when i had my last baby a year ago, i honestly thught formula was almost as good as breastmilk

[codhotbod]

didn't realise there was all these risks involved in giving formula, if i had i would of percivered more with the bf.

i bet theeres lots of women that think formulas almost as good.

Hopey, not sure if will help but I exclusivley breastfed and DS2 had 5 perforated eardrums in the first 5 months of his life..
Although some ear infections can be attributed to formula feeding it certainly isn't all of them.. The specialist at the hospital we saw was astounded DS2 was breastfed... it happens..
Sounds like you are doing so well with your daughter and with your DH

my mum used to say she needed three arms per child plus our dad's two, so you must've been really knackered...
i'm glad she's doing well and enjoying weaning, that must help, mustn't it, to keep things in perspective? how's your own health keeping?

I'm doing loads better now thanks Aitch. Reason for low mood today is probably down to PIL visit over weekend, long story but made me revisit the early days when PND was bad. We're struggling on with DH's paralysis, things will get easier I'm sure, we try not to let it affect us if we can help it. He's an amazing man and I'm very proud of him.

Phatmouse, it's to read of how your bf went wrong - why not be angry at the people whose job it was to care for you and to help you make it work? New mothers do panic sometimes (it's in the job description...) and it's horrible to feel judged, too.

Why the snide remark about scabies and ASBOs, though? Who mentioned either?

Well, yes, that is true Pruni

Sabire - i cant believe they banned you for posting facts!!!! Well, unless you posted them repeatedly in the style of moondog

something wrong with moondog's style?

oh nothing......if you dont mind risque thread titles with the words "peddlers" and "junk" in them.....

God that was awful.

Where I live midwives do all the care for women from finding out they're pregnant to 6 weeks after baby. We are big on the BFHI here and even small maternity units are expected to comply with it.

Midwives are responsible to their governing body regarding ther breastfeeding statistics, at 2 weeks and at discharge at 6 weeks. If ff stats are too high they basically get in trouble. The hospitals are all the same - bfing status is recorded at discharge and the hospital is responsible for keeping these rates within BFHI limits.

BFHI is worldwide but clearly not working as well as hoped yet. It's a great initiative but needs time and support. In the meantime women and families have each other on these kind of forums. Its essential that there is honesty from everyone as sometimes this might be the only info people get.

Breastfeeding (or not) has huge implications for everyone involved - good on everyone for talking about it so openly.

"Well, unless you posted them repeatedly in the style of moondog"

Well.... you don't set out to be a broken record but when you have person after person misrepresenting your views ("are you telling me I'm a bad muvva for bottlefeeding - how dare you, you smug cow!") and telling you that you're making things up or scaremongering you feel a moral duty to a) keep explaining yourself and b) verifying your sources.

So yes - you do end up being repetitive!

Something that I thought was interesting: if I referred to research in support of a point someone could be guaranteed to come back with 'you can find any old rubbish to support your case if you just google like mad. Doesn't mean it's true'. I think that's one of the downsides of the internet. Yes - you can access great quality information - but if you don't know how to recognise it then it's all a bit pointless, and actually encourages skepticisim and bigotry. To a woman - there isn't anyone on that board who's aware of which organisations can be truly relied on to provide up to date information on the subject of infant feeding or what constitutes worthwhile research. I was amazed by how many educated women on that board weren't aware that good quality research on infant feeding controls for a social and other factors. Does make you realise how lacking the school science curriculum is....

Well yes....you mention WHO, and they say "WHO?"

No - they say 'but all that advice is only relevent to babies in developing countries!'

To which one is tempted to reply - yes, but ff babies get diarrhoea and vomiting here too(admittedly not in such large numbers), and get admitted to hospital. But hooray - we have antibiotics, drips and good emergency medicine so no harm done! (or no permanent harm done anyway!).

Look you can back anything up using facts
You vest of snipers

spbear

sabire am shocked to read about bounty (v innocent)

I notice on this thread that people keep talking about making up the formula in a certain way... is that because it's better to use powder than the pre-made cartons? I topped up with Cow and Gate at the start and am thinking of going back to topping up again due to unsettled stomach my daughter is continually getting (she's 11 weeks). Changing my diet to have less roughage has helped with her diarrhoea but she is still having greenish stools and I'm not comfortable to let that carry on and HV said another baby she saw had the same situation and it was settled by topping up with formula... Any thoughts?

Message withdrawn

bluegrey - I'm not sure why your dd is having loose/green poo. But I'm not convinced that your HV is right in suggesting that topping up with formula would help.

www.babycentre.co.uk/baby/breastfeeding/greenstools

This has some advice about breastfeeding and green stools.
Am sure someone with more knowledge can advise you.

Is it definitely diarrhoea? BF babies do have loose stools, that can be green from time to time.
FF babies have different poo, and can be more prone to constipation.

As for the making up powdered formula in a certain way, powdered formula is not sterile. The guidelines recommend the powder is added to hot (70') water to kill any harmful bacteria in the powder.

bluegrey, your diet will have had no effect at all on your baby's stools, truly...if you noticed a difference it was co-incidence. There is no way a diet with less roughage in would firm up your baby's stools - not possible!

If your baby has an unsettled stomach, using formula would risk making it worse.
Greenish stools can be normal, and are not worth worrying about in a healthy baby. Your HV sounds very uninformed and unsupportive

Pooka, thanks very much, that link was really useful.

tiktok - perhaps with the exception of milk allergies? The proteins can come through to breastmilk can't they?

VVV - I meant her diet with less roughage in it, not diet in general. In some unusual cases, babies may appear to show symptoms related to mother's diet, true, but not in this case.

Yes, of course. I've read your post again and it responds directly to the roughage thing.

Am v tired. Tis true though that a mothers diet can, in some cases, affect a baby's stools.

I remember giving up BF with Dd2 at 5 weeks, I didn't think about FF being bad, I didn it for my own sanity. With Dd2 I wasn;t going to BF at all. When she was born at 33 weeks I was expressing BM for her and wasn;t going to continue feeding her once out of SCBU, but a lovely nurse encouraged me to try, and I fed her for 5 months. Callum is now 6 months old and still BF after a very tough start at 33 weeks, thanks to the support of MN, I didn't know the risks with the others, I didn't have MN then.

I was worried that my last message didn;t post, because my computer crashed