Bottle feeding culture in the UK

[TeenyQueen]

This morning I saw a Facebook photo of my former colleague's newborn baby being bottle fed by her older sister (toddler). I suppose it was a cute photo, but I fundamentally disagree with the idea that anyone should be able to bottle feed a baby. What I mean is not just the baby's parents but all sorts of friends and relatives. Isn't infant feeding part of bonding? When did it become a 'thing' for siblings to feed a newborn?

I have three issues with this. 1. Breastfeeding mums are still being told that breastfeeding in public is undesirable and photos of breastfeeding are censored on social media (but it's ok to have pictures of bottle feeding).

1. We seem to be moving away from this idea that feeding a baby is part of social interaction and bonding between the baby and parent.
2. We're teaching young children that bottle feeding is the normal and usual thing to do and breastfeeding is not.

FYI the baby was in a completely wrong position for feeding anyway and didn't look very comfortable.

Any thoughts?

Just to add, I don't think they should be censored either!

TeenyQueen ... no that is really the opposite of specific... that a anecdotal story.
My point is when you ask grown up children and adults if they were breastfed or bottle fed you will find that there are as many unhealthy breast fed adults around as bottle fed.
Do you think all the bottle fed adults died of malnutrition or allergies?
You've made a human ... not a pet child.

@TeenyQueen I’ve read your comments and they all come across as superior and judgy and I find it very difficult to believe that your disdain is only for women who allow their children to bottle feed a baby for a cute photo

This thread needs to die already.

No one should have to feel they need to justify how they feed their babies and why. It's really no ones business. Mothers have enough on their plates without this nonsense. We are all equal.

Well said Pixiefringe and LittleTopic

@Grendlsmother that's logic is so flawed, studies (that are much less biased and have a great larger sample size than your friends and family) show that breastfeeding is beneficial.

It's not judgement to say that breast milk is better in circumstances that allow that to be possible. People debate lots of thing on Mumsnet, why does the judgement card always come out when it comes to the BF/FF debate?

In a group of school children or adults you wi not be able to tell who was bf or ff.

There have been some very judgemental posters on this thread.

@Parker231 that's not even an argument, of course you couldn't tell by just looking at them. On a large scale study you would find that the ones who were breastfed would be overall healthier.

And stating a fact is not judgement, it's just a fact.

I’m only interested in the health of my own DC’s. Healthy babies and now young adults. DS is 6,3 and DD 5,8. Both no weight problems, allergies or illnesses. Academically all A’s at GCSE and A levels and expected 1st in their degrees this summer. Not bad for deciding to ff. Think I can be pleased with the decisions I made.

Unfortunately many posters are judgemental and unable to accept people can make a good decision which is different from theirs for which they don’t need to justify.

@Parker231, you made your decision and your kids turned out fine. That's great, but no one has said that children who had formula can't achieve well and your anecdotal evidence means absolutely nothing. It's like a much less extreme form of saying "my gran ate shit, drank and smoked all her life and lived to 98". It happens but that doesn't mean there have been ill effects on others.

This kind of attitude is part of the reason why we have this culture around breastfeeding, why go through it is formula is just as good "So and so's kids turned out fine and she says breastfeeding is hard work so I won't try".

@sqirrelfriends
But why are you invested in other people trying or not? It's not your kid, not your boobs.

There is an attitude that FF mums have to justify why they didn't BF. Or they have to say that they tried their best to BF first. It's not your business.

My baby is only 4 months old so my interactions with midwives and health visitors are very recent and I can tell you they're still very encouraging of breastfeeding (sometimes that's detrimental if it's not working).

@sqirrelfriends

So you've basically stated yourself the benefit of breastfeeding is negligible on a person-by-person basis and can only be seen on a national level.

Isnt that the same as children that live in the countryside rather than polluted cities? Children that eat organic food? Children whose parents take them to exercise regularly?

Yet nobody starts threads about the above. The obsession is only ever about breastfeeding.

I take it you dont fulfill all of the above with regards to your children (as most people don't) so why are you hung up about this one issue?!

@Lostvoiced I'm not, @Parker231 keeps saying there's no difference, which isn't true so I'm correcting her reasoning.

I don't care really how individual people feed their children but I feel it's important for the culture around breastfeeding to improve to stop people from being put off in the first place. The positive effects of breastfeeding might not make a difference to an individual, but on a population level it definitely does.

I haven’t said there are no differences. I don’t know whether there are. I’m only interested in my own DC’s.

Posters shouldn’t infer that deciding to ff is a second rate decision as that isn’t anyone’s to pass judgement on. Parents can research and make their own decisions as to what is best.

@sqirrelfriends

Please see my above post, there are many factors that contribute to a child's overall health so why fixate on this one?

@Wolfgirrl because the thread isn't about those things... I'm not fixated, I commented on a thread when I saw people making false statements, its frustrating to see.

You are fixated on passing judgement that parents who use ff have made a second rate decision.

@Parker231 I'm not fixated on it but data doesn't lie

No one else is bothered as to whether someone bf or ff - they are only interested in making the right decisions for their own DC’s.

@sqirrelfriends

I know this thread is specifically about breastfeeding but if you dont make other entirely healthy decisions for your children, why did you feel this one was so necessary? If you see what I mean.

Jesus, 36 pages of the same old breastfeeding v bottle feeding debate.

Wow!! How dare you judge someone by a simple photo probably designed to create memories for that family!!!
What business is it of yours to judge how a mother chooses to feed her child? Take it from someone who wanted to breast feed but didn't produce enough if any milk.. .. At the end of the day as long as that child is loved and healthy who cares where the milk comes from... For all you know that bottle could have been expressed milk to give mum a brief break!!!!! Sorry if I'm ranting but it's comments like yours that make the bottle feeders like me feel such guilt about the decisions that had to make for not only the health of my child!! But also my mental health at the time!!

@Wolfgirrl but I think a lot of factors are important when raising a child, of course I do. It would be ridiculous for example to rely on breastfeeding to provide a healthy life for your child if you're going to then wean them onto junk food.

I think nutrition is important though and ideally it would start with the natural food for infants which is their mothers milk. Formula is fine if its needed or better for the family circumstances, but it's not ideal.