@pinkblueberry Would these same women not breastfeed if they could?
They wouldn't choose to feed their babies goats milk and sugar water because they know that breast milk is naturally what their child should have. They have not simply decided it's not for them and that they'd rather not put themselves through the stress.
Formula is propagated as a choice. Whereas those women who CAN NOT breastfeed don't have a choice. Most mothers in western society make their decisions based on a personal choice and preference. Without fully educating themselves on the role breast milk has in childhood development, female health and how vital it truly is.
Many women are denying themselves the choice of adequate, superior nutrition for their children by choosing formula.
The ingredients speak for themselves, formula needs to be created where if possible it could 'mimic' breast milk and at a bare minimum not cause harm or contain fillers which are nutritionally redundant.
One thing formula has been linked to is excessive e-coli levels in babies causing an alkaline environment and unhealthy gut flora which is essential for developing the immune system of an infant.
'Effect of Nutrition on Microbial Flora in
Infants: The Role of Lactoferrin, Iron, and Nucleotides'
www.nestlenutrition-institute.org/docs/default-source/global-dcoument-library/publications/secured/d3776f6acf0b8097fc4c2e4b431c1c70.pdf%3Fsfvrsn%3D0&ved=2ahUKEwjVjqik8K7pAhVlQUEAHddZBW0QFjABegQIBBAB&usg=AOvVaw0IEBrcZo5ibiiL1BgwEW70
may be an interesting read regarding gut flora of infants.
We are animals so in a primal way should we have a choice when it comes to BF? If we have offspring we need to provide for it, naturally as a means of survival.
Because we live in a world where there is formula we have the choice, we have the option. But really breast milk should always be the first choice, it is specifically made for your baby. You are denying your baby the basic human right of something which is ultimately designed for them. Simply to exercise your own right to choose.
I'd even take it a step further as to suggest that it is your duty to breastfeed your child, it is the only reason you have breasts on your body. They are on your person for your child. I am not necessarily speaking of my beliefs by the way.
In the animal kingdom a female has pretty much one job: raise, defend and provide for her babies. In modern life we have so many other things going on, so many feelings, commitments and social impacts that we are no longer in the same primal state our bodies were intended for.
One could also suggest we are not in sync with our natural ability to breastfeed, our hormones are not functioning at the capacity they are intended to and so on. Which is why in modern days so many women struggle, so many women lack support and perseverance. We are no longer part of a 'tribe' of support and fertility.
I suppose my point is that FF is not natural, choosing not to/having no desire to breastfeed is also not necessarily natural.
Ofcourse if you can't breastfeed for whatever reason then yes formula is an alternative. Not necessarily a good one, not necessarily a beneficial one. But it's there...
Bottom line is if you do enough research the health of a BF baby is not the equivalent of a FF baby. It's not just the difference of an extra cold a year, you need to look at it on a chemical, biological and gastrointestinal level. Formula is not capable of providing your child with antibodies, it simply cannot replicate that. If you consider a good night's sleep and your own emotional wellbeing more important than the foundations of your child's health and immunity then so be it.
We are being let down as women and mothers, by allowing ourselves a lack of support to BF and accepting and funding an industry which provides our children with sub-par at best alternatives, if you FF you make yourself reliant on this industry. An industry which has the potential to be manipulated just as much as the food industry is.