The many, many costs of breastfeeding - VOX

[Helleofabore]

This has been rather eye opening to read..

www.vox.com/the-highlight/23076305/breastfeeding-costs-baby-formula-shortage

Following Strangio’s recent tweets as well, I am rather surprised to see this back lash against breastfeeding. Yes, it is hard. It is excruciatingly painful sometimes. I also don’t believe anyone should be shamed for their choices in this.

However, this could be said to be propaganda for formula companies surely? And not a woman to be seen. Just lactating parents!

Of course it's up to women. That's the point.

These days whenever an activity that only females can do is spoken about in such a negative and demeaning way, I find myself wondering who might possibly benefit.

Baby milk is expensive because it’s so heavily regulated and because dogma means shops can’t do deals on it. In the uk at least though now supermarkets are producing their own brands which are cheaper. That’s an improvement at least.

That was shit. Entertaining to see that they let a rogue 'breastfeeding mothers' into the blue graph, though!

I did raise an eyebrow at the cartoon showing the downsides of breastfeeding; exhaustion, loss of time, loss of bodily autonomy, cracked nipples, fungal infections, mastitis. Yes, this is potentially true. But couldn't you also do a very similar graphic for pregnancy and childbirth itself? I think women are well aware that having children involves tiredness, loss of me time, and loss of autonomy! I wonder if we are going to see an article discouraging women from having children next...oh wait, but that won't make companies any money.

Who is speaking about it in a demeaning way? It’s not free as I explained above and many women are sick of being made to feel bad about formula feeding.

I have very mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, women's labour is chronically undervalued in society, which is a feminist issue, and the blasé "you should breastfeed! It's free!" stuff clearly contributes to that. On the other hand, I'm sceptical of the motivations of this particular message and the language used is just bleugh.

Who is speaking about it in a demeaning way?
I was referring to the infographic, not your posts.

I agree that there is definitely money to be made from breastfeeding - I spent upwards of a grand on lactation consultants, private doctors, pumps, bras etc. Would definitely have been cheaper just to FF.

@Villagewaspbyke I think I may have been in the same hospital as you.

I had a c section and although I found it excruciating I was willing to give breastfeeding a go. DD latched on well and my milk came in quickly. The woman in the next bed to me her baby wouldn't latch and the nurses treated her appallingly. She begged them for formula and they reluctantly unlocked the cabinet where it was kept and told her they weren't allowed to even touch the formula and she would have to make it up herself.

She was really upset as if they thought she was deliberately poisoning her baby rather than trying to nourish it, which was her natural instinct as a mother.

Awful. The Breastapo we called them.

Not point of thread but why is there a formula shortage in US?
And everything about parenting has a cost but most people don’t view it that way for obvious reasons. Reading bedtime stories is time consuming for the parent and has the cost of buying the books but no one would claim it was a waste of time and money so don’t bother.

That is really sad to hear.

My child couldn’t suck. So after 2 days the hospital (london) gave me formula to use while working with me and my child to get breastfeeding. There was absolutely no pressure from them.

There should be no pressure and there should be emergency supplies in maternity wards.

I actually don’t think it’s anti breastfeeding at all. It’s just highlighting that breastfeeding has a cost and that lots of women don’t want to do it. That’s true. There’s nothing there that isn’t true.

Its in response to the sneering at women concerned about formula shortage, telling them to breastfeed. Many women (me especially!) are sick of the pressure to breastfeed.

And the pharmaceutical industry, which profits from chronic illness.

Breastfeeding is what lines our gut and provides our immune system via passive immunity. If we all did it pharmaceutical profits would plummet.

Although I agree “birthing parent” and “lactating parent” are ridiculous nonsense phrases too.

Lol!!! That’s not science I’m afraid.

Ok I accept there is money made from breastfeeding. It's not accurate to say there is none. There is far less money to be made from bfing than ffing. A V shaped pillow, some bras and nipple cream does not make the kind of money a mother buying formula regularly for several years could do. I passed the pillow and bras on - can't do that with formula either.
I, like a lot of people my age, have a long memory and the associations with Nestle and what they did in developing countries have not died away.
(To be clear: I dislike the companies not the women who use them))

I second this! And as a previous poster said, Americans tend to go back to work very quickly after birth, so it makes sense to buy electric breast pumps and equipment to help them pump and store milk, which probably makes it more expensive.

There should be supplies of formula milk in hospitals. not “emergency supplies”.

We can feed our babies how we choose. I wish i had someone to tell me this before dds but I didn’t. It’s a feminist issue imo. Natural birth dogma and breastfeeding dogma based on ideas of how women should be. It’s misogynist.

I read this whilst breastfeeding....What a load of nonsense! I do not identify as a lactating parent 🤔 and I haven't bought anything apart from nursing bras

I think the shortage came about after a big production unit closed after contamination issues. Additionally the women who get certain benefits (poor and more likely to be represent BAME women) get their milk as part of that and they are sold off to companies who have won the right to supply them. One of those groups was disproportionately affected so the supply dried up first for the poorest.
Poor women and Afro Caribbean women are less likely to bf - no money in supporting this.

In the UK all mothers should have their choices respected. Newborns should have what they need provided although it is a long time since hospitals expected to provide milk. They also want parents to make up bottles under the Baby Friendly as a way of making sure parents know how to do this safely. Seems patronising though and doesn’t work as plenty make bottles up incorrectly with no idea they aren’t following best practice.

The bf industry in the UK really doesn’t exist though. The persons waking someone to feed a baby is most likely a low paid worker paid to support feeding and trained on a two day course. Maternity support workers generally fill this role. Funding has been stripped from bf support so most hospitals don’t have food feeding support - and good means woman centred whatever a woman decides to do.

I agree with this. I don’t see anything incorrect in that article (bar not using correct terminology for women etc). The benefits of breastfeeding are massively over stated in a western country when clean water, excellent sterilising equipment and good quality formula is available.

the NHS shoves breast is best at women all based on studies that are not even remotely conclusive or well researched putting women under immense emotional and physical pressure to do what’s ‘best’ for their child no matter what the expense to them and at a time when they are vulnerable after giving birth. And claiming it’s ‘natural’ and ‘easy’ when this isn’t the case for many women.

i think we need a more balanced view and the information in that article is a good counter balance.

Gosh I’m so glad you don’t dislike me based on me feeding my children a completely suitable food.

Formula milk must save absolutely millions if not billions of babies each year. And lots of mums mental health. And nestle don’t produce it in the uk I believe anyway.

so yeah for formula milk and those mums who want to feed their babies that way. And yeah for those mums who are happy to breastfeed.

I always thought mother nature arranged breastfeeding to be time consuming so that mothers could sit down and relax without feeling they need to be cooking/cleaning or whatever. Very positive in my view but maybe I just liked sitting down relaxing.

@OhamIreally I’ve two friends who felt same. Called la leche militant nazis. She got a lactation consultant from there who told her she shouldn’t have had a c section and it’s her own fault she was struggling to feed because she had one (despite it being medically necessary). Another nearly died giving birth and her child is now 8 and perfectly healthy but she still struggled to tell me she formula fed and the dreadful treatment she got from midwives who acted like she was damaging her baby.

I can’t stand the whole stupid conversation.

@Villagewaspbyke I am not "attacking women" at all, that's a ridiculous leap from my post. I just said I don't understand that specific argument. I am currently breastfeeding DD2 - of course my time and mental health etc are important (I was suicidal with PND after having DD1, I am very aware of how important my mental health is). It's just a disingenuous argument imo, because clearly when people say it's free, they mean the financial side. So to respond, as the article did, with "well only if you don't value your time" is arguing a different point. I think pointing out the (sometimes very significant) negatives of breastfeeding on the mother is totally valid, just not in response to a specific point about breastfeeding being cheap/free. I was lucky, it was very cheap for me because I didn't need lactation consultants, didn't need to pump, didn't need nipple cream etc, so it was just the cost of a few nursing bras. Breastfeeding DD2 is free, because I'm reusing the bras. Stating that is different to saying that I think it's "free" of any and all costs, financial or otherwise. I'm not sure anyone says that.
If anyone wants to formula feed for any reason, I have no criticism of that. And there was no criticism in my post. I certainly wasn't attacking anyone.