Bottle feeding = 120 Mars bars by 8 months

[MrsDoolittle]

OOoer

Did someone say mars bars? Yum

I b.feed my dd on demand. She dropped on the weight charts from 95% at birth to 25% by 10 months.
Umming and Ahhing comments from HV's about her weight gain (or lack of it). It stressed me out, but everytime I thought about formula feeding I decided against it, only because I was so adamant that dd should be getting all the nutrition she needed.
Now the HV's seem to have come to my way of thinking. They're happy with dd's weight.
She eats when she is hungry, same with drink - when she is at the CMs it may take her 4 hours to drink 4oz milk, she just bits and bobs.

I appreciate what the article is saying, but there are still a lot to say for genetics. I have an older sister who has the same mum and dad as me, and a younger sister who has a different dad. my older sister and I are the same height, build and roughly the same weight. the younger one is skinny. We eat the same - she gets to eat like a horse and gets away with it. I look at chocolate and put on a stone. We were also all formula fed.

Is my dd on the smaller weight side of the chart due to the fact that she is breast fed, or due to the fact she takes after her dad?

I have breast fed all my babes and they have all been very different builds and weights.
The latest is different again. Sheis a big fat stonking thing. The HV kept telling me that she wouldn't stay that big because I was small. Well now she's 8 months, she loves her bottles and picks at bits of food here and there. She has moved down very slightly from her original centile line, but she's still v. big. So what? what matters is that your baby is healthy and happy and so are you. Genes play a HUGE part in the size of your child.

All babys will grow at there own rate when fed on demand, ds was putting on 1\2 to 1lb a week till about 10 weeks, he has slowed down to about 4oz a week.

FFS!!!!
Another speculation!
It is very simple really, it is called the jet engine principal. What goes in must be burned off!
Schools should re-introduce sports and phys ed again! My baby, 9 months, was very fat until he started crawling. He is now cruising and his development puts him on a 91st percentile weight and 98 percentile height! He was so fat before he started moving he filled a bathring chocablock!

LOL at the mars bar. Why not lamb chops, orange and almond cakes, or deep-baked lentil and pumpkin rissoles?

Good article but red herring of mars bar thrown in to raise hackles and get everyone off the point. Usual counter-productive approach from journalist.

so.. dp was bottle fed from birth... he's now 6ft5 and weighs 12 stone, i dread to think what he would have been if not bottle fed, he'd be even skinnier according to that pathetic article... why can't we make our own decisions for our own children without some person trying to emotionally blackmail us, which is what i feel that article is trying to do in todays current climate of media hype and obesity... ooh makes me mad!!1

I agree, why compare formula milk to mars bars FGS!!
Both of my boys were bottle fed & neither of them were chubby babies at all, & they are both slim children. I certainly would never have forced my babies to finish off their bottles either! What tripe!!

The mars bar comment is ridiculous and is a lazy way for the journalist to generate a headline. I agree wholeheartedly that any link between formula feeding and childhood obesity should be publicised, parents need as much info as possible when deciding how to feed their baby, but I wonder how robust the evidence is? I totally take the point that breastmilk alters according to the baby's needs whereas formula doesn't but I still think that there are likely to be far bigger factors influencing childhood obesity.

Another lets blame the parents article! Are these people sponsored by coca cola and mcdonalds, they're just trying to tip the responsibility away from these super powerful corporations who employ teams of child psychologists to work out the best way of getting a child to nag it's parents into buying a fizzy drink, burger, chocolate bar...

Childhood obesity is a really complex issue BUT imo if those sorts of food weren't there/weren't marketed as they are, it wouldn't be half as big a problem as it is. Blaming formula is ludicrous - childhood obesity is a relatively recent problem compared to the length of time formula has bee used for.

rant rant rant I hate corporations ran rant - sorry!

liquidclocks, formula is produced by some pretty huge and powerful corporations too.
Nestle for example.

As if I'd buy nestle.

Believe me, if I could have bought formula from my local farm shop (and been sure of it's quality etc) I would have. However I had to FF or DS would have died - unless there are a surplus of BF mum's out there who could do one extra?

erm, sorry I am not sure what you are reacting to there. nothing in my actual post I don't think.
I was just pointing out that your statement that the article is on the side of the big corporations doesn't eally hold water does it? it is very anti formula and pro breastmilk which is hardly a pro corporate/por capitalist stance.
and yes milk banking / wet nursing / openness about the content of formula might be more of a priority if it wasn't for the corporate might of the formula industry.

I think the article makes perfect sense. It is a shame it is not referenced (as a lawyer I find that quite objectionable !) as she would be so much more convincing if it were. However, there is loads of stuff on this on scientific-based and well-referenced websites (LLL and kellymom to name just a few), so I won't blame her for saying it quite bravely in a Guardian article knowing full well that she would eventually get a bollocking for it from mumsnet posters !

liquid - if parents won't or can't take responsibility for how, when, what their child is fed from birth, who should ? Yes, we can blame the schools to some extent, but even then I think it would be quite unfair to put the responsibility on anyone other than the parents for how a child is fed. Children spend the vast majority of their time with their parents (well unless they have a full-time nanny or are at bording school) so who else should be responsible ? I remember my mum making healthy pack lunches for me every single day when I was at school to make sure I didn't eat the junk offered at school. She even made me pack lunches for my school trips rather than get me eat the pack lunches made by the school. Healthy eating starts at home.

Don't see how she's being brave, yellowrose. Seems to be the whole point of the article is to be provocative, cause a stir and get her name bandied about.

And as it's not referenced, it's worthless. I've no idea what truth there is behind it. Sloppy and lazy.

WHilst I agree generally YR, (and note that I havent read the whole of the thread), i think that "choosing" what type of formula for a baby is pretty much like fumbling around in the dark,and then taking a wild stab. I think the companies that make this stuff are answerable. When a baby/child gets to the point where they start on solids, well, thats a different matter IMO.

have to agree with yellowrose - have never understood formula why reinvent the wheel? Without wanting too upset ff mums i do strongly feel that Breastmilk should be the norm with good quality alternatives provided for those that require them. I don't know why mothers are so hard on each other about these issues when it is 'professional' advice often contradictory and patronising 90% of the time that leaves us so uncertain of our own bodies abilities to birth without medical intervention and feed our children naturally. i am far to lazy to spend my time setrilising and making up feeds anyway! I do think that a sedentary lifestyle has more to do with later obesity though!

pointy - I think she is brave for saying something that people seem to find so controversial.

VVV - I agree that choosing formula must be tricky AND I hate the multi-million pound businesses like Nestle that flog the stuff through vlever marekting.

But that is like saying that commercials are to blame for babies/toddlers becoming unhealthy/fat.

As parents we have responsibility for finding out what breastmilk and formula milk are composed of. Why give a baby/child milk or food when you are unsure of its contents ?

pointy - I think she is brave for saying something that people seem to find so controversial.

VVV - I agree that choosing formula must be tricky AND I hate the multi-million pound businesses like Nestle that flog the stuff through vlever marekting.

But that is like saying that commercials are to blame for babies/toddlers becoming unhealthy/fat.

As parents we have responsibility for finding out what breastmilk and formula milk are composed of. Why give a baby/child milk or food when you are unsure of its contents ?

sorry for double post !

But journalists often like being controversial, like stirring it to make a name for themselves so that's why I think there is absoluitely no bravery in it whatsoever. Any journo using such shock vocab is not being brave.

I think the thing most likely to upset guardian readers about this is the use of 'mars bars', not the fact that breastfeeding is better than formula.

And she's not saying that formula is crap at all.

She's saying formula has to have a constant amount of fat in it as it's man-made and that because some people insist on a baby finishing a bottle, the baby gets too many calories.

jellybrain - I agree with your view of lazy lifestyles theory ! I think toddlers and older children may also get fat due to lack of excercise, not just the kind of milk/food they have. Equally, in the old days when formula and junk foods were not available PLUS both children and adults did not spend so much of their time sitting on their bums, they were leaner ! So say the historians.

But pointy - she is not the only jorno in the world to say that formula feeding CAN lead to fatter or unhealthier babies/children/adults. Many non-jorno's say it too, including the WHO and UNICEF. In fact her theory is backed up by some pretty solid research.