Price of breastfeeding

[Graciescotland]

It always irks me when people list the benefits of breastfeeding and somewhere near the top is "it's free". Those extra calories (300-500 per day) that your supposed to consume when ebf are not free. I think all things considered I probably spent more on cake extra food than I would of on formula.

I do think there's lots of benefits, DS is nearly 8 months and I'm still BF, I just don't think this is one of them.

it is free, all the things we buy are not essentials. women in 3rd world countries don't buy all the things we do.

I think formula companies actually used this argument to persuade mothers to ff after the war when food was much more scarce and finding an extra 500 calories a day to feed yourself would have been much more difficult.

Happily, we live in a time where cake healthy food is in much more plentiful supply

i dont think i have spent much at all. My food budget is pretty much the same as before, i havent eaten any special foods. I have not got any special bras or tops or pillows or anything really!. Compared to when i was feeding my other children formula which was roughly a tin or just over a week plus needing to replace bottles and teats and more spit up so more washing it is MUCH cheaper to breastfeed.

I definitely eat more when BFing but the extra food seemed to come from largely from cutting down on wasted food rather than buying any more.

e.g. Usually between two of us we wouldn't finish a loaf of bread before it went mouldy, a giant pan full of risotto/pasta would have the last 1-2 portions thrown away after 4-5 days in the fridge, the last bit of any cheese sits there for weeks getting ever harder.

When EBFing I ate all the bread, all the risotto, all the cheese and much less food was wasted in general,

If you're already efficient and frugal with food then I guess this wouldn't work out in the same way.

As pps have mentioned, you don't need to eat the full amount of calories that BFing takes out of you anyway since it can come out of the baby weight most new mums will be carrying.

Feeding a baby isn't free however you do it. The only real cost of B/F-ing is probably in the bras and pads though. I use washable pads so I save some money that way. My boobs went huge (5 sizes bigger) then gradually reduced every few weeks or so meaning I had to buy many different sized bras, but they might have done that anyway even if I hadn't been breastfeeding, so that cost might have been the same. I do eat a lot but always have done 'cos I cycled so much before I had my baby, so the amount of food I eat is probably about the same. It's not free, no, but it must be cheaper than FF.

As a society we like to buy things, mostly unnecessary things! Special breastfeeding pillows, pumps, clothing etc - most of it is a gimmick.

Just shows the power of advertising/capitalism that they can create a market out of nothing

Can I just ask what brand of washable breast pads people use? I bought some from Boots and the experience was akin to putting drinks coasters into my bra.

D'oh - just realised my bad maths confusion. £7-£8 a week plus £2 of cartons is about a tenner a week for formula :(

You'd get those extra calories from a 20p baked potato. And your body stores extra fat during pregnancy to be used up during bfing, so you don't necessarily need to eat 500 kcals of Hotel Chocolat's finest daily. Formula is expensive, esp the convenient cartons.

graciescotland ah, you've reminded me of all the other guff stuff I bought at the start. If I think of everything I bought for breastfeeding it was a Medela pump, steriliser, bottles, nipple shields, breast pads, bras, nursing nighties, brewer's yeast tablets, milk thistle tablets, fenugreek tablets, fennel tea... I was given a manual pump, matching bottles and lansinoh, as well as a 'nursing pillow'. Hmmm, have I forgotten anything else??? I still use the steriliser and bottles of course.

I've just leant a pregnant friend my pumps and bottles - I would hate her to go out and spend a fortune buying all that stuff if a) she doesn't need it anyway! or b) only needs it a short time. It was all sitting in the cupboard...

I wore the same three nursing bras for 14 years. I think they cost £12 each, which is a lot less than my current bras. You have to wear something, so I don't really think it is fair to attribute the cost of bras to breastfeeding.

As for bottles, pumps and sterilisers, these are optional and for many mums, a total waste.

Breast pads aren't necessary either, but offset the sanitary towels you don't have to wear.

The only real cost is in extra food - but carb calories are cheap, and the often it just means that you throw away less food.

I used these wool pads. They were extremely comfortable and formed themselves round the breast much better than the cotton ones I tried (so almost invisible). You only have to wash them once a week once your supply settles down, so great if you're lazy like me.

I ate a bar of Lindt chocolate every day for the first few months bfing. Definitely more expensive than formula, however much that costs. I would say it has been free for the last 16 months or so and it should be cheaper second time round, since I already have the pump, nursing pillow, etc.