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.

"But there isn't that much difference. FF babies don't all explode or grow up to be Tories."

No - but they are 5 times more likely to be admitted to hospital with diarrhoea and vomiting, and 3 times more likely to be admitted with a respitory infection within the first year of life.

"But there isn't that much difference."

Well - read the research and make up your own mind. Some people may come to the conclusion that there isn't much of a difference. Other people may read the same research and come to a different conclusion.

We all have our own comfort zones around risk taking behaviours when it comes to our children.

Some people will read the research which says that one third of new cases of type 1 diabetes are caused by ff and think that's a risk they would rather not expose their child to. Other people will read it and think 'type 1 diabetes in children is quite rare and I think the extra risk is insignificant'. It's down to the individual. They don't need to be told by other people that it's not something to worry about - it's their call.

Janni: "I think this thread provides some much needed balance".

Erm, I don't think so. I don't think it proves or disproves a single thing. The studies still say what the studies still say. Nothing on this thread contradicts the studies because the studies don't say 100% or even 50% of ff-ed are doomed to stupidity, high bp, obesity, diabetes etc.

If people need to take comfort from this thread, then I would say that their initial reading of the studies was flawed to begin with.

i agree with jackeybauer, i can see the point of the thread, you do look for comfort where you can find it when bfing isn't working out. except that quite a lot of the ff respondents do seem to have had health problems...

I was FF from the off. I have coeliac, lactose intolerance, a few allergies, eczema and asthma, and my immune system sucks. Hard to say if any or all of these things would have been helped by not being FF. It would be nice not to have coeliac [wistful emoticon, as becster thinks about hot buttered toast] But there it is. My mum had postpartum psychosis, which was misdiagnosed and was given wrong meds for it which caused a long term depression. so BFing wasn't possible for her. I think she's still sad about it as she was so adamant that I wouldn't be able to breastfeed.

DS was BF up to 6 months. He has asthma (but so do I, both my sisters, my Dad & my grandad etc.) but otherwise fit as a butchers dog. He's 21 months.

Oh, and I'm very clever . But DS is cleverer. Runs rings around me, the cunning little blighter.

I was breastfed for six weeks (1966).

My sister was not breastfed at all (1968).

My sister had very severe chest infections and was hospitalised several times in her first year of life. She has very scarred lungs and has suffered from eczema, asthma and allergies all her life. Her growth was probably stunted because of this (she is rather a lot smaller than the rest of the family).

She was determined to breast feed all her children as long as possible to give them the maximum chance to avoid early childhood illness. Her children avoided ENT and chest infections and are so far much healthier than she.

Her experiences also gave me the incentive to breastfeed for as long as possible and to ensure my child avoided ENT and chest infections in early childhood.

My brother and I were both ff, my mum was told that she didn't have enough milk and her boobs weren't big enough and so they gave her pills to dry up her milk . She didn't even question it.

I desperately tried to bf and gave up at 6 weeks and in all honesty, as supportive as my mum was she couldn't understand the heartache I put myself through. She never felt bad for ff because that is what was encouraged then.

oh, sorry, forgot to add. I am perfectly healthy and pretty intelligent.

A bit on the short side but I think that is my genes.

my brother was bf for (i think) 10 weeks then put onto formula. he has mild hayfever.

i was bf for 10 months, have asthma, eczema and hayfever. go figure.

(my big bro is far more intelligent than me too...)

My and my sister were both FF and brought up on fish fingers and we're both very healthy, she's running the london marathon in a couple of weeks, and no allergies, both well educated, etc. I breast fed DS for six weeks and in that time he had dreadful excema which cleared up once he was on formula.

However I think we are definitely exceptions to the rule and I'll still try and breastfeed again if I have another child.

My mum said she took tablets to stop her milk coming (I'd not heard of that before) and chose to FF because she still wanted to be able to go out to the pub for a drink and leave us with someone else. How nice of her!! (we had many a disagreement when I was struggling with breastfeeding DS!)

I don't think my sister's intelligence suffered from not being breastfed - she has a BA from Cambridge, a maîtrise from Paris IV and a PhD from the Courtauld... however, being a weakling certainly taught her how to manipulate everyone around her into taking care of her

Ahem.

Stands on orange box and flourishes loud hailer

BF IS ONLY LINKED TO IQ INCREASES OF AROUND 6%

BEING BREASTFED WOULDN'T MAKE ANY DIFFERENCE TO YOUR CHANCES OF OBTAINING A DEGREE OR BEING JUDGED AS 'CLEVER' BY OTHER PEOPLE OR BY YOURSELF

Please can everyone stop talking about their educational qualifications as though it somehow proves or disproves the claims that IQ is boosted by breastmilk.

It's embarrassing.

Makes you seem a bit.... thick.

Sorry.

Ooops

Back on orange box.

I MEANT 6 IQ POINTS

Which would be even less than 6%

Unless you've got an IQ of less than 100

In which case you wouldn't be reading this because you'd be on Bounty instead!

I don't think that the people who have replied to this are suggesting that their experiences prove anything, nor are they
discounting the research. It is a purely anecdotal discussion to satisfy the OP's curiosity. We cannot deduce or infer anything from this, but then I don't think everyone on here is claiming that we can.

I do understand the research and I understand the flaw of using anecdote as proof, but I am choosing to share my experiences.

I think the talk of degrees is tongue-in-cheek Sabire. A little sign-off to the litany of allergies. Or that's what I was assuming... In my case I need a little 'cheerer upper' after listing all the things that are wrong with me!

On this thread, there is no overwhelming evidence that ff-ed mnetters are fine (loads have health and weight issues) or that bf-ed babies are not.

All it means is that we will just all take on board the posters that validate our worldview of the effects of formula/breastmilk and discount those that don't. If that is what people need to feel good, then go for it.

well my ff big bro has a uni degree and i don't. as does my ff dh. however, that could be seen as a sign of my intelligence as i have a career which i love and i didn't need to get 10k in debt to get it!!

gosh, will go and brush off morning comment re being 'thick' and try to do something more valuable of self worth than getting a degree

I was ff, like a lot of people of my generation in Spain
I am slim, I am healthy, and have accomplished a fair bit academically and professionally.
I do not attribute any of my successes or failures in life to having been FF.
I attribute my good health and fitness to a life-long mediterranean diet and to not having had a car until I moved to the UK and it was absolutely necessary to learn to drive.

I am impressed that this has not kicked off.

The posts are fascinating...

I was BF for 6 weeks at which point my mum was hospitalised for a kidney infection and I was switched to a home-made formula. (Carnation milk with things added for good measure. I ought to ask for the recipe again.)

I am of above average intelligence, educated and was rarely ill as a child with the exception of chronic tonsillitis as a teen. I certainly don't feel disadvantaged. My brother was FF from the outset as he was born with pneumonia and my mum contends that by the time he was discharged from hospital that she could not establish BF with a 2 1/2 year old in tow... His health was disastrous as a child but it sounds as if that pattern was established before the feeding became an issue. My mum suffered horribly with maternal guilt in both instances. She still does.

I BF all four of ours and if it has health benefits for them then I dare not even think about how many weeks I would have spent in hospital!
With DD1 it was a tale of repeated chest infections, chronic sinusitis to mention nothing of her digestive concerns. Every specialist was convinced that this should not happen to a BF baby... She was exclusively BF for 6 months and then fed until 2 years 10 months.

With DS2 it was 3 bouts of serious bacterial infections that required 10 days of IV anti-bs and continued immune concerns. Again an exclusively BF baby (even via the NG tube X4 days) until 6 months.

DS1 and DD2 are very healthy in comparison with their siblings but I am subjected to an endless barrage of comments about how small they are. Tedious and annoying given that I have no control over their size and refuse to even entertain the notion that they did not get enough breast milk or might have thrived more on formula.

Life is a lottery. I am not trying to suggest that anyone should base their decision to BF or FF on anecdotal evidence (mine or anybody else's) but it is interesting to read here that the correlation between a baby's health and BF is not as evident as one might be lead to believe.

If you have made it this far: Thanks for reading.

Sorry for the novel!

I was ff, I don't have asthma or eczema, I don't have any allergies, I have never been admitted to hospital for anything other than Perthes disease(my hip joint) as a child.

I have ff both of my children 15 and 4, they are the same.

I obviously understand that bf is the best possible start for babies, but if you cant or even dont want to, its not the end of the world.

Anyway, mn is a self-selecting group.

You can bet ff-ed thickos won't even be on mn.

I just find this thread so bizarre.

I live in a really poor area and many of my daughters school friends have diets I think are awful - very little fresh fruit and veg, lots of refined carbohydrates, no fish, lots of processed foods and sugar.

There's not one child in her class who doesn't look fit and well - apart from the obligatory fat kid, who ironically comes from a family where they eat fresh, homecooked food (just far too much of it!).

The likelyhood is that almost all those children at 30 will be describing themselves as fit and well. The majority of adults in this country under the age of 40 describe their health as 'good'.

Does any of this make me feel complacent about feeding my children on crap? No - of course it doesn't! Does it make me think - well I can give them a crappy diet and it probably won't make any difference to them because it doesn't seem to have a noticable impact on the lives and health of the adults I know who eat this way? I just don't think that way. I know what will give my children the best chance of good health in childhood and adult life and I'm damn well going to do everything in my power to give it to them. If something stops me from doing this then I wouldn't feel either guilty or complacent - you do your best for your child, that's all you can do.

why do you find it bizarre, sabire? it's just a thread, a straw poll, signifying nothing. like most threads on MN.

"Makes you seem a bit.... thick".

Which makes you look a bit pompous.

PARP!

"correlation between a baby's health and BF is not as evident as one might be lead to believe."

No - exactly.

Oddly enough the health benefits or risks of a lot of behaviours and lifestyle choices are not 'evident' to the individual.

Which is how for years formula manufacturers got away with telling women that formula was as good or better than breastmilk for babies.

And why for years women were told smoking during pregnancy wasn't a problem

And why putting babies to sleep on their fronts was recommended to mothers as a way of helping babies sleep more deeply

And why cigarette companies were able to sell their products as not just harmless to health but positively beneficial

And why eating liver was recommended to women in pregancy as a way of boosting their iron levels

And why mothers were told that feeding their babies on homemade formula consisting of watered down condensed or evaporated milk wouldn't do them any harm at all

Sigh........ If the harm done by any of these practices had been obvious to the individual people wouldn't have carried on doing them for decades, until scientific research showed them to be risky.

This thread is a fascinating demonstration of 'flat earth' mentality.