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

I haven't read the full thread but I bottle fed through choice, and never cared what anyone thought. It meant I could get into a solid sleep routine and my then husband could share in the feeds.

I'm sick of being told breast is best

Are you also sick of being told water is wet or the sky is blue? Also facts, also things that no-one actually says to unless you are having a discussion about it. You don't want to hear facts, don't talk about it.

There is no debate here. Breast IS best. Simple fact. Formula is also fine. What debate is necessary?

I also thought it was for children who don’t eat a very varied diet. I don’t understand why children can’t have regular whole milk and a multivitamin. Ds had whole milk from 12 months.

Follow on milk is from 6 months not 12. I think you are confusing it with toddler milk.

Thanks tea I was but there’s still no point in follow on when first infant is fine for the whole 12 months

You can get it on special offer and get clubcard etc points on it, that is why most people buy it. From a baby nutrition pov you are right, however but it also isn't poison ;)

Didn’t say it was Teateaandmoretea afterall I formula fed ds from 6 months onwards but heard the follow on had extra iron which can cause constipation so I went with first infant.

Thanks tea, I was confusing follow on with toddler, and stand corrected on the age thing.

You’re right about the cost tea and needing to save where possible, they’re not allowed to put first infant on offer but they could at least reduce its all of the time
cost as those greedy companies make
enough money.

@mummabubs

I chose to express and 9 months in I'm still doing this and topping up with formula when I can't express

I think you're amazing

I need to figure out expressing ready for going back to work in October, but keep putting off trying. The only time I have tried was for relief when I had Blocked duct/Mastitis, and hardly got any out. Bought the freezer pouches yesterday, so I will give it a go soon!

I didn't get enough breastfeeding support. No one really worked with me despite all the promises of support. DS didn't put on as much weight at the start and the health professionals stressed me out so much that it was easier to start F/F alongside breastfeeding . It upset me massively at the time, midwives and HV would contradict themselves about what it was best to do and I felt lost and not listened to. With hindsight I suspect DS was lactose intolerant from birth (he was diagnosed at six months old). F/F doesn't seem to matter so much now but I get so pissed off with the lack of decent resources to support women after giving birth whatever their issues are.

With DD I had a week of agony, bleeding and scabbing. Then the scabs came off and it all changed, feeding was straightforward, pain free and apart from DD being a wriggler (I used to look at all the calm still BF babies thinking what on earth while saying 'leggy still. Leggy STILL' to DD) things have been fine.

Now she's nearly 6 months and we're slowly doing weaning with purees for tasting. The comments I've had from mums, and even my own mother are all about starting her on formula. Formula isn't poison obviously, it's absolutely fine, but if my supply is good (which it is), and she's happy enough on boob or expressing then why is there the expectation of "you've got to 6 months, time to stop"? If I can, I'd like to continue expressing and my work have introduced a BF room, so when I go back there's that. And I'm lucky to have it.

It's just such an emotive subject though, everyone wants to do what's best for their baby and any insinuations that you're doing otherwise will prompt a strong reaction. To each their own I say. Want to BF, combi feed, FF, crack on. If you're BF and feel it's time to stop, then stop.

I think what the doc was getting at is we are told breast is best (which it is, you can't get away from that being a fact). But when you have a lack of support from the professionals that are telling you that, no help, and some judgement from society thrown in (that awful 'spectator sport' woman ) the mixed messages are leading to women stopping BF when they don't want to but feel they have no choice - that's the important bit.

With hindsight I suspect DS was lactose intolerant from birth (he was diagnosed at six months old

Highly unlikely. Primary congenital alactasia (lactose intolerance at birth), is an extremely rare, autosomal recessive enzyme defect that prevents lactase expression from birth, and is a genetic defect. Only 40 cases have ever been recorded, almost all in Finland.

Think about it, we are mammals, we need milk at birth. Human milk is very high in lactose. Babies born without ability to consume lactose would (and did) die until very recently.

(I used to look at all the calm still BF babies thinking what on earth while saying 'leggy still. Leggy STILL' to DD)

SAME!

Highly unlikely. Primary congenital alactasia (lactose intolerance at birth), is an extremely rare, autosomal recessive enzyme defect that prevents lactase expression from birth, and is a genetic defect. Only 40 cases have ever been recorded, almost all in Finland.

I think a lot of people say lactose intolerant when they means cows milk protein intolerant, which is far more common and a pain but manageable while still breastfeeding.

manaftermidnight Lactose intolerance in newborns is really not rare. It’s thought to be a cause of colic although most babies grow out of it by three months. This article pulls together a lot of useful information.
www.health-e-learning.com/articles/Lactose.pdf

everyone wants to do what's best for their baby and any insinuations that you're doing otherwise will prompt a strong reaction

Exactly. “Breast is best” is directly telling FF mothers they are not doing the best thing for their child. Of course they get upset.

I BF because I am lucky to be able to do so but the benefits of breastfeeding your baby are being wildly overstated by some on this thread.

people will have this debate till the death. Just feed your babies. If you cannot bf, then there is formula - how wonderful is that?! Why can’t people just focus on the positives. Demonising FF - for goodness sake, did you purposely look to be offended?

I didn't think the programme demonized formula but I can see why some people were upset after seeing it. How you feed your baby can be a very emotive decision.

I bottle fed DD1 from birth - a combination of expressed milk and Formula, and then formula as baby wouldn't latch and I couldn't sustain the expressing . I did not have great support in hospital at all and think that the poor advice and support I got contributed to me giving up. I'd also had severe pre eclampsia and PPH, and a premature sick baby who just wouldnt latch - formula felt like the easiest choice at the time. I felt horrible about it at the time and felt like I wanted to explain why I was using bottles at every available opportunity. DD2 was just completely different. Easier birth at term, latched on like a dream, fed regularly, and apart from a bout of thrush, encountered no pain.

My guilt at how I felt after giving up bf DD1, and the fact that DD1 is healthy and smart does not change the fact that breast milk is the best nutritionally for babies, based on the population as a whole. Formula is a perfectly acceptable alternative but is not the same as breast milk. And the fact that so many women stop before they want to due to poor support, or advice is awful.

@Ennirem I'm not sure about DMER - I found a reference to it when DD was a few months old and was pleased to discover I wasn't the only woman who didn't like the sensation of BFing, but the description of it doesn't sound like my experience? It wasn't sudden for a start. It sounds like DMER only became known about relatively recently so I wonder if further research will show more nuances of it. Also, whether it's something some women have always had but in the days when bf was the only way of feeding your baby you just got on with it, whereas now those women will then often switch to formula?

An interesting one, bet the research hasn't been done but would be interesting to know whether it's linked to other medical conditions. My hormones are completely wonky and always have been, so would be nice to know if that's connected!

@RidingMyBike I agree, found it a really interesting area (from the happy position of not having experienced it, just got to hear about it through bf groups etc). I also wonder about the relationship to nursing aversion, which is experienced widely and often agonisingly in breastfeeding women once they fall pregnant - there is almost certainly a hormonal element in all of this stuff and it would be fascinating to see it teased out through research. Likelihood low though, because it's wimmins problems innit and the medical establishment can be very neglectful of those areas!

I do think there is probably a cultural element to not enjoying the sensation of breastfeeding though (outside of experiencing pain and discomfort), as well as a highly personal emotional/physical one. I for example have never found my breasts erogenous and don't get a lot of nipple sensation, so breastfeeding was great for me as it helped me relate to a body part I had always found both superfluous and annoyingly over-sexualised and focused on culturally. I finally felt ownership of them and valued them as I had something they were FOR as far as I was concerned. Other women I know have extremely sensitive nipples, orgasmically so, and I imagine breastfeeding is a bit of a headfuck sometimes if one is habituated to and/or enjoy thinking of one's breasts as being sexual (for example).

All this I find academically interesting, and these are the kind of conversations it would be nice to have with women without it becoming so fraught with issues of judgement real and imagined!

Just found this quite recent article, but behind a paywall (d'oh!): www.ingentaconnect.com/contentone/springer/clac/2018/00000009/00000001/art00005

Might ask around some friends and see if i can obtain a copy...

I watched the dispatches show and agree that formula companies were demonised. They were attacked for making follow on milks so they could advertise their products and had all the health benefits listed on the products made out to be false.

Sorry but phahahahah! Formula compnaies are up there with the most unethical of all time and the claims they make are false. At least they’ve not been independently researched by anyone other than them. But you continue to trust the nice people at Danone and nestle. Of course they have babies best interests at heart. For Christ sake educate yourself. Unethical formula marketing isn’t a problem that’s confined to the 80s you know.

After watching my now 5 1/2 year old daughter be extremely hungry for the first 3 weeks of her life, and my partner driven to mental health issues over the guilt of not being able to breast feed, I would like to say this to all the ' Breast is best ' evangelists :

You are wrong.

Fuck off.

I would rather have an alive child and functioning partner / mother to my child.

So again, Fuck off.

YANBU. I'm honestly so happy to see this thread.

My baby is 2 weeks old, breastfeeding didn't work for me and it's still quite raw, so to see social media blow up over this programme has been very hard for me.

My baby is fed, she's happy and gaining weight beautifully, my mental health is still in tact. I will console myself with that.