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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

Original poster

Hypothetical question - Breastfeeders, if formula was as good for your baby as breastmilk would you use it???

78 replies

Chequers · 07/09/2008 13:49

Just wondered really, if they could come up with a formula with equal health benefits for the baby as breastmilk (unlikely I know) then would you use it?

Just wondered really how people feel about the other benefits of breastfeeding apart from for the baby's health - what do you get out of breastfeeding as an act in itself, if anything??

OP posts:
DistractionTechniques · 07/09/2008 17:17

Awww Lib76, that's really totally NOT what I meant. I'm not out to judge anyone or make then feel guilty.

happycamper10180 · 07/09/2008 17:18

Another lazy arse here, sterilizing, washing etc is just too much effort. Also I'd forget to take it with me - have already had to improvise an emergency nappy

On the other hand I've only just managed to express enough for the occasional lie in while DP feeds. If this formula was really that good I would use it for 1 night just so I could go and get really, really drunk!

stitch · 07/09/2008 17:19

silly silly question.

to silly to bother typing, i am sure others have anwered thius adequately

TrinityRhino · 07/09/2008 17:22

ridiculous question, I'll let the answers already posted speak for me

wahwah · 07/09/2008 17:45

I think it's a really interesting question.

I would use it like happycamper said. Sometimes I'd like a break and expressing is such a pain for me.

SoupDragon · 07/09/2008 17:47

I thin kit's an interesting question too, not silly or ridiculous at all. So much is made of the health benefits of breastfeeding that it's interesting to think what would happen if that were taken out of the equation.

Celery · 07/09/2008 17:51

I've breastfed - one of them until 18 months, and I've bottle fed. If formula milk were equal to breast milk, I would bottle feed. I just never really enjoyed breastfeeding, despite doing it quite a lot. I found the physical and emotional tie of breastfeeding harder work than the practical issues of making up bottles.

Libra1975 · 07/09/2008 17:54

Well I'm going to go against the grain here and say of course I would use it! Washing bottles/sterilising takes minutes and the minutes it does take up would be clawed back when other people were able to feed him. Also the LO gets that blissed out milk drunk look whether he gets the milk from breast or bottle.
I don't find breastfeeding a bonding experience (especially at 3am in the morning) and it would give me more freedom.

MarlaSinger · 07/09/2008 17:56

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

expatinscotland · 07/09/2008 18:01

yes, yes, i would.

beansmum · 07/09/2008 18:01

I would still have breastfed. I had nobody else around to feed ds anyway so formula feeding would just have been extra hassle. bf is cheaper and has health benefits for the mother, not just the baby.

SoupDragon · 07/09/2008 18:13

Ridiculed for not wasting money on something they make for free? I think I know who's cleverer

wheresthehamster · 07/09/2008 18:17

Milk from an animal v milk from a mother? Surely no contest

Pollyanna · 07/09/2008 18:18

I certainly wouldn't bother expressing if I wanted to go out - that's a real faff.

Otherwise I would carry on bfg as am inherently a very lazy person

ChairmumMiaow · 07/09/2008 18:19

I got stuck in Birmingham yesterday when there were floods. DS was a little angel but got bored and hungry waiting for the bus (for ages!). I asked for a seat, got us comfy and gave him a feed.

I hadn't brought extra nappies so he was in his last one and if he'd pooed he would have had to sit in it, but he won't go hungry when we're out and about for some time! Why would I swap for something that I'd have to plan properly for, and either have to prepare incorrectly to give him in a situation like that, or make sure I always carried cartons!? (and we weren't risking leaving to buy anything as who knew when the next bus was getting through!)

Add to that the price of formula, vs a little extra food for me...

Personally, I also feel an amazing sense of achievement and rightness when I'm breastfeeding my son. IMO its what my body was meant to do, and it makes me feel especially close to me as he snuggles in and latches himself on.

BouncingTurtle · 07/09/2008 18:25

I would use it occasionally in order to have a night out, but no I would still bf for all the reasons that have already been stated, it's free, quick and available 24/7.

TinkerBellesMum · 07/09/2008 18:40

Lib, it's not surprising you didn't find BFing a bonding experience if you had problems with it. As someone who did FF I'm sure the question wasn't really aimed at you, the idea was if you didn't switch, would it make you.

I did/do find it reinforces my abilities as a mother and I don't care what anyone else thinks of that. My daughter was born under GA and was 5 hours old when I saw her. She was about 3 days old when I held her, 5 days when I saw her naked for the first time, 7 days before I could attempt to breastfeed and 17 day before I was breastfeeding her myself. I didn't feel like her parent, let alone her mother and breastfeeding was the only thing I could do that no one else could, for me that proved I was her mother and restored some of my faith in my abilities. If someone who was failed by their HCPs and ended up on formula or just decided not to breastfeed is offended by that, that's their problem, not mine.

misdee · 07/09/2008 18:45

no i wouldnt.

breastmilk is free and readily available.

why pay for something that is free?

plus buying it in a tin would decrease the health benefits to myself.

MarlaSinger · 07/09/2008 18:50

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Tittybangbang · 07/09/2008 19:03

No, for all the reasons stated here by other people.

And because I would not want to give them a penny of my money to the formula companies - I hate them for their evil profiteering at the expense of the health and wellbeing of millions of the most vulnerable members of our society.

chibeth · 07/09/2008 19:03

YES i would use it, my dd didn't want to breastfeed from me anymore at 3 months, so l have been expressing now for 3 months then feeding her my milk from a bottle. So i would definetely use it, as l am fed up and even more blocked in the house than before, if breastmilk wasn't as good as it is for her l would not make this sacrifice.

onwardandupward · 07/09/2008 19:09

Lots of good answers up thread

but it's kind of moot, isn't it? How are these hypothetical formula creating scientists planning to turn UHTed cows milk with extra sugar and omega oil and other bits and pieces into something which varies in consistency depending on the heat of the day and how long the baby has been feeding for, which responds to the bacteria and viruses that the baby (and mother, natch) encounter on a daily basis, which contains the mix of hormones that breastmilk does which, again, varies from feed to feed and changes as the baby gets older, is available in a safe form at the right temperature straight from the tap, requires no washing up...

I'm not seeing this coming any time soon, I'm really not.

GreenMonkies · 07/09/2008 19:15

No I'm way to lazy to faff about with bottles. I only expressed out of necessity!

Also, the muscles used to breastfeed are different to the ones used to drink from a bottle, and the development of these different muscles reshapes the facial bones. This can result in malocclusion and narrowed nasal airways.

Combine this with the increased risk of breast cancer, ovarian cancer and osteoporosis that mothers who don't breastfeed face and the the cost of formula and the answer is a definate, resounding Hell NO!!!

(Lib76,hospitalised for mastitis and not told you could, and should, continue to breastfeed? That's not you that failed, but those who were {or in this case, not} taking care of you)

expatinscotland · 07/09/2008 19:31

i'd use it so that i'd have freedom back - to get a goodnight's sleep, go back to work, etc.

Lib76 · 07/09/2008 19:37

TinkerBellesMum,

i DID find BF a VERY bonding experience, totally loved until i got sick. would do it again without question!

GreenMonkies, i was told that i could continue but four days in hospital and bilateral mastitis was just a total nightmare! i was so ill and DS was a much happier baby on formula!

next time BF all the way!! ;-)