Were you formula fed as a baby?

[Janni]

Do you believe you would be healthier or more intelligent had you been breastfed?

Do you believe you were disadvantaged in any other way by being formula fed?

I was not breastfed.

I breastfed my own children for 20 months.

I realise though that I do not feel in any way disadvantaged for not having been breastfed myself.

I just wondered how others felt.

I was breastfed for the first year, was not exposed to smoking at all and still ended up with childhood allergies and asthma and eczema right through to adult hood.

I am one of those mums who did not produce enough milk to bf my son so had to change onto formula after a few short days, he has never been ill other than the normal coughs and colds, is above average height for his age and although only 3 appears to be a very clued on intelligent little boy. I cannot see any reason to think that him being formula fed has affected him in any way.

Having said that now preparing for number 2 I am doing everything possible to try and ensure I will be able to bf but if not I will change to formula and not feel the guilt I did with my son.

Although I do think that where possible it is adventageous to bf I do think there is too much of a stigma attached. At times I was treated terribly and looked down on by other mums who did not even know me because my son was ff.

I was BF until around 4 months when my Mum decided to stop as she claims she had 'too much milk' and it was spurting over me during feeds and I was practically choking. I think she regrets it a lot, but in the 70's she did not feel she could do anything else. She had not even tried expressing and HV ws not very helpful. My older sister was BF until 6 months. My sister and I both BF our children, both were lucky enough to have plenty of milk. I bf my DS for around 14 months (exclusively for 12 months) and was glad to have the beautiful bonding experience of BF since I felt I was 'cheated' out of a natural delivery.

Forgot to mention we have no allergies in our family except hayfever.

I was bottle bed as a child, as were my elder and younger sisters.
Somebody further down the thread mentioned a link to obesity/weight issues in ff children, me and my elder sister are overweight, my younger sister is very slim, I think that is genetic due to us having a different biological father.
My elder sister is A level educated, I studied for my A levels but my granddad died during my A levels and I took it really hard, and lost some of my drive. I didn't go to Uni, I managed to swing the "deferral year" which I'd convinced my parents to let me have into a year at Open Uni and then eventually stopping. I still do not know what course I would do if I went to Uni. I am now studying to be an accountant and doing quite well.
I do not feel at a disadvantage for being ff - it was a common thing when I was a baby.
I b/fed my own little girl for 18mths and feel very proud of myself.

I was bottle fed. I have had no serious ailments except appendix removed (childhood) and tonsils removed (adulthood). I have only been sick through stomach upset on 2 occasions in 33 years. I could have done better at school/ university, however, my laziness prevented me, not being bottle fed! I don't feel I was disadvantaged at all.
Have 9 GCSE's grade c and above, 2 A levels and a nursing diploma, lots of language qualifications and various random ones like flight nursing. I am not unintelligent, just lacking motivation

I bf dd1 for 6 wks due to having a poor supply, lack of good advice etc. This may have been different if my mother had bf myself and my brother. She could have given me the support IYSWIM.
I am currently 2.5 wks into bf dd2 and it is going really well. Good supply and a baby who feeds well. However, if things were not going well I would have no guilt in changing to ff.

I forgot to say as well that neither myself or brother has/had eczema or asthma/ allergies.

I think something needs to be clarified here as there are a lot of "I was bf but still had asthma/excema/allergies." statements.

Breastfeeding doesn't stop these things happening, but formula feeding makes them more likely to happen, and when they do happen they will generally be more severe. Cows milk is a very common alergen, 1 in 5 babies will be sensitive to it to some degree or another, ranging from mild excema right through chronic reflux and green blood stained mucousy poos to anaphalaxis at the extreme end of the scale.

So, if you were bf and still had excema, then chances are you would have had much worse excema if you'd been ff, and if you were ff and had no obvious health problems, lucky you, but this doesn't mean that ff carries no risks.

Let's not forget that bf is the biological norm; parenting.ivillage.com/tp/tpweaning/0,,40lb,00.html as explained by Katherine Dettwyler

Sorry I don't think this is necessarily true.

Eczema is often hereditary and triggered by exposure to things such as chemicals and stress. Eczema runs in our family on both the formula fed (mothers side) and breast fed(fathers side). I who was ff have it mildly now and again, my father who was exclusively breast fed for a long time has far more sensitive skin than myself, he can't even use the Ecover powder I use to wash his clothes in. My mother who was formula fed like me has never had it.

We have the same genes but how we fed early on clearly had no impact on the severity. We can't be the only ones.

I have 3 children all ff, 1 had mild eczema (which flairs up mildly on his wrists if he washes with the wrong kind of soap) the other 2 never had it. Clearly they all have the genes but formula did not make it more likely to happen or more severe. If that was the case they'd have all had it and one severely. I know breast fed children who have it far more severely than my son ever had it.

Incidentally both my father and I both also have incredibly low blood pressure, again it must be due to genes and our currant healthy balanced diets and not due to how we were fed early on.

We're also both slim and resonably intelligent, again this must be due to genes and the normal, healthy balanced diet we both follow not due to how we were fed early on.

This is an interesting thread and I'm not trying to be confrontational. I'd just hate for any mums who are ff to be frightened unnecessarily by some of the wording in the post above as clearly they don't need to be. Feeding your child formula is not playing Russian roulette with their health which is the impression I feel some are trying to create. If they're brought up to follow an active healthy lifestyle than chances are they'll grow up to be a healthy adult however they were fed in the early months.

this is an interesting thread!

Me, and my brother; exclusively BF
Me: pretty darn healthy, thank goodness but do have hayfever
My Bro: Endless bronchitis as a child, also VERY bad hayfever and diagnosed with asthma as an adult
My DS: FF (not my choice, was ill after traumatic delivery) however, no allergies, no illness so far to speak of

greenmonkies, I don't think there can be any scientific evidence for what you say - can there? How do you prove that someone 'would' have had excema or whatever worse if they had been FF?

I think the health benefits/risks are just that; risks. In other words they will statistically apply to some and not at all to others.

And I am very, very pro breastfeeding BTW, I don't say this from any desire to say FF is as good. Just raising that specific point about proof for what you say.

When I say I'm reasonably intelligent I should just add that doesn't include spelling which has clearly gone out the window since having dc

" Feeding your child formula is not playing Russian roulette with their health which is the impression I feel some are trying to create."

Actually that's exactly what you are doing, there is a huge amount of scientific, well researched evidence out there that shows that it is. Many of the health risks associated with formula don't manifest until later life, so just because your baby appears to be thriving as an infant does not mean they won't have health issues in the future that are a result of thier feeding method in infancy. Further more, formula manufacturing is not as regulated as most people presume, every batch is different and the exact ingredients change according to what is currently cheapest. Formula is reglarly recalled for contamination and the powdered variety is not sterile and often contains lots of bacteria. Formula feeding is a gamble, it does have risks and to say otherwise is misleading and misinformed.

I'm sorry if you find the truth unpleasant, but that doesn't stop it being the truth.

The most common excema trigger is cows milk.........

Sorry but you are totally wrong.

You need to go to The National Eczema Society and also www.dermatology.co.uk to read up on this subject as you are giving out incorrect information. The information you will read on there is the same as I received from my GP regarding my son.

There are various types of eczema and also causes. These range from hereditary causes to irritants such as chemicals and blood circulatory problems.

Many mothers with kids suffering from eczema worry that it is something they have done-it isn't.

There are only a few skin conditions that can be said to be caused by diet and eczema is NOT one of them. I was told this by several doctors and it is stated online in several reliable places notably www.dermatology.co.uk. Also in actual fact a true allergy to dairy is rare.

Your previous paragraph is inflammatory and is written in a way to scare people, I have no idea why. Please try and remember it's cow's milk for goodness sake,the vast majority of us drink and eat it all our lives!!!!!!! I seemed to have missed reading about the millions of babies seriously ill and hospitalised (or worse) in this country because their mothers took a terrible gamble with their lives and fed them formula. I haven't seen any government health warnings written on tins either other than needing to follow instructions properly.

My family has formula fed for generations with absolutely no health problems as have most other families. So sorry formula feeding is not a gamble as you would need to have a high level of risk involved-there isn't. If you follow the instructions properly re formula and bottle feeding it is a perfectly good and safe alternative to breast feeding to say otherwise is misleading and misinformed.

greenmonkies I admire your advocacy of BF but I do think you need to check your information

What about the evidence for your assertion that you will have excema, etc, worse if you are ff, than you would have if you bf? Can you link to it?

I was 'compliment fed' with formula against my mum's wishes in hospital ('Please don't give my baby formula.' 'We're doctors! Do you think you know better than us?') It was what they did at the time. She tried to bf me for about 6 weeks but gave up and formula fed in the end as it wasn't working out.

I went on to have a milk allergy (or intolerance?) and be really hyperactive, reacting to E numbers etc. Other than this I was healthy - I think I went to the doctor about 3 times before the age of 16!

I am a healthy, intelligent adult and I don't know if it would have made a difference if bf had worked out for my mum.

"I seemed to have missed reading about the millions of babies seriously ill and hospitalised (or worse) in this country because their mothers took a terrible gamble with their lives and fed them formula. I haven't seen any government health warnings written on tins either other than needing to follow instructions properly."

It costs the NHS £35 million a year to treat formula fed babies with gasteroenteritis, I could reel off hundreds of stats like this, but I am fairly sure, by the sounds of it, that you would simply choose to disbelieve them. The Govt is re-writing the legislation regarding what can and can't be written on formula tins, many organisations call for a proper health warning, but the formula manufacturers won't go along with it.

www.theecologist.org/archive_detail.asp?content_id=586
mamadearest.ca/en/info/risk_and_costs.htm
www.breastfeedingtaskforla.org/ABMRisks.htm
www.kellymom.com/nutrition/milk/infant-formula.html
www.salon.com/mwt/feature/1999/07/19/formula/
parenting.ivillage.com/baby/bbreastfeed/0,,7sbj,00.html

Try doing googling it.

and the other evidence for your assertions re: having things 'worse' if you are FF?

Sorry I don't consider sites such as Kellymum and Mamadearest as reliable sources of information. They contain articals that are simply opinions.

I take my advice regarding my kids health and what I feed them from my GP who has yet to tell me that I risked my kids health by feeding them formula.

And the eczema?

[http://www.bupa.co.uk/health_information/asp/direct_news/general_health/breastfeeding_280706.asp eczema]]

oops

here

For BF here

If it doesn't work this time I'm going to cry.

Eczema.

I was soy formula fed (BF impossible, allergy to milk). I'm bright enough (honestly, I can usually do links) and my asthma and eczema were probably more to do with family history and other health issues.

The one problem I do have is v. heavy painful periods, not experienced by my mother or sister. This is now a recognised risk for soy FF baby girls. At the time it was the best option and they didn't know the possible side effects

DS still breastfed at 21 mths has eczema. DD ff from 4 mths, no eczema. I was breastfed until 9 mths but also weaned on raw egg at 3 mths - did this counteract the benefits? I am the picture of health - zero allergies, but struggle with my weight and have ADHD

girlfrommars, that's useful; thanks. Again of course it is talking about RISK, as in, statistically will apply to some, and not at all to others

It's certainly not saying that if you are BF you will not have excema as badly as if you are FF

Can you link to any facts on that greenmonkies? Asking for the final time as you don't seem to be seeing my posts