Out of interest, how many of us have children that have never ever even tasted formula?

[welliemum]

I'm interested because you hear so many people saying "I plan to breastfeed for X time and then introduce a bottle" as if it was an inevitable fact that all children need to graduate to formula sooner or later.

And then there are loads of people who breastfeed but give bottles from time to time.

The formula companies must be laughing all the way to the bank, because they're selling formula not only to people who can't breastfeed or choose not to, but also to (I suspect) the majority of breastfeeders.

So, how many 100% breastfed children are out there?

My dd1 (now 3) had some formula top-ups between about 8 and 10 weeks, so she doesn't "qualify".

dd2 (coming up for 2 years) has never had formula. Is this as unusual as I think it is?

Me

ds1 had a couple of ff's - when he was very young and dh thought he was helping by letting me sleep and when he was nearly 6m and I had to go away for work and couldn't get back at lunch to do his normal feed.

ds2 has never had formula (15m).

But isn't formula made from components of cow's milk anyway? I guess their marketeers aren't doing a great job with me because I don't know what makes it different from cow's milk that you buy in a shop apart from extra iron (and expense of course!). If my eight month old is eating virtually the same diet as her four year old sister, which she did today, why does she need formula? Maybe it's a catch all for babies who don't eat much solids, but if that is the case, maybe nutrition should be individualised a bit more. Now there's a nice job for the health visitors! I suppose I feel quite strongly about it because I went through months and months of tedium and frustration all round trying to get DD2 to take a bottle which she eventually did, but I only really gave up bf a couple of weeks ago (she's now 8 months) and now she eats three meals and two snacks a day, plenty of cheese, yoghurt, red meat for iron, so I think the formula is a bit of a con. Sorry I have hijacked the thread a bit, but I think it's all related.

Exclusively breastfeed for 7 months and then breastfeed and started baby lead weaning...no formula used yet and dd is nearly 9 months...my friends think I'm mad still bf

DD - breastfed exclusively until 5 months, than introduced to food. Only had formula when stupid nurse in the hospital suggest she would die without it! because she was a slow learner.

DS - nevr had a drop of formula.

Mrs. Shackleton, it might have nothing to do with breastfeeding you could have hyperthyroidism or some other problem. Why not go and get checked out just in case???

DD 12 months, nip only. Bought some one day after a painful day feeding in early stages but never got to open it.

DD (21 months) has never had a drop of formula and has never even had expressed milk-it all been breastmilk straight from the source (and still is except from goats milk on cereal and a couple of cups of goats milk when mil looked after her) I never had a reason to give it to her so never have, after a very tricky start its made it even more special. Long thread so will try and read it all now.
It does appear that people think they should give formula at least at some point luckily i was too determined and lazy to try formula

This thread is so interesting to me, because here are loads and loads of children who've never had formula - yet in real life the parents around me seem to just take it for granted that you must give formula sooner or later.

The contrast is even more suprising because I'm in NZ where breastfeeding rates are higher than the UK and there's a much more encouraging attitude to bf generally.

Anyway, I feel like less of a freak with 3 heads now

I know what you mean welliemum-i don't know of anyone that hasn't used formula at some point. Really is shocking because if you have breastfeeding well established there really is no need at all-but people think there is-and i find that quite scary
a friend in rl has tried to make me feel like a freak for never giving dd formula and more recently because I am 'STILL' feeding her at 21 months-according to her I'm really crazy-but to be honest I really don't care what her or anyone else think its for dd and me to decide and we are very happy indeed with our decision I feel in no way that I am missing out by not giving formula and still bf!!!

ive nt read the whole of this thread , just last few posts....going to read it all now. Seems very relevant right now, my ds is 12 wks old and for the first time today i have given him his first ever taste of formula. I was desperate and felt very bad about doing so. Always thought i would " exclusively breastfeed" until 6 mths and feel so guilty. Really dont want to do it again, didnt feel right looking at him with the bottle in his mouth.

have now read thread. Feel even worse about giving ds a formula feed

pussycatmomma, don't feel bad, it's hard to know what is the right way to go with all these decisions.

If bottle feeding seems wrong to you and you don't want to carry on, how about starting a new thread and asking for advice? There are some really wise and knowledgeable people here, and maybe they can think of ways for you to keep breastfeeding if that's what you'd like to do.

welliemum = I absolutley do not want to give up breastfeeding. I am happy to continue doing so for as long as i can, but i bought some formula in tiny cartons the other day in the hope of trying to get ds to sleep loner at night time. i have heard so many bloody women at baby group telling me how their dc's (younger than mine i might add) sleep through the night and all of them either exlusively formula feed or give a formula top up as the last feed. Id got these little cartons in and today he was having screaming abdabs this afternoon and wouldnt feed, so i thought id try him on a bottle ( would normally give ebm) but gave him the little carton of aptimil. He loved it . I dont want to give up breastfeeding but so need him to sleep. I have been considering starting a thread but i never seem to get the time to come on and converse on mn anymore. Today is a rarity.
xxxxxx

DS2 only ever had formula to make up breakfast cereal once he got a bit older. He was exclusively breastfed until 6 month or so when we started to try him with solids. He was almost 8 months before he decided he liked that game, though. He's 2 this week and still nurses about 3 times a day.

I was very ill after having DS1, so he ended up combination fed from being a week old.

this thread is awful

DD never.

ds1 mixed feed
ds2 not a drop

I gave ds (now 3.5yo) a tatse or two of formula when he was 5-6m he never drank more than a sip never took to bottles even with expressed breast milk so I stopped trying and continued to breastfeed til he was 22m - that meant feeding through pregnancy and tandem feeding for a short time.

DD is still feeding at 2 and she has never tried formula.

I feel no judgement towards bottle feeding - it is a choice a woman has to make and sometimes there is no choice. I am sad that formula is considered the norm and breastfeeding a bit strange past 6months - as I don't feel comfortable feeding dd in public I may never have bothered to try ds with formula if I hadn't felt the social pressure that giving formula is 'what you do' when baby is 6mo.

pussycat, those women are quite possibly lying. Nothing more competitive than sleeping through, which seems to be seen as some magical barometer of Coping. It is actually not physiologically normal - or indeed, arguably, sensible - for a 12-week baby to be sleeping through. I know how exhausting it is, but it will, eventually, pass. Can you co-sleep? here is information on bedsharing.

(disclaimer - I am not saying that babies who did sleep through at this age necessarily have abnormal sleep patterns. But I would certainly assert that sleeping through at 12 weeks - which is really very very young indeed still - is not the norm)

Big sympathies, pussycat - I had non-sleeping babies too, and I know how exhausting that is.

Also, people with sleeping-through-the-night babies seemed terribly smug, as if to say they'd got it right and I'd got it wrong.

In truth, I think some babies sleep longer and some don't and it's just the way they're made.

I would say that it's not so much that he needs to sleep - he's just asking to be fed in his natural rhythm - it's more that you need to sleep because you're worn out.

If you're doing well with expressing, could someone else feed him so you get some uninterrupted sleep?

dd2 - never

my son is 14 months and has nevr tasted formula in his life. For my expereince I think this is quite unusual.