Is breast really best?

[sneakypanda90]

Hello all,

About to become a first time mum. For many reasons I've pretty much decided I'll be formula feeding however baby isn't here till the end of September and I still have a pretty open mind to how she's fed changing.

However, in doing some more research just now I've discovered that breastfed babies need vitamin D drops??
Soooo, if 'breast is best' and give the baby everything they need, surely you wouldn't need to supplement?
Do you see my point? I find the information on breast feeding wildly exaggerated and how a little contradictory which just adds to my thoughts of 'whatever' when someone's going on at me about breastfeeding.

Yes it is best for baby not always for mum

Hardly a fact - DH and I are a doctor and an accountant - both have degrees and post grad qualifications. High income / live SW3 and we used formula. That formula produced DC’s who got 1st degrees.

People can claim to be anything on the internet.

I agree, I wish I could have exclusively breatfeed I waste so much money and time on formula and sterilizing and I am pumping too so more sterilizing to do!

I don’t really know how to flame people, but why should it “irk” you? Why do you get to decide whose reason not to breastfeed is valid and whose isn’t?

Yes it really is! It heals wounds, fixed conjunctivitis without antibiotics and I've seen breastfed babies not catch colds that take down the rest of the family. Many friends freeze beastmilk so that after they've stopped breastfeeding they have some on demand for when their children get sick at nursery. It is literally natures magic medicine

Without a doubt breast is best. You can top up vit D but you can’t create maternal immunity. However mums do what they can and if you cannot breast feed your child- then you give formula as that’s the best you can do
in that situation

As a doctor you should know that individuals don't represent statistics

Food is best. Honestly just feed your baby whichever way works for you and the babe. So much angst around this. Just go with what works for you

Well, there is a reason why formula have to state breastfeeding is actually the optimal food for babies... because it is.
And bot only that it is beneficial to YOU too. Reduced your risk of cancers etc so why don't you do some research on that?

And also, breastfeeding is super efficient as in no needing to prep bottles or clean them. No faffing about in the night, no forward planning on what to take out the house. You just need you and your boobs.

The breast is best thing is less about requiring formula feeding mothers to justify their decision / making women who ff feel bad and more about transparency about what is best for babies.

I think a lot of women feel it’s important to be transparent about the fact that breast milk is better than formula Because there are a lot of pressures on breast feeding (formula companies want money, politics does not want to fund support etc). These pressures are social too - dads should be involved and give a bottle, mothers in law want to feed etc. Often other women who for whatever reason didn’t bf, want that choice validated so undermine bf. I had MANY friends do this. One said my bf ing a two year old was ‘icky’. I even had an NHS doctor tell me my baby wasn’t getting anything from breast milk past 1 - in complete contradiction with research on extended bf and the micro biome. So women who experience this sometimes want to defend the truth that breast is best. It isn’t the same as choosing one colour baby grow over another. By breastfeeding, all other things equal, you are providing the best for your baby.

But all other things are not equal. A woman who hasn’t slept for 4 days because her baby is howling with hunger will possibly be a better mother for ff ing than if she carries on trying and trying and trying. Sometimes bf does not work, even when support is there. And that journey can be so traumatising. And there is no need for this as ff ing is a perfectly adequate substitute.

We can actually believe both things - breast is best AND we can’t judge another’s choices or journeys towards formula feeding. Just because we didn’t supply the best nutrition for our babies DOES NOT mean we didn’t do our best by our babies.

Oh wow! You could be on to something! May be everyone should drink human breast milk instead of bloody cows milk then! “Beastmilk!”You say! Luscious!

Ultimately, they all end up eating mini cheddars off the floor 🤦🏽‍♀️🤦🏽‍♀️🤭

Actually when you get to age of 7+ you’d stop drinking milk at all.

Why do you think so many babies and adults struggle to process cow lactose? And if mothers cut it out when breastfeeding it goes away?

Because humans are not meant to drink milk from other animals.

I breastfed both of mine but only 1 got bit d drops. It really, really doesn't matter in the slightest.

They all end up whining for nuggets and chips a few years down the line whatever u do 😁

@Missingmyusername I don’t know if you’ve ever tried it, but breastmilk is the best tasting milk I’ve ever tried … which makes sense if you think about it.

I tried breast. It didn't work. Daughter fed well on formula. Slept and was the only child never ill at nursery with mostly breast fed babies. If you like breast feeding do it. If you don't BF your baby will be fine. Will sleep well and be strong. And you will sleep better and you can share the feeding. I have read that the main advantage is for the first three days. After that not much difference. Again if you enjoy BF and find it easy do it. If not ... enjoy your choice.

Well I hope you don’t have anything leather or fur either because we are not supposed to use skin from other animals 🙄

It is best for babies obviously, this is coming from a mum who formula fed her 1st baby due to lack of support and knowledge about normal newborn behaviour when it came to feeding. Second time armed myself with knowledge to know what to expect and persevered through the rough times. It is not easy especially first few months but it is very rewarding and if you are thinking of how to feed you could give it a go and see how it goes. Formula is an adequate way to feed your baby if it doesn’t work out, my 1st was formula fed and she is nearly 4 and developmentally ahead so I don’t think it has an impact much on intelligence etc but I would say the bonding aspect is huge. No one else doing the feeding makes your bond with baby very very strong. I love my 1st born equally to my 2nd however I felt I bonded with my son a lot quicker and I put this down to him being exclusively breast fed x

Ross…. Is that you.

This!

OP I think BF is worth a try you have nothing to lose and you might be one of the lucky ones whose baby latches immediately with no problems- you'd save so much money apart from anything else!

But if trying and failing to breastfeed is as damaging as it was for me (my baby has tongue tie so poor latch destroyed my nipples, and I was crying wincing and stressed everytime I tried, which also really upset baby) then of course at some point you have to say enough is enough and switch to bottles of pumped or formula milk

Just make your choices and be happy with them.

Breastfeeding is preferable, formula is adequate. No need to try to pretend that there's something lacking about breastfeeding.

It's not only about the milk's composition. I have read that BFing sets the baby's jaws in the optimal way for healthy dentition later in life.

Look. If you don't want to breast feed your baby that's fine. But please don't make up false facts to justify it.
It's less good milk for the baby's health l, it's cows milk designed for cows with bits added to meet the basic needs of human young, but formula milk is an acceptable alternative and you don't need to slag off one to use the other. It's your choice.

It's not best in the sane way as those things at all. Biologically human milk offers a better health than formula milk. But you don't need to justify it by making things up, it's your choice to make.

@SylvanianFrenemies I became a bit obsessed with the history of formula at one point… so interesting! They ve found evidence of ‘baby bottles’ in Roman sites. Women have always struggled to breast feed. Until fairly recently these women would have faced stark choices - if rich they could employ a wet nurse. If poor they had to try and find a substitute (often goat milk or recently condensed milk). IF the baby could handle this substitute, then they still often caught an infection as it was so difficult to maintain the level of cleanliness necessary. Babies very often died. So formula is magic! In my opinion JUST as magic as bf. It keeps babies alive! How magic is that?! But that does not mean that formula is nutritionally equal to breast milk.

I just wish we could be circumspect in this ‘debate’. The whole thing is so loaded! People make ff ing mothers feel like crap, so they lash out at bf mothers. People make bf mothers feel like crap so they ‘judge’ ff ing mothers. It’s nonsense! We are all doing our best. But nothing is gained by denigrating breast milk. We can stop all the nonsense, without having to go so far as to say breast milk and formula are equal.