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Infant feeding

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

Anyone against the banning of formula advertising? If so, why?

132 replies

HollyWeen · 19/11/2008 21:16

I am a student BFC and we are having a debate in next month's tutorial about the pros and cons of formula advertising.

Unfortunately, I am on the pro side and am having a hard time finding any real reasons why formula advertising is a good idea.

Would banning formula advertising make ff mums feel alienated? Would it take away individual choice?

All views appreciated!

TIA!

OP posts:
chequersandchess · 21/11/2008 11:41

(oh, except for the thread I just posted on peanut butter, but I've already eaten it )

AnarchyAunt · 21/11/2008 11:41

Well exactly chequers - I genuinely never thought to change what I ate when BF.

Ohforfoxsake · 21/11/2008 12:01

Thanks, I hadn't really seperated the two - how the body produces milk and the milk itself. So drinking orange juice won't help a bf babies constipation?

But an element of what you eat must go into the milk, for example, is it true that tomatoes or strawberries can cause a spotty rash to the child?

Am not playing devil's advocate - this really is an attempt to educate myself. I have always believed that what goes in effects what comes out. With DC1 my milk was so creamy it stuck to the sides of the bottle, it never had that 'gold top' consistency again with subsequent children. I had an optimum diet first time round, and although always good, never quite that good again. And with issues around weight-gain so many health care professionals told me to eat well and supplement, which reinforced it to some extent.

Total hijack - I'm sorry - but I've wanted to know this for a while and as you are all here ...

Ema76 · 21/11/2008 13:09

offorfoxsake - i agree that what goes in your body must come out in the milk in some way, logical thinking i'd have thought. suppose it effects some babies more than others for whatever reason.

Ema76 · 21/11/2008 13:11

does the peanut butter issue highlight that foods can effect the milk? would have thought it would.

tiktok · 21/11/2008 13:22

No, what goes in does not automatically come out! Otherwise babies on formula would be eating grass and cow cake

What you eat goes into your stomach and undergoes the usual digestive goings-on. Some elements of these foods will pass through to the blood and thence to the milk, in very tiny amounts. Flavours for instance, have been shown to get through (this is a good thing - prepares the baby for the usual diet in that society). 'Foreign' proteins can get through - hence the nuts thing and the dairy thing, but these would not be at all harmful in healthy non-allergic babies, and again, would be a good, preparing thing.

I have no idea about strawberries, sorry - I suspect anecdotal evidence only but that's not to say it ain't true. There is something in a strawberry that is allergenic, I know - maybe it gets into the milk.

Other elements of food don't get anywhere near the milk. So eating Bran Flakes will not help your baby's constipation, because the fibre part of the food stays in your gut and affects your gut only. That's just an example. The majority of mothers can eat their usual foods without any concern at all.

Expressed breast milk that is notably creamy - see your post ohforfoxsake - does not reflect diet in any way.

The type of fats in milk can be affected by diet, marginally, but not the quantity, which is affected by the amount of milk in the breast at the time.

Breasts which have less milk in at that particular moment will have creamier milk - this is normal, and the fat content of a mother's milk varies a lot. It doesn't matter. The baby sorts it out!

You may have expressed more thoroughly with baby no. 1, maybe, or had a different pump, or a different technique or just expressed at different times.

Health care professionals go on about diet and breastfeeding and what you should eat to make milk 'better' - when they do this, it is a sure sign they know very little about bf!

Ohforfoxsake · 21/11/2008 13:43

Thanks Tiktok

Really appreciate your thorough explanation.

Sorry Holly for the hijack

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