

Myth 2 - Breastfeeding doesn't fit our culture... My nearest family are 5 hours away, I only get maternity allowance and will have to go back to work when DD is 8 months, my DH is away 2 nights a week every week and has been since returning from paternity leave, I have never experienced a negative reaction to breastfeeding in public, I don't sit at home alone all the time, I am out and about most days. Again if you choose not to breastfeed, that is fine, it is your choice, but own your decision, and don't but your own negativity on other women considering breastfeeding.

All I heard before having DD was how HARD breastfeeding would be, until my mum said she actually found it easy. It was a lightbulb moment, when I realised it might actually work for me.

Women need the truth, it can be hard but not always; they need accurate info; they need to hear about positive breastfeeding experiences in public; and they need timely evidence based support if they do have difficulties.

It is no wonder women choose not to breastfeed or are unsuccessful in the early days when they are surrounded by myths, lies and negativity.