So is formula milk UPF?

[bumgripes]

It is, right? I mean, the ingredients list certainly is. And it’s listed on the BBC website as an UPF.

Going to be interested to see if this influences the BF/FF debate now that it looks like awareness of UPF is about to skyrocket. Does it even matter when they’re only on it for about a year? Does that fact that it’s an UPF actually add any info to the pre-existing evidence on BF/FF?

I'm not even being smug or bragging.

Yes it is and I think there needs to be a lot more research into it.

Regardless of if you FF or BF I think looking at ways to try to make formula healthier and studying the long term effects of certain ingredients would be better for everyone.

I was absolutely flabbergasted when after refusing all covid jabs because of the concerns over what was 'in them' my DSis when her baby was born, refused to entertain the idea of BF even for a day because she still wanted her DP to get up and do as many night feeds as her. The only reason. Oh and probably being able to drink alcohol again asap.

I never said a word but do judge the 'super health conscious her' for not even offering her newborn baby colustrum.

This is NOT a slur on women who can't for whatever valid reason.

Mine didn’t have colostrum - my choice

Mine didn't either. Isn't bodily autonomy fantastic?

You appear to be missing my point. It wasn’t a matter of being ‘fair’ - it’s a matter of being sensitive to the experience and feelings of others.

If you want to start a thread where posters can wax lyrical about how lovely breastfeeding is, and get pats on the back from others who were also able to, then fine. If that floats your boat. The problem is when posters pile on to threads where this isn’t the point. It’s tone deaf and lacking in empathy. So why do it, in that context? What are you getting from it?

Sure. But not every thread is an opportunity to wang on about how great you are, when there are posters talking about their trauma, surely?

Just snacks of oblivious smugness. Even if not meant as such, that’s how it can come across, and that has been said so many times now, there’s no excuse for not taking that into account. Read the room. Start your own thread if you want a thread with a different tone, I would have thought?

UPF has replaced the carbohydrate as the devil on here.

Petty bollocks?

That’s the whole point and the whole issue here in a nutshell, if you could but understand it. Other women feel sadness, grief, inadequacy and trauma in relation to their experience of breastfeeding. Great that you didn’t. But please don’t dismiss other peoples’ pain as ‘petty bollocks’. That’s really harsh and is the reason why posters are complaining of a lack of empathy.

Erm please don't make out that I'm saying women's trauma is petty bollocks. I'm saying what you're saying is petty bollocks.

And don't try make out that I'm smug and obsessed with breastfeeding. I think you need to give your head a shake.

Of course it is. But it's also much better than a starving child.

Exactly this.

There are MANY places online where you can go to wang on about how special and proud you are for being able to breastfeed, I know because in the depths of my grief and despair at not being able to breastfeed myself I seemed to come across them all. And if they weren’t enough you can absolutely start your own thread.

Equally if someone starts a thread asking for examples of when breastfeeding has gone well then by all means go for it. Or if someone is struggling a bit but says that hearing examples of how others persevered and it got better/ easier then there would be a place for such stories too.

But otherwise yeah, I really do think you should shut up about it. Particularly when people are genuinely hurt or talking about how much they are negatively affected by it.

No one is silencing you, but you do come across as a bit of a twat if you keep on after that.

Ah. Still focused solely on your own feelings, then, even though others are telling you how they have been negatively affected. 👍

Yes it is, and it's another reason why I think the UPF debate is important but currently enormously overblown.

I made some spelt, oat, rhubarb and coconut biscuits with my DC today. They're very healthy but it occurred to me that rolled oats, spelt flour and canned rhubarb (supermarket didn't have any fresh) are all official UPF and I think that really explains the issue with it.

Sure, constant ready meals are going to make you unwell. But we knew that.

Absolutely, fine, have it your way. Feeding a baby formula (one of the most regulated food products in the world) is exactly the same as feeding it ready-made pizza all day long. Breastfeeding is a major personal accomplishment for which a Nobel prize would be insufficient. You go, Mama!

(To add: no self justification here as i fed both my DC til almost age 3)

Just pointing out that a poster who tried to silence the trauma had a couple of responses pointing out it wasn’t on.

1 poster says they were proud and get a full on pile on. Some comments verging on the bullying really.

this thread was not about any one person’s experience but a general conversation about UPF. Agree it would be unfeeling to post about pride on a thread where someone was struggling with feelings around formula feeding, but this isn’t that thread.

Pretty sure none of those are upf. Processed yes, not upf.

@YouHoooo @Cowlover89 Of course it isn't! What nasty, idiotic & dangerous misinformation! My consultant told me that formula is actually better in many cases as breast milk is only best if the mother's diet is very good. If it isn't, then it's just reflective of that. Whereas formula is a consistent balance of all the nutrients the baby needs.

I don’t see there’s been a pile on. But if posters doggedly stick to their guns and carry on in the same vein regardless of what anyone says to the contrary, they can expect people to engage.

This is not true. What a mother eats has very little impact on her milk composition as milk is made in the breast from blood, not food. Your consultant gave you wrong information. It's worrying that myths like this are even so ingrained in the medical community!

www.laleche.org.uk/breastfeeding-and-a-mothers-diet-myths-and-facts/