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?

of course thats noT the only reason i want to BF

"What babies are fed from birth to 6 months matter a helluva lot more than what they are fed for the rest of their lives."

Really? Well as I gave my DD such a crap start in life I might as well give up on all the healthy eating and feed her fruit shoots and sausage rolls. I obviously can't undo the damage I did

"To try to hide that away under pretence that it doesn't matter or exist is patronising to everyone who are interested in what and how babies are fed."

I am not trying to hide it away, I said I found it hard to believe and you don't have time to find me the research, which is fair enough. But why is that patronising and how does it imply I have not interest in what and how many baby is fed?

And for the third time, I do genuinely believe that bf does give your child the best possible start in life. I just don't believe infant nutrition begins and ends with it and having seen no evidence to the contrary I will stick with it.

Ray81 - glad this thread has helped you .

Hey Brett - I have just got back from a morning with Lulubai and her two.
Actually I think feckless and educated perfectly describes everyone I was at university with. Good times. But I digress.

Ray81 - Fantastic stuff. Good luck with the rest of your pregnancy.

I think if anyone had used the term to me when I was recovering from my c/sections both times and dealing with the fact that my attempts to breastfeed were disastrous, then I would have been desperately upset as however accurate it maybe, it does sound cold and clinical with negative connotations.

However a good few years down the line I now don't actually care as it is so outside my day to day concerns that it doesn't feature, though I would be very careful not to use the term to anyone else knowing that I wouldn't have liked it when mine were younger.

did anyone see the programme recently (part of the teenage pregnancy series) where the mum actually thought that formula was dried breastmilk?

Interesting responses! Clearly not just me who finds it a bit irritating (some obviously find it a LOT irrirating!)

I can't read the whole of this thread becuase it's still too painful for me tbh and I'm trying to avoid the bf/ff pages, but this caught my eye.

I think the reason that people tend not to like the term artificial feeding is not because of those particular words but the connotation implied when they are used.

I had to (and am currently having to) ff/af my daughter or she would be dead. Not that I knew this when I was pregnant, so I fully intended to breastfeed- full support of DH, DM etc. When it didn't work out I was utterly devastated, and still am, and honestly the first 3 months of her life were probably the worst of my life.

Anyway, my point is, if I went to have her weighed by the HV and she turned around and asked me (nicely) if I was breastfeeding or artificially feeding I can't say that I'd think anything of it particularly. But that's not the way in which the term is used, is it? Especially not on MN

It is, generally, used in a derogatory and judgy fashion which is bound to get people's backs up. It's all very well saying that you can't censor out the benefits of b/fing in order to make FFers feel better about their 'choices' (or not as the case may be) which I entirely agree with. But there's a huge difference between supporting, normalising, encouraging and congratulating breastfeeders and deliberately attempting to make ffers look/ feel bad and inadequate. Sorry, but that's the context in which terms such as this are mostly used. Not as a simple alternative to bottle/formula.

It would have been nice had my ff ds overfed and gained weight, rather than falling off the bottom of the weight charts because of his VSD.

I chose to ff as I said earlier, because of two friends who were pregnant at the same time as me. All they could talk about was breastfeeding ad nauseum and infinitum and hassle me about it, and was my dh going to be there for the birth. I ff because I felt so pressured to bf by them, and because I knew I could cope with a bottle as I expected to be at home alone after the birth for a while.

Once ds was born (prem) he was in SCBU and thence to transitional care, and was NGtube fed for 10 days, as his sucking reflex hadn't yet kicked in. During that time, no-one offered to show me how to express milk, and when I raised the issue of bf, was told it's much more convenient (and quicker for the nursing staff) if you ff. So, I did.

As he is nearly 14 I obviously haven't damaged him too much, or been a crap mother, and he is finally gaining weight as his VSD closes. The point about having a degree was that educated women can and do choose to ff, just as they bf. You have to do what suits you at that time. I would also point out that this whole debate seems to be cyclical. When dh and I were born in the early to mid 60s, our mums ff us and I understand from my mum that that was the norm. The pendulum seems to have swung the other way, and will doubtless go back again at some stage.

Zippysmum Yes!

Was literally sitting there like this

It's amazing that often on these threads people will say 'Of course everyone knows that breastfeeding is best, no-one is saying otherwise', then you watch something like that and think you live in a different world! Or, quite helpfully, someone will pop along to the thread with a 'what risks?'

I do actually agree with Leonie on the obesity thing. It makes total sense to me really. That's not to say that every ffing mum (me inluded obviously ) force feeds their bottle fed child, and I don't think she's saying that at all. Certainly my ff DD is at the bottom of the charts compared with some of her bouncing breastfed friends, but I can understand that many ff mums may indeed encourage their baby to finish every drop in the bottle.

In fact, I've had to stop myself from doing it a few times when I've thought, Oh I need to go out, if she doesn't eat x amount now, I'll need to feed her in an hour. It must be easy to do. Must be so much nicer and easier to be able to just 'top up' a breastfed baby

I suspect there's also a factor with the formula itself, in the way it lays down fat cells in the body compared to breastmilk, but only time and extensive research will tell.

Zippysmum - I watched that too. It was called "The Problem with Girls". Depressing stuff. I wanted to shake those girls parents. It was nice to see that the little hoodie wearing one seemed to be breaking free though.

"but MANY people do eek that last ounce so asaot to waste it. Usually the kind who prop the bottle up with a blanket and let baby feed him/herself..."

Leonie, who are these FFers who force feed ther babies and let thier babies feed themselves? I have never met any.

But if you don't overfeed and let your baby self-regulate (whcih many of us did/do) then there is surely no difference, based on this factor?

And the same would apply to those mothers that bottlefeed with ebm?

twofalls I think that the risk is greatly reduced for the majority of mums who demand bottle feed formula/ ebm, the same way that the risk of gastro infections in ff babies is greatly reduced if the mum ensures the bottles are washed properly and makes up each feed fresh.

However, it is also thought breastmilk may contain growth factors that inhibit body fat, which is why bf babies put on weight at a different rate to ff ones eg) bf babies tend to put on a large amount of weight quite rapidly in the first 4/5 months, then slow down, while ff babies often do the opposite, ending up slightly (I think half a kilo?) heavier on average by one year. These theories are just theories at the moment though, there's no conclusive evidence.

Like I said, it does make sense to me though looking at when ff became more 'popular' in western society, and looking at coutries that still breastfeed as the norm. Which is partially why I'm BLW, to try and minimise any possible effects.