Read this shocking article about the damaging effects of formula and the immoral practices of the companies who peddle this junk.

[moondog]

From The Ecologist magazine.

Here.....

Grim reading.

First ever PARP...

Obviously there are no rules as to when (if ever) you must return to a thread, but as this one is within the confines of one of (if not the) most heatedly debated issues on MN I am just rather surprised that the OP hasn't returned to "the scene of the crime" so to speak.

Maybe she's eating a pot noodle in front of the telly?

PMSL @ 'scene of the crime'.

I like this thread title. It has a certain energy and robustness about it which I find invigorating, like most of Moondog's sallies into the food area.

Having said that, I guess the problem with this robust approach is that lots of people have just waded into the thread to argue about the title, rather than reading the article, which really is very good and worth a read, zac goldsmith or not.

Apropos Zac, maybe he's a prat (I don't know) but he has got to be better than his late father, surely?

She's probably out, abseiling into the Nestle boardroom or similar

You still in trouble for saying "moondog" in your sleep, Franny?

look, who was the article's title supposed to attract?

If it was for women who are swithering about whether to try breastfeeding or not, then this hooh-hah is unlikely to have helped them make a positive decision to breastfeed.

if it was for already breastfeeding mothers then congratulations, you are all doing the right thing by your children. but if you've ever posted on mumsnet/been to a doctors' surgery/hospital/read a book, you knew that already.

if it was for women who for whatever reason are bottle feeding then judging by the responses moondog has upset a great deal of them. and by upset i don't mean made angry (at least in my case). i mean 'made close to tears, made to feel sick etc etc'. don't know why i have such a visceral reaction to being told i am giving my seven-monht-old baby 'junk', but i do.

Gad, breast is best, it really is. and the companies who sell it, peddle it, if you must, employ outrageous tactics to do so and make more money for their shareholders. it is a disgrace, i'm sure.

but if you can't breastfeed (and i tried, i REALLY tried) then you can't just move your children onto fruit shoots and sausage rolls immediately, you have to give them something else. and all that we can do currently is give them formula.

If moondog had written something like squarer's suggestion of "Please read this article about formula feeding and its potential negative effects on health" then i would have been able to pass over without reading it. many more people, i suspec, would have read the article and crucially, the as-yet-undecided would in all likelood have been able to read it without all this attendant fuss and would hopefully have come to the decision to breastfeed.

i understand that it is important to have this information out there (and on mumsnet) but i can't breastfeed and likely never will be able to, so i wouldn't want to give myself the grief of reading it. it was a grief that i was not spared by the thread title, and i could have done without it, frankly.

i don't feel guilty about giving my baby formula, i feel sad. i don't want censorship (if i did i wouldn't come here) but a degree of sensitivity wouldn't go amiss.

She'll be leaving a card on the Nestle MD's desk saying 'All because the lady loves BreastMilkTray'.

That was Boris, NQC

I haven't got a new lover, or a crush on moondog. Pity, really.

I really don't think the article is about individual women's choices, anyway. It's certainly not aimed at pregnant women thinking about baby nutrition.

Boris said "moondog"? Or you said "boris"? Or both?

giving my dd3 a bottle of fruit shoot is junk. someone giving a toddler of the same age a bottle of formula is not giving junk.

Back after dinner, which was yummy, to say loving your post aitch .

LOL, Boris said "Moondog" at an inappropriate moment, I believe

I know you know that and are just being frisky, NQC, but I wanted to leave no shadow of a doubt about that in any lurkers' minds

Yes aitch that was a good post. I'm sorry my flippant one came straight after it.

yeah, NQC, i read that back and realised i meant to say 'thread title', not 'article title'.
i understand what the aticle was about, and i know i would've been interested in it when i was pregnant and desperate to get my hands on any breastfeeding info.
but i hope that even then i would have realised that the title of the thread was insensitive towards people for whom breastfeeding was not an option.

both my dds loved their aptamil with a vengeance.

This thread is like soooo many other MN threads where mums who bf for about 3 years castigate those other mums who cannot or do not do the same. Full of smugness and superiority.

The fact that moondog has not posted anything since the OP proves that her intention was to upset and annoy people.

How pathetic and boring.

Anyway, going to mix up soeme more aptamil now.

ahem whose being aggressive Franny? I was merely interested (purely from an academic pov) ) as to how people can use the opposite argument in different circumstances. I find that interesting- its something people will often do when arguiing about the same topic for example, we all do it. I also thought that her previous words summarised exactly how I felt about this thread, and therefore were appropriate to repeat. Therein lies the interest.

I apologise most profusely and profoundly if I have come across as aggressive or as singling out greenseleeves to go head to head. I didn't for one minute think she would worry about having a difference of opinion, but if she does, then I apolgise.

I still think this thread title could be described as adversarial.

Other than that I feared that this thread could leaving people feeling as aitch describes. She has expressed the concerns extremely well. Can't really add to it.

I;ve spent over 3 and half years of my life breastfeeding incidentally, which I suspect is more than many of the militant breastfeeders. I still think threads like this are utterly unecessary and do nothing to help people breastfeed.

misdee- you're not still beating yourself up about the bloody FS are you? Don't. I've said it before, I'll say it again - you have FAR more important things to worry about. xx

I've read the article and the thread.

I think there are lots of valid points in both.

I think Moondog must have gone out or be otherwise engaged.

Other than that - there's no point trying to have a sensible discussion on this thread because too many people have got cross.

I'd like to ask those of you who haven't already to complain to the BBC for implying that breastfeeding killed this baby girl when nothing of the sort happened. Thread is here, together with link to the story...

i am now a militant b/feeder, but have only managed 21months in total so far (17months just for dd3).

formula was advised by the HV for dd1 as she was very slow to gain, and became dehydrated. as a first time mum with PND who was i to argue. dd1 picked up, but then she her eczema got worse, allergies, hayfever, asthma etc. dd1 is my most atopic child. now dd1 wont react to cows milk, (i dont think i could get formula down her at age 6 now to test this out), but does react to real junk food.

no jimjams, not beating myself up over a FS. just pointing out that FS is junk, formula isnt

Well yes, you've got a point , but be kind to yourself!

(Ds1 went to respite on Sun so we went to McD's - dh bought ds2 a fs, I obviously thought of Mnet- fruitshoot & McD's- 3rd time in ds2's life- so shoot me )