Is there actually anything wrong with formula feeding?!

[taffy101]

Don't get me wrong, I am an avid breast feeder (fed dd till 1 and currently feeding ds), but the more I hear about people who bottle feed that their babies sleep through straight away and gain loads of weight, it makes me wonder. I believe WHO have even brought out new weight charts for bf babies, which basically puts their average weight lower than a bottle fed baby's.

I do realise all the benefits of breast feeding but once baby has all vital antibodies and mum+baby are nicely bonded, if formula milk makes for a more contented baby why has it become so demonised?

Hercules1 "Yes, nutritionally it's what is natural rather than best though".

No, you can't get away from the fact that nutritionally it is best (and natural obviously)

With regards to a happy mother being best for a baby - certainly not in terms of nutrition - what about unhappy mothers for whatever reason?

Ds was given a bottle of formula in hospital as they said he was hungry and I knew no better. There is a chance this caused his allergies and rhinitis but I dont feel a jot of guilt either. Angry maybe that they should have known but I have no reason to feel guilty.

Nutrionally it is best but there is soo much more to what is best. If giving some formula enables a depressed woman for what ever reason she is depressed to feel better about herself than I'll pour it myself.

NQC- Its a small world. I keep meeting photographers who are dead jealous of the award he won. Maybe he was breastfed and they were not?

He's certainly very shiny. Margaret Atwood had the hots for him.

Oh, and I totally agree Hercules. I had a crap time breastfeeding, till I realised I was jealous of a mother who had adopted a baby, as she could give formula with no qualms. It made me realise I was getting a bit bonkers about breastfeeding. I relaxed, gave a few bottles, came on mumsnet to rant and got back to mixed feeding, which suited me fine.

Margeret Atwood? Really? How do you know?

its mums who frown on ff mums, not tv or men. when i had ds i was put in a ward with other bf cs mums and 1 mw said "look at her, shes managing, try harder" what i mean is that we are forcefed this conceive naturally (who uses birth control?) glowing earth mother (glow? thats sweat) natural(?) delivery, serene mother and suckling child etc mentality and while bf-ing should be promoted, ff mums are doing ok too

I don't think she's staying up nights about it, but yeah, Margaret Atwood.

I'm Canadian, we just know these things. (No, via the ex of his. Apparently Margaret Atwood had the hots for another recent bf of hers, so they must have the same taste. Go figure.)

But how is "look at her, shes managing, try harder" promoting bf? That's just being shitty for the sake of it, isn't it?

There are lots of people on here who've had bf problems (me included!) but I'll eat my bloody hat if any of them managed it through just trying harder. It's not bloody pole vaulting.

Breastfeeding is really for lazy mums who cant be arsed to get out of bed to sterilse and make up formula, get it to the right temp, wash it up and sterilise it again.

God yes. I've never ff, but the idea makes me come over all faint. The faff! The remembering to bring things with you when you go out! It was all I could do to remember me, the baby, and maybe some nappies.

Lissielou, I had a moment like that, when, after getting ds off tube feeding and being told he could go home, asked if I could get some bf help. The hospital sent me to an ante natal class, where the tutor was lecturing pregnant women on the evils of giving a bottle. I sat quitely, giving ds a bottle of expressed ebm, and endured 20 mintes of questioning -

pregnant woman: why is she giving a bottle?

Tutor: well, she obviously did not bother to breastfeed properly and her ds got ill.

Me; (thinking to myself) wait till you have a baby in this bloody place and they give you no sodding help to breastfeed and send you home with a third degree tear after twelve hours, and the health visitor and midwife refuses to check your latch and your ds starts fighting for his life, and then see if you think a bottle is so **ing evil.

Having to ask a spotty 16 year old to heat it up please but trying to get across to them it shouldnt be scalding hot.

Having gone camping with my sister and her son. Everyone moring she would ahve to traipse to the camp shop to get some milk for him whilst I was snug in my sleeping bag breastfeeding.

actually we tended to send my son on his bike!

I keep my breastfeeding a total secret (my dd is nearly two). None of my friends know. My childless friends think breastfeeding is pretty disgusting full stop, and breastfeeding a child who can walk is just appalling. Nobody ever got thrown out of anywhere or had a bucket of water chucked over them in a shopping centre for bottle feeding. The prejudice against and hatred of breastfeeding is just appalling.

i just dont see that aloha, yes bf women do come in for stick for feeding in public but bf is being promoted now by most stores/cafes/restaurants

It is tolerated by most, yes, thank god. But you still get people moving away from you while saying horrible things, or deranged newspaper columnist writing acres of bile about women breastfeeding in cafes. And that's with tiny babies. Most people feeding older babies don't even try to do it in public.

I dont think it is being promoted by cafes etc. I think the chnages in law etc have been highlighted by the press though.

I agree with Aloha. Once your child gets past a certain age then you make a decision to no longer feed in public due to the reaction you know you will get. Sad but true.

but surely by the same token that ff mums only feel bad coz they know that bf is best you should not feel bad about bfing older kids coz of the publics reaction.

I dont feel bad at all about breastfeeding. Not one bit. But I dont want my child to hear me being shouted at and abuse thrown at us in public when they are old enough to get what is happening.

so, what age do you think is right to stop bf-ing?

When the child or mum wants to.

As someone who had to mix feed I can see both sides of the argument I think. Formula milk can make for a more contented baby if the baby has trouble latching, hates being fed and is always hungry because it can't get enough milk. Breastfeeding is not always more convenient for middle of the night feeds, for example, if you are completely exhausted, your baby grows ten pairs of arms and you find every single feed extremely painful. However, I definitely agree that the ability to use a breast to calm a screaming baby is great, and there's no need to worry about wasting a bottle if you misread your baby's signals.