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

@Babdoc powdered milk from a cow is more suited to a human infant than human milk?

I'm not being confrontational, I just don't see the logic.

It HAS to be fortified with vitamins etc as it's not fit for purpose the way it's derived.

I am yet to meet anyone that has formula fed that accepts breast IS best, and admits they formula fed for personal reasons (routine/lifestyle etc).

Of course those who tried and couldn't BF are totally different, I totally sympathise as I would be devastated if I couldn't have fed my own baby.

@LapinR0se

1. that’s it’s ok for babies to survive on tiny amounts of colostrum (or less) for up to 5 days before milk comes in properly. Surely that’s not right and supplementing can play a role there?

The human race managed for thousands of years this way. Yes, some babies will need a top up due to health reasons. Most will not.

I totally understand and support the mums who gave bf their best effort but it didn’t work out so they ended up ff. What I don’t understand is why so many mums, with full knowledge of the fact that bf is better, don’t even attempt it and choose to ff from the beginning. Why would you not even attempt to give your child the best start in life?

Having spoken to a number of ff mums the general consensus (among my limited sample) was that they wanted to be able to have a break away from the baby and share the burden of feeding and night wakings with dad/gran etc. Encouraging bf wouldn’t work for those mums as it could never meet their need for time off.

I agree there is insufficient bf support. My own DM didn’t bf because it wasn’t the done thing. She sad you didn’t even get asked, they just routinely gave you an injection to stop the milk. She couldn’t help me at all so I asked my midwife for info before giving birth and was told that NHS info sessions had ended due to lack of budget. So when I gave birth I had no idea how to bf and the first week was a disaster. LO lost loads of weight and was re admitted to hospital. Luckily there was an elderly midwife on the ward who had bf her own children and she taught me everything I needed to know. But that was sheer luck.

After leaving hospital there was NO support. My local “surestart bf support group” was just a room full of mums bfing and chatting about everything except bfing. As a shy newbie I sat through an entire session where nobody said a word to me. So I didn’t go back. Support shouldn’t be reliant on you being bubbly enough to make friends with other mums and brave enough to ask them questions about what you’re struggling with. Anyone who is shy, introverted or has any kind of social difficulties won’t be able to access peer support unless there’s some sort of structure or guidance in place to make sure that everyone is being included.

A co sleeping,bf baby of a smoking mother will have a far bigger risk of sids than a ff baby sleeping in its own cot next to a non smoking mother.

Surely a campaign against co sleeping would be better if you want to reduce the already tiny risk of SIDS.

What I don’t understand is how I hear so many people say they gave up on day two or three because they didn’t have enough milk. How did they know? I had no idea. They are basically using you like a human dummy anyway in those first days so I had no idea if my baby was getting enough or what my milk supply was like? It certainly felt like he wasn’t getting any because I never had massively rising and deflating boobs as he was on me all the time and he certainly did a fair amount of squarking and not sleeping to indicate he was pretty pissed off about something but I was told by my Mum to have faith and remember that my boobs and baby new what they were doing even if I didn’t.

Also just to clarify, I am pro-breastfeeding in theory. However I had such a hard time with my first. I was on a 3 hourly feeding regime of breastfeeding, then expressing to increase supply, then topping up with formula. By the time I'd finished doing all this I had barely any time before I had to start it all again. This went on for months. I persisted and ended up breastfeeding for 8 months. But I was nearly broken by my experience. Was that sacrifice worth it?

With my second I exclusively fed for 7 months.

For those who are want woman to get more support in breastfeeding, what is the minimum you all suggest we breastfeed for? The 6 months that the nhs advise?

Really interested in this discussion.

Fed is the bare minimum.
Maternal mental health is hugely important.
We are extremely lucky to have such excellent formula available, and safe ways to make it up.
Support for breastfeeding is woeful, and societies attitudes towards it are poor too.

Breast milk is amazing stuff, and we need more research into what makes it do what it does. There are many elements in it that we just don’t understand and can not replicate in anyway.

I thought the program was great, and made it quite clear it wasn’t about demonising formula or ff mothers.

I also wonder if people who doubt the benefits of breastfeeding think there's some massive global conspiracy among scientists and healthcare professionals to force women to breastfeed. If you don't think breastfeeding has benefits, then why do you think so much time and money is spent promoting it by major health organisations? Do you really believe corporate formula companies should be believed instead?

'Well, the World Health Organisation has published plenty of statistics and reports about the benefits of breastfeeding, but wee Jimmy down the road was breastfed and he has asthma!'

Fenwickdream they don’t know, but they don’t have the support to know what’s normal.

I think theres the problem that a lot of new mothers know nothing about breastfeeding.

I've heard people say "I wasnt producing enough milk". How do you know?? Theres no sure way to know exactly how much milk your baby is getting - as long as theres weight gain, its all good!

"Baby kept on feeding all night" Its cluster feeding - not that youre not producing enough!!

Thank you to the sensible people who dont get offended just because someone said breast is best. If you cant breastfeed but youve given a good go, you shouldnt feel guitly. If you do, thats your own insecuriried and your problem. Not anyone elses, who are just trying to promote breastfeeding as being best for your baby - because it is!!

But @thereareflowersinmygarden the human race didn't really survive that brilliantly. Child mortality rates were through the roof.

You can’t look at individual children when discussing the benefits of breastfeeding. You can only see it at a population level. Why is that so hard to understand?

I agree that anecdotal evidence is unhelpful - I bf both of mine and they are both healthy. I remember that my eldest came down with his first real illness a week after stopping bf! That probably isn’t anything to do with bf though, could just be luck. Plus I’d probably be accused of “demonising formula” if I said it out loud

So true iggi!

I think anything that a) highlights the evils of the companies advertising formula and b) highlight the lack of normalisation and support for breastfeeding is a good thing.

I did not feel the program demonised formula, but did demonise formula companies.

Yes formula is necessary but it IS second best.

I am choosing to formula feed, I am choosing it knowing I am not doing the best for my baby. I can breastfeed, I just don't want to. But I am under no illusion that it's "just as good". It isn't, nowhere near. But I'm ok with that.

LlamaPyjamas

I agree with your comment about the need for time off as to why people don’t feed or give up. It’s the main reason why nearly everyone I know who gave up or never fed from beginning did so.

Cheshire believe you me I was devastated when my baby ended up in ScBU thanks to bfing. Using formula not so much.

Pretty sure my sil was devastated when she discovered her child had severe SEN,bfing her "own baby" is something she'd have happily swapped.

Ffing after trying and failing at breast feeding is seriously not devastating. Actually it's one of the smallest parenting disappointments I've had. Sorry to disappoint.

@Pappybear

We're one of the most successful species on the planet.

If, our milk was regularly inadequate for our young, that would not be the case.

Most babies can live perfectly well on colostrum for the first few days. I say most, not all.

1) that’s it’s ok for babies to survive on tiny amounts of colostrum (or less) for up to 5 days before milk comes in properly.
I wasn’t told this before giving birth. I watched ff mums on the ward feeding full bottles and I was terrified that my baby was starving because I only had a few drops to give. I thought I should be producing an equivalent amount of milk. I was so terrified that I persuaded the midwife to give me a bottle of formula to keep my baby going until my milk came in. This worry could have been avoided if I’d been provided with info about bf prior to giving birth!

I watched the programme. I didn't think it was saying 'formula is not an option'. IMHO the focus was on how difficult our culture makes it to breastfeed, despite the fact that breastmilk has many ingredients in it that formula doesn't have.not only that, in addition to ththe cultural pressure to switch to formula, many women who want to breastfeed are experiencing practical difficulties because there is almost no breastfeeding help out there.

Although I don't think you should feel guilty if you have made the choice to forumula feed. I presume that everyone who formula feeds has either made an informed choice or wanted to breastfeed and didn't get the help they needed to keep going with it.

On the plus side, if you did give up breastfeeding, you can be proud that even one feed would ha love done you and your baby a lot of good . Two feeds are even better.

I agree with the poster above. I think it’s fine to simply not want to breastfeed and prefer to formula feed. Women have enough pressure with the trials and tribulations of being a mother without the judgement from outsiders criticising their feeding method.

I know a few mums who thought that and I can't blame them.

I don't think that a lot of HCPs even know that.

@Ifeelshit

More people should have your attitude. Accept thats breast is best, formula is second best but theres no problem with using formula if thats what you want!

No need for people to get their back up and get defensive. Its your choice but stop pretending that formula is just as good.

I haven’t seen the programme yet but I think there needs to be a sensible balance in advice and promotion of feeding. I have combi fed both my children and could not have breastfed without formula top ups due to poor supply. I am extremely thankful for formula but I do think that glorifying formula doesn’t solve the issue. Breast IS and always will be best for baby and Mum so we do need to actively encourage it and provide decent support and education. Having said that, I do find it hard to understand why someone wouldn’t at least try to breastfeed.

@P3onyPenny it's this anger that makes breastfeeding mothers feel bad about being proud of their achievement (which it is).

Not so much me though

It wasn't "breastfeeding" as a feeding choice that made your baby ill.