Breast feeding vs. Bottle/Formula Feeding

[mumoffive]

This is a totally reputable website. Read it for youself. It is the foundation for Sudden Infant Death syndrome. x

 

[Dragonfly]

Now its gone nasty. I havnt said anything bad about formula basically my own story on how its handy for me yet I cant say that it seems.

 

[aliss]

I have done "all four" - breastfeed, exclusively express (no formula used, bottle only), combo feed (combo of formula AND breastmilk), and exclusive formula.

Breastfeeding
Pros: Lots of great points said. The ease of cosleeping, the ease of bringing out the breast whenever/whereever needed, the nutritional advantages, the cost (our formula is now $300/month with a 21lb baby), no sterilizing.
Cons: Yes, it's hard and painful in the beginning, but you're going to be tired and in pain anyways so if you can make it through the first 4-6 weeks, you're set for a year at least.

Exclusively expressing:
Pros: All the same nutritional advantages, the knowledge that you are giving your milk if you can't physically feed the baby at the breast (I had to do this, it's sort of a last resort if your baby is ill or injured)
Cons: It's very exhausting, time consuming, and harder than anything else you'll ever do in your life as you balance to pump *and* feed a baby

Combo feeding:
Pros: An option if you want to give milk but still can't give enough. Useful for moms going back to work.
Cons: You still need to pump even if you are giving baby breast milk or else you'll lose your supply and it can be painful. Costly.

Formula
Pros: OH can do feedings without your involvement (no expressing)
Cons: Expensive, time consuming, does not have the same health benefits, makes a lot of babies gassy, sick, tummy pains.**Seriously, spend some time reading the formula section compared to BF section and tell me which forum is full of babies with painful tummy problems??

I excluively formula feed after my baby couldn't feed from the breast (a birth injury, totally unexpected). I exclusively expressed for around a month, and then had to combo feed as my supply dropped. I eventually gave up and went straight to formula and it's been a pain in the ass ever since - 4 months of colic partly due to tummy pains, 24/7 sterilizing, costs more than my car payment, I hate it. I think the advantages are clear for BFing.

Cosleeping + side-lie BFing position lets you sleep, baby finds breast, you drift back to bed.

Again, your choice, but no mom using formula is singing the praises of sterilizing and boiling at 1am,2am,3am,5am etc. when babies wake 6-10x a night for months and then still do so during growth spurts. Serious interruption your the sleep cycles. I had to get up and go to the kitchen, make bottle, go feed baby 5x last night.

 

[donna-c-86]

I have done "all four" - breastfeed, exclusively express (no formula used, bottle only), combo feed (combo of formula AND breastmilk), and exclusive formula.

Breastfeeding
Pros: Lots of great points said. The ease of cosleeping, the ease of bringing out the breast whenever/whereever needed, the nutritional advantages, the cost (our formula is now $300/month with a 21lb baby), no sterilizing.
Cons: Yes, it's hard and painful in the beginning, but you're going to be tired and in pain anyways so if you can make it through the first 4-6 weeks, you're set for a year at least.

Exclusively expressing:
Pros: All the same nutritional advantages, the knowledge that you are giving your milk if you can't physically feed the baby at the breast (I had to do this, it's sort of a last resort if your baby is ill or injured)
Cons: It's very exhausting, time consuming, and harder than anything else you'll ever do in your life as you balance to pump *and* feed a baby

Combo feeding:
Pros: An option if you want to give milk but still can't give enough. Useful for moms going back to work.
Cons: You still need to pump even if you are giving baby breast milk or else you'll lose your supply and it can be painful. Costly.

Formula
Pros: OH can do feedings without your involvement (no expressing)
Cons: Expensive, time consuming, does not have the same health benefits, makes a lot of babies gassy, sick, tummy pains.**Seriously, spend some time reading the formula section compared to BF section and tell me which forum is full of babies with painful tummy problems??

I excluively formula feed after my baby couldn't feed from the breast (a birth injury, totally unexpected). I exclusively expressed for around a month, and then had to combo feed as my supply dropped. I eventually gave up and went straight to formula and it's been a pain in the ass ever since - 4 months of colic partly due to tummy pains, 24/7 sterilizing, costs more than my car payment, I hate it. I think the advantages are clear for BFing.

Cosleeping + side-lie BFing position lets you sleep, baby finds breast, you drift back to bed.

Again, your choice, but no mom using formula is singing the praises of sterilizing and boiling at 1am,2am,3am,5am etc. when babies wake 6-10x a night for months and then still do so during growth spurts. Serious interruption your the sleep cycles. I had to get up and go to the kitchen, make bottle, go feed baby 5x last night.

thanks for ur knowlegable and helpful post!

 

[Dragonfly]

I praise any mum who does all that work to be honest. I cant see me doing it standing in a kitchen making up bottles having remember to bring all that with me . In fact I cant even tell you how to make up a bottle my mum would have made them and left them for me to feed my sister. Its not a lazy job anyway.

 

[Cloberella]

Now its gone nasty. I havnt said anything bad about formula basically my own story on how its handy for me yet I cant say that it seems.

I agree, it seems like perhaps some of the formula feeding mums here are on the defensive because of what has happened in previous threads (which is wrong- I think it should be up to you how you feed your baby and I appreciate that not everyone can breastfeed) but they are using co-sleeping as a way of judging some of the breastfeeding mums on here.

Thats just how it looks to me.

 

[donna-c-86]

I praise any mum who does all that work to be honest. I cant see me doing it standing in a kitchen making up bottles having remember to bring all that with me . In fact I cant even tell you how to make up a bottle my mum would have made them and left them for me to feed my sister. Its not a lazy job anyway.

its far fron lazy

 

[aob1013]

erm aob and dragonfly... may i just point out one thing... you say that anybody who praises breastfeeding is getting negative undertones in replies... well i for one said i will be breastfeeding given half the chance and the thread was on a nice even keel, everyone was happy etc. nobody was giving off bad vibes at all so im not entirely sure where you picked up on that? we were all saying its personal choice, which it is.

and tbh i think aob your comment that there are NO negatives to breastfeeding is maybe a little of a generalisation - im glad that you found no negatives to your experience with it but unfortunately for whatever reason for some people there are negatives (such as mastitis for one example - my sil has had this everytime she has breastfed - and she's on her 4th bubba now).

lets just try and keep this as nice a discussion as possible please! i for one was glad that this thread wasnt going down the same route as all the other ones about bf vs ff with people taking things personally and getting upset. we all have our own opinions and yes the OP was asking for advice... but she was asking for our personal adv/disadv not just opinions on what you SHOULD do according to other people.

its all about what makes you as a mummy function better, if you enjoy bf'ing and find it works for you then fab, but i dont personally see a problem with ff'ing if bf'ing isnt your thing.

oh and btw for all those mummies who will be ff'ing we sterilised bottles during the day filled them with water, took the box of formula upstairs and DD had room temp bottles during the night. She has never had a problem with this and the health visitors and midwives were fine with it. alternatively if baby prefers warm milk you could take a kettle up and plug it in next to the bed and take cold half full bottles from the fridge up with you and top them up in the bedroom from the kettle all without having to move from your bed

I did have some hard time with BF as my son was premature and had no suck reflex. I am BF now so my responses are quick, i meant that there are no negatives in the grand scheme of things.

My responses are relative to me. OP asked for advantages and disadvantages. I maintain my thought that if you are happy and confident in your decisions you should not feel offended.

 

[aob1013]

i must say i have neva heard any proffesionals say its ok to have baby in bed with u.

i have neva been told its ok to this, i have always been told NOT to do it

Funny how they tell everyone different things. They need to tell everyone the same i think.

 

[aob1013]

or worse still, the pillow caused an issue.

From the FSID website:

There is also a risk that you might roll over in your sleep and suffocate your baby, or that your baby could get caught between the wall and the bed, or could roll out of an adult bed and be injured.

Which is exactly why you follow the safe practices and guidlines to make sure that doesn't happen

 

[Lianne1986]

i must say i have neva heard any proffesionals say its ok to have baby in bed with u.

i have neva been told its ok to this, i have always been told NOT to do it

Funny how they tell everyone different things. They need to tell everyone the same i think.

i agree with tht

 

[donna-c-86]

i wasnt offended, i expressed my opinion and was told it was wrong, literally they were somebodys words!

 

[Dragonfly]

I praise any mum who does all that work to be honest. I cant see me doing it standing in a kitchen making up bottles having remember to bring all that with me . In fact I cant even tell you how to make up a bottle my mum would have made them and left them for me to feed my sister. Its not a lazy job anyway.

its far fron lazy

Thats what I meant it isnt a lazy thing to do. Just in case you thought I meant it was.

 

[donna-c-86]

ah sorry my mistake, i did think thats what u meant

 

[Lianne1986]

i havent been offended either, im confortable with expressing and FF feeding so i have no reason to get offended!

 

[Bmonki]

Do they recommend it..not on the FSID website:

The safest place for your baby to sleep is in a cot in your room for the first six months
• Do not share a bed with your baby if you or your partner:

are very tired.

er...you have just had a baby, so it is likely you are 'very' tired!

Just a thought. x

How has this gone from breast v bottle to the evils of co-sleeping?

I have no idea but seems to have gone from bottle being great to breastfeeding not being so great and co sleeping being bad.

actually it was never bottle = great, bf = not so great as far as i can see... thats just how you read it i guess


im not entirely sure why the cosleeping thing is being debated on this thread either, this thread was just a question from someone in 2nd tri, asking other 2nd tri-ers what their opinions were....

erm aob and dragonfly... may i just point out one thing... you say that anybody who praises breastfeeding is getting negative undertones in replies... well i for one said i will be breastfeeding given half the chance and the thread was on a nice even keel, everyone was happy etc. nobody was giving off bad vibes at all so im not entirely sure where you picked up on that? we were all saying its personal choice, which it is.

and tbh i think aob your comment that there are NO negatives to breastfeeding is maybe a little of a generalisation - im glad that you found no negatives to your experience with it but unfortunately for whatever reason for some people there are negatives (such as mastitis for one example - my sil has had this everytime she has breastfed - and she's on her 4th bubba now).

lets just try and keep this as nice a discussion as possible please! i for one was glad that this thread wasnt going down the same route as all the other ones about bf vs ff with people taking things personally and getting upset. we all have our own opinions and yes the OP was asking for advice... but she was asking for our personal adv/disadv not just opinions on what you SHOULD do according to other people.

its all about what makes you as a mummy function better, if you enjoy bf'ing and find it works for you then fab, but i dont personally see a problem with ff'ing if bf'ing isnt your thing.

oh and btw for all those mummies who will be ff'ing we sterilised bottles during the day filled them with water, took the box of formula upstairs and DD had room temp bottles during the night. She has never had a problem with this and the health visitors and midwives were fine with it. alternatively if baby prefers warm milk you could take a kettle up and plug it in next to the bed and take cold half full bottles from the fridge up with you and top them up in the bedroom from the kettle all without having to move from your bed

I did have some hard time with BF as my son was premature and had no suck reflex. I am BF now so my responses are quick, i meant that there are no negatives in the grand scheme of things.

My responses are relative to me. OP asked for advantages and disadvantages. I maintain my thought that if you are happy and confident in your decisions you should not feel offended.

thats the thing though, the way you and dragonfly have worded your posts sounds as if you ARE offended.

ETA im not trying to cause an argument - im trying to diffuse one before it starts. just saying theres no need to assume things are being said in a nasty way as you cant hear tone of voice etc. NOW - back to chocolate and afternoon teas..... pippa!!!!!

 

[aliss]

I have done "all four" - breastfeed, exclusively express (no formula used, bottle only), combo feed (combo of formula AND breastmilk), and exclusive formula.

Breastfeeding
Pros: Lots of great points said. The ease of cosleeping, the ease of bringing out the breast whenever/whereever needed, the nutritional advantages, the cost (our formula is now $300/month with a 21lb baby), no sterilizing.
Cons: Yes, it's hard and painful in the beginning, but you're going to be tired and in pain anyways so if you can make it through the first 4-6 weeks, you're set for a year at least.

Exclusively expressing:
Pros: All the same nutritional advantages, the knowledge that you are giving your milk if you can't physically feed the baby at the breast (I had to do this, it's sort of a last resort if your baby is ill or injured)
Cons: It's very exhausting, time consuming, and harder than anything else you'll ever do in your life as you balance to pump *and* feed a baby

Combo feeding:
Pros: An option if you want to give milk but still can't give enough. Useful for moms going back to work.
Cons: You still need to pump even if you are giving baby breast milk or else you'll lose your supply and it can be painful. Costly.

Formula
Pros: OH can do feedings without your involvement (no expressing)
Cons: Expensive, time consuming, does not have the same health benefits, makes a lot of babies gassy, sick, tummy pains.**Seriously, spend some time reading the formula section compared to BF section and tell me which forum is full of babies with painful tummy problems??

I excluively formula feed after my baby couldn't feed from the breast (a birth injury, totally unexpected). I exclusively expressed for around a month, and then had to combo feed as my supply dropped. I eventually gave up and went straight to formula and it's been a pain in the ass ever since - 4 months of colic partly due to tummy pains, 24/7 sterilizing, costs more than my car payment, I hate it. I think the advantages are clear for BFing.

Cosleeping + side-lie BFing position lets you sleep, baby finds breast, you drift back to bed.

Again, your choice, but no mom using formula is singing the praises of sterilizing and boiling at 1am,2am,3am,5am etc. when babies wake 6-10x a night for months and then still do so during growth spurts. Serious interruption your the sleep cycles. I had to get up and go to the kitchen, make bottle, go feed baby 5x last night.

thanks for ur knowlegable and helpful post!

Your welcome!

I am definitely a 100% formula feeding mom right now, but I still believe that breastfeeding is by far the best choice for so many reasons, for the average woman and baby.

I'm sure there are many circumstances where women decide it is not best for them and that is fine, but until those problems present themselves, I think the average pregnant woman should see that breastfeeding advantages are clear.

I admit I am biased in that I was and still am a strong advocate for breastfeeding, but my own humbling struggle with it led me to always advocate the other two options that people don't talk about: exclusive expressing and combo feeding! There are 4 main options, not 2!

Choose what's right for you

 

[WeenieWoo]

Mmmmmmm......Strawberry cheeesecake x

just wanted to throw in a distraction.

 

[aob1013]

Do they recommend it..not on the FSID website:

The safest place for your baby to sleep is in a cot in your room for the first six months
• Do not share a bed with your baby if you or your partner:

are very tired.

er...you have just had a baby, so it is likely you are 'very' tired!

Just a thought. x

How has this gone from breast v bottle to the evils of co-sleeping?

I have no idea but seems to have gone from bottle being great to breastfeeding not being so great and co sleeping being bad.

actually it was never bottle = great, bf = not so great as far as i can see... thats just how you read it i guess
:SHRUG:

im not entirely sure why the cosleeping thing is being debated on this thread either, this thread was just a question from someone in 2nd tri, asking other 2nd tri-ers what their opinions were....

erm aob and dragonfly... may i just point out one thing... you say that anybody who praises breastfeeding is getting negative undertones in replies... well i for one said i will be breastfeeding given half the chance and the thread was on a nice even keel, everyone was happy etc. nobody was giving off bad vibes at all so im not entirely sure where you picked up on that? we were all saying its personal choice, which it is.

and tbh i think aob your comment that there are NO negatives to breastfeeding is maybe a little of a generalisation - im glad that you found no negatives to your experience with it but unfortunately for whatever reason for some people there are negatives (such as mastitis for one example - my sil has had this everytime she has breastfed - and she's on her 4th bubba now).

lets just try and keep this as nice a discussion as possible please! i for one was glad that this thread wasnt going down the same route as all the other ones about bf vs ff with people taking things personally and getting upset. we all have our own opinions and yes the OP was asking for advice... but she was asking for our personal adv/disadv not just opinions on what you SHOULD do according to other people.

its all about what makes you as a mummy function better, if you enjoy bf'ing and find it works for you then fab, but i dont personally see a problem with ff'ing if bf'ing isnt your thing.

oh and btw for all those mummies who will be ff'ing we sterilised bottles during the day filled them with water, took the box of formula upstairs and DD had room temp bottles during the night. She has never had a problem with this and the health visitors and midwives were fine with it. alternatively if baby prefers warm milk you could take a kettle up and plug it in next to the bed and take cold half full bottles from the fridge up with you and top them up in the bedroom from the kettle all without having to move from your bed

I did have some hard time with BF as my son was premature and had no suck reflex. I am BF now so my responses are quick, i meant that there are no negatives in the grand scheme of things.

My responses are relative to me. OP asked for advantages and disadvantages. I maintain my thought that if you are happy and confident in your decisions you should not feel offended.

thats the thing though, the way you and dragonfly have worded your posts sounds as if you ARE offended.

Not offended, just stating fact

 

[Dragonfly]

Not offended either. And sorry I didnt know anyone that wasnt in second tri wasnt allowed to answer threds in that section I though the help of people who had been there and had experiences also would be useful. Maybe you should pm wobbles and ask her to re write the rules so that you cant post in sections you have nothing to do with bmoki.