AIBU - to think that adverts for follow on formula should acknowledge breastfeeding...

[GillianLovesMarmite]

Having just seen the advert on tv for heinz (now hideously overpriced) Nurture (follow on forumla) which delivered the message that it is the best thing you can give your baby for its development...
Do you think it would be unreasonable that these adverts should recognise breastfeeding - eg saying that if you are breastfeeding that this is great and providing what your child needs, however, if you have chosen not to breastfeed or have chosen to formula feed, that this is then the stuff for you... and that the 6 month time thing is not a deadline to stop at but a target to aim for.
I realise that by 6 months I am now in a minority of mothers who are still breastfeeding. I acknowledge that everyone has a right to choose how to feed their child, or that sometimes the choice is made for them, often by conditions or factors outside of their control and I would NEVER presume to judge how another woman feeds her child.
However, I just think it would be appropriate for these adverts to acknowledge that if you are breastfeeding you don't need this stuff - although in the real world I know that this will never happen as they have a product to sell - but do you (whether bfing or ffing) think that this would be an unreasonable thing for the companies to do?

(Sorry for the long post - just really really annoyed by the advert).

"I have NEVER heard of any babies anywhere who have become ill due to artificial feeding"

From NHS Direct:

"babies who are bottle fed using formula milk are more likely to develop illnesses, such as diarrhoea, or a chest, ear, or urine infection. There is also an increased risk of premature babies who are bottle fed developing a rare, but serious condition called necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), where the intestines are damaged due to infection and a poor supply of blood"

These are not hypothetical risks - they are known risks extrapolated from research showing higher levels of these illnesses among populations of artificially fed babies.

I'm astonished that you didn't know this. When you get a leaflet from your midwife saying 'breastfeeding is healthier for babies and cuts their risk of gastro-intestinal illness etc' what do you think it means? It means that if you take two groups of babies - one group ff and one group bf - there will be more sick babies in the ff group. In other words, ff results in higher levels of ill health at a population level.

"Same goes for Formula, if you feel passionatly about bf then you would not be swayed."

Why should you have to feel 'passionately' about feeding your baby? Breastfeeding isn't something we should have to fight for!

prettybird, I'd love to lose 10 pounds, but I wouldn't think it normal if a baby did!

I guess it was supposed to be 10oz

Of course I meant 10 oz

"And like waynetta says- its only advertising.
I dont like adverts for crappy food
Bernard mathhews turkey for example, but I feel so passionate about animal welfare that I would NEVER buy them.

Same goes for Formula, if you feel passionatly about bf then you would not be swayed"

But what about if you weren't sure about how to feed your baby because, like the majority of first time mums you actually knew very little about the subject and had had very little exposure to children eating anything other than junk food, as part of your day to day life experience?

And all around you people were eating turkey twizzlers and saying things like 'well, I was raised on Turkey Twizzlers and it never did me any harm!'.

And every time you opened a parenting magazine there were 10 full pages of adverts showing rosy cheeked, healthy children noshing down on turkey twizzlers, accompanied by slogans like: "Turkey Twizzlers: inspired by organic salad!" And "We here at Bernard Matthews care about nothing more than the health of your precious children. That's why our new Turkey Twizzlers contain 15 essential vitamins, also found in brocolli, which promote healthy hearts in kids and have been shown to increase cognitive function if consumed regularly!"The Role of Modified Whizzbang Vitamins in improving intelligence: a controlled, randomised study on 3 children. By Shyster I M, Fiddler KD, and Tittsoff N, Journal of Loadsa Crap April 2008

Get my drift?

lol I thought so Tink was 4lb 2oz so 10lb would be a problem! She lost about 6oz and it took her till after they let her home to bring her back over that. She did 1-2oz a week.

And the only form of food is various forms of turkey swizzlers - organic, extra added vitamins, vegetarian...

Oh fucking hell

you lot are so extreme.

Ok its GREAT that you are so pro breastfeeding, but stop making out that formula fed children are going to suffer from some horrendous illness.
Ok they "may" have a greated statistical risk of getting ear/chest infection etc, but that can NEVER be linked to formula feeding.

For what ever reason some mothers choose to formula feed, and as fellow mothers we should respect their decision and not beat each other over the head.

My personal bug bear is that breast feeding is HARD and you get fuck all help from the health professionals.

That is NOT the fault of the formula companies

I am very pro breastfeeding btw, did it for dd, but also introduced formula feeding for her when she was 5 months old.

Why do you have to make mothers who ff feed their children so bad?
Esp Gateua who clealy had a distressing time when her dc was born- you should be ashamed of yourselves

No, lilly, the people who failed Gateau should be ashamed of themselves.

It can and has been attributed to formula feeding.

Yes and who was that?

THE HEALTH PROFESSIONALS

Well my dd was ff from 5 months old and had NO INFECTIONS WHAT SO EVER

Its a only a link not a cause and effect

I've taken ecstasy but it doesn't mean it didn't kill Leah Betts.

The 'it did me/mine no harm' line doesn't work. You have absolutely no idea how your child has been affected by feeding her formula, you never will, but it has been proven that statistically children who are formula fed are at risk of more gastro problems, allergies, higher risk of heart diease later in life, double the risk of chest infections between birth and seven, double the risk of ear infections and five times more likely to suffer from urinary tract infections. Also the mother is more at risk of osteoporosis, breast cancer and ovarian cancer."

Every thread I have ever gone on where there is a bf/ ff discussion the pro-bfers (I know you can't really be anti bf but YSWIM) tend to end up beating the 'failures over the head with stats and information that we know are true anyway.

God and they are soooooo 'I have the sword of truth and I shall cut a swath through every one of your stupid comments with a flick of it'. Ad nauseum.

I was ff and expect to die quite soon if this thread is anything to go by {grin]

"Ok its GREAT that you are so pro breastfeeding, but stop making out that formula fed children are going to suffer from some horrendous illness."

Well said lilymolly. The comments dont bother me but I know they will upset others. No amount of BF literatire, talks etc would have ever persuaded me to BF as I am quite capable of making my own choices on life.

Its fine to be so pro breastfeeding, however not everyone. Fine to ask for the info, not fine to ram it down peoples throats.

I din't try t make Gateau feel bad - but pointed out that she should be pissed off at the HCPs who did not give her the right uspport - not at the issue of whether formula (or follow-on) milk should be advertsied and those that are debating the issue.

"Ok its GREAT that you are so pro breastfeeding, but stop making out that formula fed children are going to suffer from some horrendous illness.
Ok they "may" have a greated statistical risk of getting ear/chest infection etc, but that can NEVER be linked to formula feeding."

Lilymolly - nobody is 'making out' that if you ff your children 'are' going to suffer from some horrendous illness and of course if your child is ill it can't be directly attributed to whether they have been breastfed or not. This is true in relation not just to infant feeding but in relation to many of the other choices we make for our children. 90% of SIDS deaths are linked to parental smoking, but it is also true that the children of non-smokers sometimes die too. You can almost never make a firm causal link between a particular life-style choice and a subsequent illness.

However, it's also an inescapable fact that there have been hundreds of thousands of children in this country over the years who have needed medical care for ear infections, chest infections, diabetes and gastric illness etc, who wouldn't have been ill if they'd been breastfed. The research into this is done using population studies - which involve REAL children - not test tube experiments! The risks are not theoretical - they are real.

None of this changes the fact that yes - bf is hard, and you are right that you generally do get fuck all help with it.

That said, this doesn't in any way justify going into denial that how we feed our children CAN and sometimes DOES have health implications for them in the short and long term.

Thats a very scary post VS.

Fucking hell life is full of risks.

You know how feeding your baby is such an emotive issue, so why do you want to make us feel that we have given our gorgeous children some deadly illness?

I know Breast if best and would really encourage someone to breast feed. but WOULD NEVER make someone feel so shit about formula feeding.

I am having child no 2 next year (if all goes well) and will really try to bf, but if I have problems and it does not work for me then hey I will not loose any sleep over it.
We all try to do what is best for our children, tis human nature, but life does not always make this easy.

"However, it's also an inescapable fact that there have been hundreds of thousands of children in this country over the years who have needed medical care for ear infections, chest infections, diabetes and gastric illness etc, who wouldn't have been ill if they'd been breastfed."

Ummm..don't bfed babies get these things too??

Gordon Bennett....

My ds suffered a lot from ear infections. Breast feeding is supposed to reduce the likelihood of ear infections. I can only be grateful that I did bf him, as otherwsie he might have had a lot more.

The point is, it is only an average - it is not an absolute. Just as not every person who somkes will get cancer - but you sure as hell increase your odds if you do smoke.

Thanks for the translation Gateau

Ok so formula feeders should just accept the risks then.

Ok I can live with that, like i said before, I take risks with dd, we live with dogs, ride horses, live next to main road, go to parks, cross roads, go swimming, drive a car, go to soft play, take her to childminders and so on............

Its a risk in everything that we do, including feeding our children.

I can live with that, its life.

Sorry, don;t understand, Bumdid

"Ummm..don't bfed babies get these things too??"

Yes - but on average they get fewer and they are often less severe.

Cue: weary parade of 'my ff child has never had a single illness while my neighbor's bf baby has been sick non stop since birth' stories. Can we just NOT? Or I might feel compelled to wheel out all the anecdotes I know about women who've smoked/drank/taken drugs during pregnancy who've gone on to have perfectly healthy kids. And I can't be bothered - particularly as this type of argument doens't prove or disprove anything.

We can only try our best.

Just dont keep beating me up about it.

so why cant you just accept its an individual decision wether to take a risk or not?