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

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

This is just it, no you're not - the poster is pointing out an advantage of breastfeeding. They are not saying "formula is shit for the nevironment". They are saying "breastfeeding is better for the environment." Which is an actual fact. Do you not see what you are basically requesting is that relevant, verifiable facts (and this one is not up for debate, zero waste is quantifiably better for the environment than any waste) because you are feeling defensive. This is anti-scientific and anti-truth! You can't actually expect people to ignore facts because you don't like them!

DwangelaForever I think you're projecting a bit there, based on your decision. How is promoting bf or suggesting more support is needed for this who want to bf (it is!) 'demonising formula' ?!

Formula is highly scrutinised

Arrggg no it isn’t! I wish it were. Of course it should be.

In the UK there is no statutory body who monitor the formula milk industry. This means that there is no requirement for the product to be independently tested for safety, content or efficacy. Manufacturers do research their product but generally for their benefit, with no requirement for them to publish negative results. And this is research that needs to be done. For example, no independent body has tested the shelf life of formula ingredients.

www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/amy-brown/dont-we-deserve-fairer-pr_b_15577536.html

This is a very clear and concise article that sums up some of the issues. Latest Aptamil changes? The company did not produce a data card for the the new formulation. A charity had to chase them up this was part of their report after weeks of chasing:

Aptamil 1 first infant milk has changed its composition. The company says the ingredients have not changed but the ‘process’ has, but we have not been given any information about what that might mean. We have the following observations from the product as purchased:
i. The main ingredient is now lactose, not demineralised whey. We have been informed that lactose is a much cheaper ingredient (less than half the price) of whey, and changes to the product composition may therefore have been stimulated by a desire to reduce the production cost of the product.
ii. The new powder is more dense than previously and this means that the scoop is smaller. It is important that families do not use an old Aptamil 1 scoop for this powder as that would over- concentrate the feed.
iii. There are no new ingredients on the formula ingredients list and the nutritional composition shows some minor changes in the amount of lactose, salt/sodium, vitamins (retinol equivalents (vitamin A), vitamins K, C, niacin, B6, biotin) and minerals (potassium, choloide, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, iron, zinc, copper, fluoride, selenium and iodine), inositol and taurine. None of these are of any significance.
iv. The significant change is in the whey:casein ration which is now 50:50 not 60:40, reflecting the decreased amount of whey being used in manufacture. This could potentially have an impact on an infant’s stooling and digestion. The company is apparently making claims that this new ratio improves the amino-acid profile and has health benefits and have said they will send over information to back up claims, We await this with interest. This means that Aptamil 1 first milk is no longer a whey dominant formula, and these are the first milks recommended in the UK for infants in the first year of life.

This isn’t acceptable, babies and parent deserve more. Parents who buy formula are the consumer. I wish they’d get educated about the industry and demand more.

I would say going by stats the reverse is the case. The vast maj of women start and want to bf but stop. Clearly they think it's going to be easier than it is. I thought I was the only one finding it excruciatingly hard and there was something wrong with me. Both my midwife and hv never once admitted that it could be hard,breezing over chronic difficulties and tears. The first professional to be honest about it was the angry female consultant treating my dd in SCBU.

This means that Aptamil 1 first milk is no longer a whey dominant formula, and these are the first milks recommended in the UK for infants in the first year of life.

So a company can change the makeup of their formula with no independent testing, as it happens it made some babies sick and no regulatory body gives a shit. It’s not even a recommended product any more, how many parents know this?

I've had several children and started off breastfeeding all of them, but several moved on to bottles at 6-8 weeks old, some were breastfed for 2 years.
The problem is people need to stop being so precious about their choices (or in some cases necessary methods of feeding) fed is best.
In my experience breastfeeding is at times excruciatingly painful, you get mastitis and you get sore bleeding nipples, every time. It's not an easy choice. But if you persevere you will not have to wash bottles and sterilise. You will however most often have to feed far more frequently and many more times through the night. The babies I moved to formula, slept longer, went longer between feeds and life became a lot easier. The ones I breastfed remained generally worse sleepers and needed feeding far more regularly.
There is no argument about which is 'best', it's just daft. A milk produced for a human baby by its mother is obviously best. That doesn't mean that formula can't nutritionally meet the needs of an infant, of course it can, but it is a replacement that they try to get as close a possible to breastmilk based (usually) on cows milk, a product made by cows for their babies.
What we need to do in this country is be far more honest about how hard breastfeeding is (I've come across so many people who seem to assume if you breastfeed you must be one of those that found it 'easy' 😖) and so many people so defensive because they formula feed. Seriously who cares how anyone else feeds their kids, it's crazy. When they go to school you can't tell who was breastfed and who was bottle fed any more than you can tell who was baby lead weaned and fed with a spoon.
Putting my 6 week old on to bottles at the time saved my sanity, I was exhausted and she was constantly sick and never settled, I was losing my mind. Bottles changed all of that and I felt much more able to cope. I didn't feel guilty, I felt relieved.

The comparison with type 1 diabetes is false. Yes, there is a small proportion of women who can't breastfeed. The vast majority CAN, but such a lot of women don't get the right support to continue when they want to, and that is the problem.

No one says to anyone "ooh, are you sure you're producing enough insulin? You should top up, because you're probably not making enough yourself. I did it and it was SO much easier to see how much you were getting".

A big problem is that, because there's such a formula culture now, casual comments to vulnerable new mothers can have a big impact. If you don't know about cluster feeding, your partner/mum/friend saying "baby seems too hungry, are you sure you're making enough?" can make you doubt that what is happening is normal and so more likely to top up, reducing the "demand" messages to your breasts and consequently eventually reducing supply. Also, a lot of people, if they are supplementing, will do so at night - eg. Dad or grandma giving mum a break so she can sleep. But in reality, night feeds are crucial, especially at the beginning, due to higher levels of prolactin which helps to establish a good supply.

More funding for breastfeeding support is required! But honest information about formula is also required. The changing guidelines about formula preparation are not "designed to make you think formula feeding is difficult". They are changing to reflect the safest way to make up a formula feed to minimise the risk to the baby. So many people think formula is sterile - maybe before you open the can, but after that it certainly isn't and using water at 70° is to kill potential bacteria in the powder.

Mothers are not stupid. There's no need to placate them with "oh, in 5 years no one will be able to tell the difference so it doesn't matter". It DOES MATTER, so give women the advice, knowledge and support they need!

@ferntwist I was told that BFing was more convenient than formula at antenatal class. I expected it to be more convenient. This turned out not to be true as it depends on how you define convenient. I had to pump to try and get my supply going. That isn't at all convenient.

It turned out I needed a break from my baby for my own mental health - combi feeding meant I could go out and meet up with friends for a couple of hours occasionally. My definition of convenient isn't having to take a baby with you everywhere you go. I was with her every second of the day and night all week, but I needed those few hours away from her to recover from PND.

Think some people watched this purely in order to be offended.

If you chose to formula feed, good for you. Own your choice and enjoy what you see are the benefits.

This program was not about you. The breastfeeding debate is not about you. Why get involved?

By scrutiny I mean the food as a whole in comparison to bm. Going by Mini’s continuous links grasping at any negative straw she can the food has been looked at continuously by the medical/ scientific profession. I think the bill in the Huff link is a good idea. Interestingly I knew much of it already re Aptimel cost etc.The info is out there but a bill like that is highly preferable.

Parenting will always be about meeeee as you put it Mini as babies, circumstance, environment and even countries differ hugely. We should all be encouraged to get informed and make the choices that suit our children and their families the best. That is clearly what we’re all doing, we’re so very lucky to be able to do so.

@minifingerz I think so many things in your post are untrue and very very unfair.

Well, if they want to then that's a legitimate reason.

Not, it seems, in and of itself. Women who say "I wanted to breastfeed because I think it's the best nutrition for my baby" get screamed down that by saying that they're denigrating formula and formula feeding mums, that the evidence is weak, that they're wrong to want to on that basis basically. Women who say "I wanted to breastfeed because I think it will enhance my bond with the baby" Get screamed at that how dare they imply a ff mum's bond with her baby isn't EXACTLY THE SAME as a bf mum's. Women who say they find it convenient get a barrage of comments saying that it isn't convenient, that it's painful and dangerous and exhausting, that formula is very convenient, that it allows others to help etc etc.

Personally, I was desperate to breastfeed and struggled through a lot of challenges in the early months to do so because I had a horrible birth ending with an epidural and an EMCS, in which I felt utterly let down by my body and separated from my baby, and breastfeeding felt, to me, at the time, the best way to repair that psychological damage and rebuild that physical bond which felt like it had skipped a step by missing out on the experience of birthing. But when I share this POV, I have had some sympathetic responses, but also a barrage of criticism for - simply be feeling these feelings about my body, my birth, and my baby - criticising all women who had c-sections and all women who don't breastfeed. My reasons, however deeply personal, are treated as invalid, and critical of others.

I am still breastfeeding my 18 month old. In her whole life, this fact has never arisen when I am with a formula feeding mum (and when I say 'arisen', I don't mean I start banging on about it, I mean I start feeding my daughter - or these days, she clambers onto me and feeds herself!) without that mum going on the defensive, starting to tell me her reasons for not breastfeeding, and starting to denigrate the evidence base for breastfeeding promotion.

I never speak to my NCT group about any parenting or relationship issues I am having without half the women in the group immediately attributing my troubles to my continued breastfeeding, however irrelevant to feeding the issue is.

Never EVER would I or have I ever done similar to them and implied their children's sleep, health, or behavioural issues are down to formula. Because apparently that would be me pissing on them from my position of incredible power as a bf mum

minifingerz

Thank you for talking so much sense!
And grandma for posting what you did about aptamil.

I am so sick of us not being able to talk about infant feeding for fear of offending people. Because apparently, feeling 'offended' is the worst thing that could ever happen to you.
You see this time and time again. We aren't allowed to talk about the obesity crisis for fear of offending people. Meanwhile, the NHS becomes overburdened and we blame immigrants.

Sorry - I digress.

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

I hate to break it to you but these are NOT myths. I had difficulties myself and had I not used formula to start with, my son would have died. I was spoonfeeding him at one point because he refused to suck. I got some semblance of breastfeeding going eventually but stopped at 4 months.

I really can't understand why this is so emotional and politicised. Feed your baby however you want and leave everyone else alone. Breast milk is just one element of a healthy lifestyle. Of course it's better but as I said in my post about 200 posts ago there are so many other elements to health and whether or not you had breast milk is a tiny contribution to your overall health. Lets demonise women who don't breastfeed because fixing things like eg pollution are a lot more difficult (and of course it's women, and we always like to criticise women far more than men).

But if Nestle bring out a NEW!! ADVANCED!!! Formula with enhanced g-poxy-globufuck molecules which will REDUCE CRYING AND INCREASE SLEEP!!! (as tested on 15 babies of whom 5 dropped out before the end of the study) mums will trample over each other to snatch it off the shelves

Utter rubbish.

minifingerz my supply was fine, she couldn't suck properly. Nobody believed me when I noticed it when she was minutes old, not even when she was 4 months old and the HV suggested mixed feeding. It wasn't in her red book. She survived because of formula.

Bollocks Mini mothers don’t pick and choose re formula, they generally stick with the same formula throughout the time they eat it, as advised by midwives.

And re Trump cult, words fail me. So you’re saying the vast maj of parents in this country don’t give a shit re the health of their children. What utter baloney.

@Ennirem I'm one of the ones that thinks the benefits are overstated and that kept on BFing despite not liking it and encountering multiple problems. I found it isn't black and white.

Looking at it logically, I don't know why anyone in that situation would carry on BFing. But I did, for over 2.5 yrs, so it isn't as simple as looking at it logically.

I kept thinking it would improve. That I'd start enjoying it. If I just kept going it would help me bond with DD. BFing promotion really pushes those things so I kept expecting it to happen.

There wasn't an overwhelming reason to stop other than just not liking it - when my milk eventually came in (weeks later) I had supply, although I refused to increase it to the extent I could cut out formula completely as I found bottle feeding far more enjoyable.

I started out being a complete 'believer' in BFing. I thought few women actually needed to use any formula and that breast was best. It was the reading I did whilst on maternity leave that made me question that viewpoint and it took until over a year for me to conclude that the benefits weren't enough to make it worth doing. At that point though DD was down to feeding once or twice a day for about ten minutes and I no longer loathed it, it was just a daily chore. So I carried on until she stopped of her own accord at 2 yrs 7 months.

I might have seen a different programme to the one many posters saw. I Saw one where a woman feeding in the street was regarded as gross and should keep it private and not in the street.
These kind of comments ff babies don’t face.

I also found interesting the bit about formula where they explained that many of the formula options were created to be able to advertise the products however they’re as good as infant formula.

I think many saw there was a programme about bf and decided they’d feel offended. These people never think how we feel those of us that bf our babies and the society judges us every now and again

@ferntwist and I stuck through what I was told was cluster feeding. It ended with my baby being admitted to SCBU with hypernatraemic dehydration as my milk hadn't come in (it didn't for several weeks). DD's life was saved by formula, which she had to be tube fed initially as she was too weak to suck.

I'm glad BFing worked for you, but it honestly isn't as easy as just getting through the cluster feeding for a lot of women.

That isn’t falling for anything, it’s fact. It takes 18 years to raise a healthy child. It’s a marathon not a sprint over with in 6 months.

The fact is my teens are probably far healthier than many previously breast fed teens, maybe even yours Mini.

I faced far more judging with ffing than bfing. I managed to bf twins for 6 weeks in a city with zero unpleasantness. The sorrow and questions I experienced once dealing with formula and bottles were quite a contrast.

Formula feeding mothers - a persecuted majority? Really?