It WAS very childish of me, but I got a dig in at some Formula companies today......

[VeniVidiVickiQV]

Got sent a market research survey today asking me my opinions on formula milk.

So i gave them.....

A final food (or breastfeed) for thought from Gabrielle Palmer:

"I know that these facts can be painful or even enraging to some women who have not breastfed their children, but the continued denial of the superiority of breastfeeding and breastmilk, supposedly to spare women's feelings, is a patronising deception."

Intelligent quote from a woman who herself formula fed her first child.

Well if I had breastfed it would have harmed my dd so I am very grateful for formula.

I wanted to bf though :(

As a research scientist i have access to thousands of journal articles, and i did a quick search and found this paper \link{http://www.jimronline.net/content/full/2005/65/0635.pdf\formula}. It seems to be reasonably non-biased either way but just addresses a lot of the concerns vioced her as to what exactly formula is made from and what do the different additives do.

i think you should be able to access the link but it might just be because i'm at work that i can.

Koolkat, Ermh, did somebody in this thread said breastmilk was worse than formula? [very confussed emoticon]

It would be much more useful if it named the formulae instead of 1, 1A etc!

LOL - well whoopooo does for your latest quote from that deranged bf fundamentalist. I breastfed my FIRST and bottlefed my second (and thankgod I did - DS1 was hard enough to feed in terms of being hungry - DS2 is just a pig - I'm suprised he's not wider than he is tall ).

And now I'm off to town/park/then cook dinner

as they all breath a huge sigh of relief**

CD - they do at the top of page 607. i thought that too then spotted them!

Quote - LOL - well whoopooo does for your latest quote from that deranged bf fundamentalist. I breastfed my FIRST and bottlefed my second (and thankgod I did - DS1 was hard enough to feed in terms of being hungry - DS2 is just a pig - I'm suprised he's not wider than he is tall ). - Unquote

But breastmilk actually contains more calories than formula and 97% of women can make enough to produce twins so why would formula be better for a hungry baby?

I wasn't arguing lol I was asking a geunine question :)

LOL Lockets!

katz - tip-top link, thanks.

Only two of the formulas listed are available in the UK, though - we could do with a similar independent comparison for UK formulas.

I think Bornberry was just addressing yet another myth. I think it's wrong to re-iterate incorrect old myths which may influence people's decision whether or not to breastfeed, when the myths are wrong.

Everyone's in favour of informed choice.

Anyone got this months Ecologist? HUGE formula piece just landed on my desk, gave me a giggle at how apt.

tiktok - i thought it looked good! i will have another search tomorrow - see if i can find a British equivilent.

I thought breastmilk contained fewer calories than formula.

Sorry, I'm wrong! they are both 20 cals an ounce. It's only formula for prem infants thats higher in calories than BM

Calorie & Fat Content of Human Milk Average Range

Energy 22 kcal/oz 75 kcal/100 mL

Fat (total lipids) 1.2 g/oz 4.2 g/100 mL

References:
Hamosh 1991, p. 118; Jelliffe & Jelliffe 1978; Lawrence 1999, p. 108, 305, 738

Calorie content (kcal per ounce) & Fat content (grams per ounce)

Human milk 22 (average)† 1.2 (average)†
Infant formula 20 1.06
cow milk (whole) 19 1.00

Lawrence RA & Lawrence RM. Breastfeeding: A Guide for the Medical Profession. St. Louis: Mosby, Inc., 1999, p. 305, 738.

Sorry, I'm wrong! they are both 20 cals an ounce. It's only formula for prem infants thats higher in calories than BM

Um no preemie breastmilk contains as many calories as preemie formula. Comparing term breastmilk to preemie formula isn't really comparable is it?

Is it just me? I'm reading that and seeing that breastmilk has more calories than formula (22 versus 20) which makes you right?? I thought you were right about that in the first instance.

Confused? You will be!

further down, a few of you were talking about babies who got eczema/allergy problems when they were fully breast fed

dd was one of these - terrible eczema, signs of allergies, bad reflux and all between being born and around 4 months (and fully fed from me). At 4 months, I went back to work, weaned her on to formula and discovered she had a milk (and soya and egg) allergy. She was put on nutramigen and immediately, her eczema improved and although her reflux didn't go away, there was a small improvement.

I had GPs, HVs all telling me I was completely mad (at the time) but there was no doubt in my mind that she was a far happier baby once I stopped feeding her (must have been my diet)!

snort - I have just realised you were quoting from CM

Too late to bloody change things now as qoq's ds2 is at least 2 so no point arguing about it fgs

PMSL - that brought a smile to my face - he is indeed now two - and certainly has no ill effects from it - I've just had him 'stropping' his way back across the park, stopping every 2 steps to declare (complete with arm gestures) "It's NOT FAIR, want to play on slide"

oh and it would have been better than breastmilk as his brother was literally attacheed almost 24/7 - which was extremely draining for me. I simply couldn't have coped feeding a hungrier baby than DS1.

It is NOT a myth that bm milk contains lots of calories. Also the fats contained in bm are not just for fattening up baby, but crucial to brain cell development.

Bm contains more calories than most solids introduced at 6 months, unless you are giving them chips every day at 6 months !

The point is if you breastfeed on demand, there is no need to worry about a baby's weight. Bf babies put on masses of weight in the first 3 months. They do tend to be leaner than ff babies (in the long run) because it is impossible for a bf baby to over-feed. Bf babies regulate their own intake of milk (if demand fed) and therefore take the calories they require.