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

[Chequers]

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??

breastmilk=0 food miles, the greenest resource there can be!

If it really did have no disadvantages compared to breastmilk for the baby (are we allowed to include things like oro-facial muscle development and better mums health in that?)?

I would definitely have bottlefed. I really found BF very hard, and would have loved to have been able to just fill up a bottle instead.

Even if it was as good in terms of composition, how would you get around the risks in terms of mode of delivery? Increased risk of ear infections and dental stuff due to use of bottles, worries about whether it's sterile (bacteria in milk powder) etc. That, plus the cost, plus the hassle, plus the environmental factors, plus the lack of health benefits for the mother... I wouldn't use it.

Look everyone, look look look, madlentileater is a lazy lady who never walks anywhere!!! 0 food miles indeed.

No. Because I would rather breastfeed than bottlefeed regardless of the milk delivered. I enjoyed breastfeeding, in the most part (aside from the early tiredness). And relished not having to do ANY preparation, as the milk was always there and available.

No - as bm is free & convenient - plus comes from the mum so great for attachment & all the benefits of this for society

Even if it was as good- no. Bottles are a complete faff, as opposed to opening your top, and popping them on, and getting snuggly- no contest really.

No

Main reasons would be cost (I doubt they'd make it free!) and ease of use - no formula in the world is going to be available on tap, at perfect temperature, on your person 24/7.

But there's more to it than the practical benefits - having breastfed DS I know I would miss the physical closeness and bond with my other children - I'm not trying to say that FF babies don't bond in the same way, I'm sure that's not true - but there is no more lovely feeling in the world than lying in a warm bed, in the silence of the night, and feeling the little creature beside you snuffling away at your breast. It's just such a natural extension of prolonging the bond between you and the baby - your body has nourished them for 9 months so it seems so natural to carry on nourishing them if you can.

I might have considered supplementing earlier though if there was a formula that was honestly 100% as good as bf with no drawbacks. As it is I deliberately didn't try any formula until after 6 months and DS never took to it - perhaps because he was so used to BF by that point.

Primarily no, but I would probably be able to get more of a break and use it occasionally.

Reasons why not? Like all the others really:

Laziness
Speed
Don't have to remember anything
Washing up
Bonding (but that is such a crap way of describing it, for me anyway, wasn't so much bonding as 'regrouping' or touching base with each other)
Excuse for eating crap energy food
That feeling of getting to 6 months and thinking "I did that all by myself, I made and grew her - I rock!"
Because it has health benefits for mothers

No
I wanted my baby to have something from me not from a factory.

gawd yes

after the first few weeks yes i would

I am probably alone on here admitting this

Great answers, thanks everyone. Stitch and Trinity - thanks for your input - 63 posters obviously disagree with you

I would . But on a part-time basis.

I bf all mine for 5-6 months exclusively and then part-time till they gave up (around about a year of age).

It was only when I was doing it part-time that I enjoyed it, and even then, I am not sure 'enjoy' is the right word. I then found it easy and not too overwhelming.

For the times I was feeding exclusively (plus giving one bottle ebm per day), I felt knackered, constantly on call, on edge. I leaked, my babies did not latch well and made discrete feeding impossible, I had night sweats and generally felt very stressed. Once I felt I could (guilt free) give milk that wasn't from me (I went back to work each time and it wuld not have been practical to express), I felt liberated, and I also got more control over my body, which had not been mine for 15 months or so.

I was happy to bf at times, and yes it was sometimes more convenient especially at night. But for me it felt a lot better to be able to feed without being half dressed and sweaty.

Having said that, the alternative would have to fulfill all the benefits of bf, including benefits to the mother, so it isn't likely is it ? If the benefits were for the baby only, then yes, I would part-time only and very happily.

I know I am not alone in that, but I wouldn't care if I was. Women 'take' to bf differently, and for many it isn't all hearts and flowers and bonding. I bf because it was best for baby, but it didn't half do my head in at the time.

I wouldn't for all the reasons stated here, but also because my milk is fresh; and I can't see how this hypothetical product would be? I'd rather give my baby fresh than frozen/reconstituted.

But I might use the odd one for convenience; like if I had had had to go out, and couldn't be sure of when the next feed would be. I'd probably do that rather than express.

I just am not that good on keeping kitchen equipment sterile, couldn't be bothered with the idea of going downstairs in the middle of the night, plus I know full well that given the task of preparing a night feed, DH would f**k it up, so why bother? That's all a bit negative, so on the positive side, I LOVE cuddling my feeding babies (esp my DS now that DD is 2 and a bit and not so cuddly anymore), it calms me and them down, I feel proud of the fact that they grow so big so quickly on my milk, it makes me feel like a woman, that my body knows what it is doing and does it well, and I really do get an oxytocin high afterwards, like after sex. There is no point for me trying to imagine bottle feeding, just be glad I don't have to do it. sorry if this all makes you want to puke

plus can I add, I am not tandem feeding, I meant I loved feeding DD and now love feeding DS. Stopped DD when she was 15 months as she didn't need it and didn't quibble when I said it was all gone ( didn't want to have the burden of feeding and pregnancy at the same time, for too long)

Chequers - what about you, or did I miss yor post?

Oh I would DEFINITELY mix feed and it would be BRILLIANT

For me the only real reason I'm b/feeding is for the benefits to the baby, but we are in the early stages of establishing feeding and my I am finding it very hard work having her attached to me for hours at a time.

So, at this stage I would say being able to mix feed looks very attractive so that DH could take over sometimes, or I could go out and have a few drinks.

No I wouldn't. For the reasons mentioned above.

Free, instantly available, no washing up/sterilising.

Only skimmed this thread.

I used formula (eg when dcs were at nursery) anyway. If formula were as good as breastmilk, I would not use it any more than I already do.

My main reason is that breastfeeding is such a comfort for my dcs - dd fed until she was 17 months. Ds is going strong at 2. I do it for them, rather than for myself. There is something very primeval about the need of my dcs for the breast, that formula/bottle feeding would not be able to replicate.

mp and chequers YES!