Can i have opinions of this BF article please?

[lhancock90]

https://www.theecologist.org/trial_investigations/268337/breastmilk_vs_formula_food.html

 

[LoraLoo]

Well, its long

Ok, I can see the points they are trying to make. I agree with alot of them but I'm not keen on the way they have worded things and completely slammed formula.

The first statement got my back up straight away

"The health consequences - twice the risk of dying in the first six weeks of life, five times the risk of gastroenteritis, twice the risk of developing eczema and diabetes and up to eight times the risk of developing lymphatic cancer – are staggering"

To me that is implying that Formula causes Cancer. What they could, and should have said (imo) is that breastffeding halves the risk of a baby dying in the first 6 weeks of life, for eg.

Im all for pro- breastfeeding I am passionate about it myself, but I do feel like they over stepped the line in some parts.

 

[NellyLou]

While I completely agree that breastmilk is 'best', I think that if formula was as dangerous as this article claims, it wouldn't be permitted to be on the market. Linking formula to deaths, sids and other illnesses using statistics isn't really helpful if they don't look at other issues as well. A lot of babies who are born early or have other health issues end up being bottle fed... does it take this into consideration?

 

[lhancock90]

Thankyou!
A girl on my Facebook posted this article and i got, well angry


I however, felt that, as someone who is on a forum with a lot of women who feel very strongly about BFing, that this was probably the most aggressive article i have ever read.
I understand, that breastMILK is best that you should 1005 do everything you can to do so, but this article made me shake with anger as FF-er. I have never ever ever come across a BFer who i felt judged FF and was condescending until i read this.

 

[NellyLou]

Well, its long

Ok, I can see the points they are trying to make. I agree with alot of them but I'm not keen on the way they have worded things and completely slammed formula.

The first statement got my back up straight away

"The health consequences - twice the risk of dying in the first six weeks of life, five times the risk of gastroenteritis, twice the risk of developing eczema and diabetes and up to eight times the risk of developing lymphatic cancer – are staggering"

To me that is implying that Formula causes Cancer. What they could, and should have said (imo) is that breastffeding halves the risk of a baby dying in the first 6 weeks of life, for eg.

Im all for pro- breastfeeding I am passionate about it myself, but I do feel like they over stepped the line in some parts.

I want to thank you for your post, but it's not giving me the option! Great post! I agree

 

[midori1999]

Well, it's a pretty old article and the author I very clearly pro breast feeding and maybe not as sensitive as they could be. Research has undoubtedly advanced since then too. However, nothing printed is a lie or wrong.

Breast feeding is the biological norm, it is what nature intended to happen. Therefore, there are no 'benefits' to breast feeding, only risks to any deviation from that. Eg. Formula feeding.

I honestly support any woman's right to formula feed if they want to, that is their choice entirely. However, I can't help but feel that many woman don't really understand the risks involved. For example, lots of women don't know how to make up formula correctly, many don't even know that most formula is made from cows milk. Most aren't even aware that donor milk exists or that formula is the fourth choice for infant feeding according to the WHO.

The article may be blunt, but nothing is says should come as news to any parent who uses or has considered using formula milks.

 

[fidgets mammy]

It made me angry tbh.

 

[Jaylynne]

I can appreciate an article that openly explains the risks/benefits without being condescending and spinning the information. This is not that sort of article. Therefore, I cannot appreciate it.

I mean really, the article has a title of "killing a baby" down in the text. And don't get me started on the breastfeeding to formula hierarchy.

 

[midori1999]

I can appreciate an article that openly explains the risks/benefits without being condescending and spinning the information. This is not that sort of article. Therefore, I cannot appreciate it.

I mean really, the article has a title of "killing a baby" down in the text. And don't get me started on the breastfeeding to formula hierarchy.

Changed my mind

 

[NellyLou]

I can appreciate an article that openly explains the risks/benefits without being condescending and spinning the information. This is not that sort of article. Therefore, I cannot appreciate it.

I mean really, the article has a title of "killing a baby" down in the text. And don't get me started on the breastfeeding to formula hierarchy.

Edited for Midori1999

Glad you changed your mind

 

[Natsku]

Its a fearmongering article. There are no references for the statistics (though I do believe they are, or most of them are, true, I think they might be exaggerated) and though I agree with the ideas at the end to help make breastfeeding more normal, it could have done without all the fearmongering, that really doesn't help, it just makes the divide between breastfeeding and formula feeding wider

 

[lhancock90]

Thanks girls. The woman who posted it said i was stupid basically because its a fab article but its the first time as a FFer who couldn't BF that i've found a BF article offensive

 

[lindseymw]

I will admit I didn't read it all. I got about half way through.

I found it quite an agressive article against formula. I would like to read the studies which were mentioned to see how the author came up with the conclusion.

I'm not pro breastfeeding nor pro formula. I'm pro choice.

 

[summer rain]

I think its not a very well worded article and as the old saying goes 'you attract more flies with honey than vinegar' but it is true what Midori says many women (and even many health professionals ) don't even know that mainstream infant formulas are made from cows' milk or how to make them up safely and there's a big myth out there that they changed the guidelines on making and storing formula to force more women to BF. xx

 

[Jaylynne]

It says right on the can that it's made from cows milk. The directions are there also. Some people just need to learn to read.

 

[summer rain]

Maybe they do. Sadly though there are a lot of adults in the US and UK who can't read. Some don't speak English as a first language. Also not everyone checks the ingredients (which all have fancy names anyway) and brands in the UK at least have moved further and further away from marketing their product as being from cows' milk, now it is barely mentioned at all, at least not on the front of the packaging that the main constituent is cows' milk. In the 60s and 70s it was a proud brag by formula companies that their product at the time was really just powdered cows' milk with vitamins added. Hence one of the main formula companies in the UK being called cow and gate. I find a lot of younger adults are unaware also that ingredients come with the greatest first and on UK ingredient lists this is not mentioned so they think the cows' milk or whey protein is a minor constituent of the formula like a vitamin or mineral and not the main base of the milk.

I have come across health professionala including paediatricians who have no idea what formula is made from. They have just never looked at a can of formula despite advising their patients to top up with the stuff. With my youngest who had a severe CMPI as a small baby I was told by midwives and paediatricians to (unnecessarily) give him a different brand of mainstream formula to the one he had been (unnecessarily) given in SCBU as it would be 'lighter in texture' when it would still contain the exact same amount of cows' milk protein. It's staggering. I also have a friend who is qualified as a teacher and who FFs, she honestly thought whey was not from milk and was vegan as she had no idea it was from cows! I am not kidding. When I became vegan she suggested I start drinking whey protein to replace the meat and dairy protein i was no longer having.

I have heard anecdotally from those working with young mothers that they believe aptamil is made from powdered breastmilk or they have somehow managed to perfectly replicate breastmilk, now some mums are of the impression that the new Hipp formula contains actual powdered breastmilk because it contains a probiotic strain that was alledgedly isolated from breastmilk some years ago. It isn't just infant formula it is sadly ignorance about the origins of many of our foods and drinks particularly amongst the younger generation xx

 

[pinklightbulb]

I'm on the side of poorly-worded, but the intent is not evil or malicious, it's just trying to encourage the biological normality that is BFing

Call me ignorant but I don't see why just because someone doesn't like something, doesn't mean it isn't true. Formula is not a replacement for breastmilk. It's a substitution. It's amazing how many mums I see that really believe formula milk is a "good" replacement. It was never intended to be as good as or even close to breastmilk. It was designed to give enough nutrition to keep a baby alive, that's it. It may have this and that added to it these days, but that still doesn't make it a replacement.

I don't see what is so offensive about facts in these debates. I know there is a lot of FF guilt. But that doesn't mean it's OK to make false statements and comparisons about breastmilk, or to bash breastfeeding because you may not have been able to do it.

The article is what it is-- a bunch of facts, harshly worded, but facts nonetheless.

I will never understand why breastfeeding is so maligned by some FF mums. Is it because they could not/did not choose to BF, therefore they feel their choice must be accepted widely and without question, even though it is not the biological norm?

Put it this way. If I dared to ask an FF mum why she bottle fed, I would get blasted. Yet it's OK for an FF mum to run down BFing and its merits because she couldn't/didn't do it, to make herself feel better about it? There are double standards everywhere regarding infant feeding methods.

But as soon as you put actual facts comparing formula milk to breastmilk out there, you are jumped on and bashed, simply because FF is so mainstream. Nobody wants to think they are giving their baby something that doesn't match up to what is biologically intended for them, but the truth is, they are.

I am sorry, but that isn't my fault. I breastfed, yes. And for what it's worth, I supplement with formula now, because I've been told to or my child will be taken off me. (Yes, I am serious. No, I don't like it. And yes, I'm thinking about taking the health professional concerned to court for scaremongering ME as a BF mother, because I refused to bottle feed since Liam was not "meeting percentile lines expected" of a baby his age.)

But that does not make it OK to jump on me because I succeeded at something natural. I honest to God can't stand these debates, because BF gets steamrollered every time for daring to bring out facts, or post articles, that breastmilk is far and away the ideal food for a human infant.

Sorry for the tangent. But I just really, really don't get it. What's there to argue about? You can't change facts. You just can't. You just need to accept them, and move on.

And yes, I'm struggling myself because I've had to give formula against my will... but I don't scream about mothers who EBF and weren't hounded by HVs and doctors like I was to supplement or I will be put into welfare. I've just accepted that in today's society, I am overruled by the mainstream, and there's nothing I can do about it except hope that BF will make a resurgence one day and once again become the norm.

 

[Piper84]

I just wish pro-BF campaigners would give some of their energy to informing people how much comfort, security and warmth a baby gets from being BFed that is impossible to recreate with FF.

They can quote the blatantly obvious health benefits until they're blue in the face. For me it was of course important that LO got all the proper minerals from breast milk in exactly the right quantity for him, but almost as important was that he got fed exactly when he needed with the closeness he needed at that age when a baby needs to be close to its mum. I couldn't really give a toss about the dodgy IQ statistics they throw about.

 

[lhancock90]

Can i just set something straight.

I have NO FF guilt
I am PRO CHOICE.
I have zero against getting the facts about breastfeeding out there.

I disagree with how aggressive, judgemental this article is.

 

[pinklightbulb]

If the FF guilt thing was meant to be for me, I didn't say everyone suffers it. I said there is a lot of it out there

I am pro-choice too, but I am also pro-informed.

I stand by what I said about how many mums IRL I know that truly don't think there is any nutritional difference between formula milk and breast milk.

And I still also stand by saying that even though this article is harshly worded, doesn't make it mean or rude or bad. It just is what it is... blunt facts that not everyone settles well with, hence why it stirs emotions.