So does anyone else find the term 'artificial feeding' in relation to the use of formula milk a bit irritating?

[bangandthedirtisgone]

Or is it just me?

Sabire - perhaps Scaryteachers son will just accept that she didn't bf him and move on like most people do?

TBH Id think someone was very strange if as an adult they wrung their hands over the thought that their mother didnt breastfeed them. Very odd thing to feel sad about IMO

Southmum- I am sad for my Mum that she didn't breastfeed me beyond 2 weeks. She developed mastitis and was told she must stop- of course she found out 2 years later when feeding my brother just how bad that advice was. She does regret this and it still makes her angry 30 years on.

I am fortunate enough to be in good health. However, if I had developed (e.g.) Type 1 diabetes I would have been angry that this may have been partly because of one ill-informed health-professional sabotaging my Mother's breastfeeding.

I was unable to BF which I would have really loved to have done.

My DD has Type 1 Diabetes. I feel intensely guilty about this, and would encourage anyone who could BF to do so. Damn, am going to cry now. Even though it was a case for me of FF or die, I feel terrible for her.

Sorry, realise got away from the point, but all this talk about Diabetes caught my eye.

Sorry to have used diabetes as my example EETS. Ironically, it was the 1st example I thought of because my DH has it despite being breastfed for at least 6 months. I didn't mean at all to imply that formula feeding causes diabetes.

I did not say bf played 'an insignificant part in reducing these risks', but 'that other factors are more prevalent'. I'd lay odds that my chances of developing lung cancer are more directly related to my non-smoking than because I didn't bf; and the same applies to the chances of my developing oesophageal cancer (allied to how much alcohol I drink). A couple of my friends have breastfed, and have both developed breast cancer; one had a double mastectomy. As for osteoporosis, I think that doing weight bearing exercise, making sure I have plenty of calcium in my diet and enough vitamin D is more important that having breast fed.

A blanket claim that bfing reduces these risks doesn't make explicit how long one would need to bf for before these risks were reduced? A day? A week? 8 weeks? As far as I can see the only cancer which bfing may affect is breast cancer, and as I said above, that is not in all cases.

Macabre - feeling sad for someone feeling sad for themselves (if that makes sense) does errr...make sense. It was the post earlier about people feeling sad that their mothers didn't want to bf them that made me think "eh? What?".

I have never asked my mum, cos I don't really give a shit, but if she told me she didn't bf me because she just plain didn't want to I can honestly say I wouldn't be arsed. She is an amazing mum and thats all that matters

scaryteacher, you are just guessing. Why do that?

Ahem - wasn't the OP asking about terminology not about the pros of BF and the cons of FF?

"artificial" - not a very nice sounding word, but it's true, it is an artificial substitute for breastmilk for whatever reason the mother can't BF or chooses not to BF.

"formula" - a meaningless term. True in that it is made to a formula, you could say the same about many food products.

Can anyone come up with something constructive, a term that is correct without sounding derogatory? I think by now we all know BF is the best if you can, and if you are willing to/if your circumstances allow. Powdered-milk-substitute (is that OK??) needs to be available. Home cooking is better nutritionally, but ready meals are there for those who want them. Or do we have to relabel everything - artificial cream (elmlea), artificial butter (flora/margarine), artificial penis (vibrators)....

Er no. My Dad died of oesophagael and stomach cancer and the specialist said that the amount one smoked or drank were the greatest risk factors in getting the former cancer. That's not guessing - that's fact.

I think that's a good one Housemum. Powdered milk substitute.

Well, your dad would not be bf-ing. What is the basis for the other claims you make?

My dad's lack of breastfeeding ability had nothing to do with the fact he got cancer - the fact he smoked like a chimney and was an alcoholic did. Therefore, when an oncologist tells me that the best prevention for / protection against this particular cancer is to not smoke and not to drink to excess, then that is a fact and not guess work.

As for the osteoporosis, again, not one health professional has said to me that bfing will prevent it, but rather the things I mentioned above.

For me, it is academic as I am not going to have any more children and will therefore have to rely on diet, exercise and nutrition to stave off said diseases.

Why should a health professional (who is hardly god BTW) mention bf-ing at all?

It could be because the protective effect of bf-ing is insignificant (as you insist) or because the patient is not a female (like your dad) or because the patient is not obviously of childbearing age or because the health professional does not know or even think of it (very likely) or because sadly bf-ing rates are so low/for such short periods anyway that ff-ing has become the baseline.

I don't give a flying fuck my mum didn't breastfeed me and I would think any adult who became 'sad' they weren't breastfed as a child had too much time on their hands!

But presumably most people who are aware of the difference between breastmilk and formula would rather have been breastfed? It might not be something that preoccupies people, but given the choice, I know which I would choose.

agree, riven

I would not rather have been breastfed, no. I am perfectly happy to have been ffed. It hasn't affected my life in the slightest.

the obesity epidemic is the generation below mine. Mine were almost exclusively bottle fed as are those older than me.
Its the youngsters who are obese.
And I am perfectly happy to have been bottlefed. Really, who cares. My mum did far better keeping us off sweets and at 40 I don't have any fillings.

"I would not rather have been breastfed, no. I am perfectly happy to have been ffed. It hasn't affected my life in the slightest"

What, even if it meant that you had healthier blood pressure, a more aesthetically formed palate and face, and were about 6 IQ points brighter than you are now?

You can't know that not being breastfed hasn't affected you because a) you haven't lived your whole life yet b) even if you had it would be impossible to quantify how being bf (or not) had impacted on your life, unless of course you could go back and live your whole life again as someone who had been breastfed in infancy, and then compare.

"Sabire - perhaps Scaryteachers son will just accept that she didn't bf him and move on like most people do?"

Err, yes - I'm sure he will. What choice does he have?

"TBH Id think someone was very strange if as an adult they wrung their hands over the thought that their mother didnt breastfeed them. Very odd thing to feel sad about IMO"

But then I suppose it depends on the relationship they have/have had with their mother, their health in childhood and adulthood, and their knowledge of the differences between breastfeeding and bottlefeeding. If you think breastfeeding is roughly equivalent to bottlefeeding, and a lifestyle choice above all else then you're not likely to care very much about it, are you?

"A blanket claim that bfing reduces these risks doesn't make explicit how long one would need to bf for before these risks were reduced? A day? A week? 8 weeks?"

Breastfeeding doesn't "reduce" the risk of reproductive cancers. Not breastfeeding increases them - women who don't breastfeed have physiologically abnormal amounts of oestrogen in their bodies because they are not lactating.

And in answer to your question, breastfeeding for a few weeks doesn't make much difference to cancer risk - you really have to breastfeed for as long as your child needs breastmilk, which is at least a year, but preferably longer. I have done 5 years of breastfeeding altogether, which I know won't eliminate my risk of reproductive cancers, but will hopefully have some positive impact on my chances of getting them, which I think is all you can ask for.

sabire Thu 17-Sep-09 15:57:26 Add a message | Report post | Contact poster

" Most of the information that women have on this issue is partial and incomplete."

that depends on where you are in the country

I had my dcs in a town which is very heavily into promoting bf: ante-natal courses very heavily stressed its benefits, midwives all for it, every woman who had given birth was visited at her hospital bedside by a lady who asked how they were going to feed and if they said formula they got the Talk; the midwife/health visitor visited every day to see how baby was latching on; all excellent advice and very knowledgeable; you couldn't possibly not take away the message that breastfeeding was expected of you

bit unfortunate for me, because I took it all on board- and when dd was unable to feed effectively (badly hypotonic) I just refused to listen to the warning signs; because she was breastfed on demand and properly latched on I decided she just couldn't be undernourished, though she plainly was; we ended up in hospital

of course it was my fault, not the health professionals'; the rigid attitude was mine; I just wish someone had prepared me for the fact that the natural way might not always work

just like I've later had to accept that dd often can't walk- no point in saying that she should be able to because it's natural

though come to think of it, I made a pig's ear of that one too: I tortured her for months trying to force her to walk on her sore joints because I couldn't accept that my dd, with her wonderful healthy outdoor-minded hill-walking exercise-conscious family, might not be able to do something as natural and healthy as walk

and I should think it is undeniable that walking is far healthier than sitting in a wheelchair- and that lack of exercise is quite likely to lead to obesity and diabetes and all sorts of nasties

sometimes the healthiest option simply isn't available

and do I feel confident about my "choices"? No, I do not. I feel vulnerable and defensive and sad. Because I always thought dh and I would be beacons of healthy parenting and it's not happening.

Southmum: "Sabire - perhaps Scaryteachers son will just accept that she didn't bf him and move on like most people do?"

Sabire: Err, yes - I'm sure he will. What choice does he have?

Hey you're the one who hinted that Scaryteachers son might feel sad that she didn't bf him when he grew up - see earlier posts, I'd c&P but can't be bothered, plus DS is playing up (bah!)