Enough Already with the "Breast is Best"!

Boobie Angst: Breasts Impossibly Sexy? Yes! Say Most Americans

Strollerderby — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 22:43:12 GMT

The sturm and drang around breast v. formula feeding is much like the trouble between public spaces and

re: Enough Already with the "Breast is Best"!

Cynthia — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 17:17:13 GMT

It's not so much that Breast Is Best. Breast milk is the NORMAL food for babies. Formula is the fake, replacement food. If you REALLY can't breast feed you obviously should use formula, just as if you REALLY can't get a decent cup of coffee you should go ahead and get the instant from the vending machine in the styro cup. Go ahead and drink that brown-ish chemical soup, but don't act like I am a nut for not wanting to drink it...

It's like this:

Grass-Astroturf

Green trees-Fake Ficus

Clean Air-Air Conditioned Airplane Air

Good skin-Caked on makeup

Good burger grilled on charcoal vs. Cafeteria burger

Butter-margarine

Your own hair-wig

We can get so used to fakes (flowers, butter, coffee creamer) that we convince ourselves that the trade off is worth it. See, I don't have to water that 'plant'. See, that 'butter' keeps in the fridge for about six months. See, that 'creamer' is always here, never goes bad and comes in mint. So what if plant is suspiciously turquoise, the butter melts to a neon yellow puddle and the creamer has a weird tangy aftertaste?

A Time when Breastfeeding and Applebee’s Don’t Mix « Alex Year One

A Time when Breastfeeding and Applebee’s Don’t Mix « Alex Year One — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 19:04:36 GMT

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re: Enough Already with the "Breast is Best"!

Christina — Sat, 25 Aug 2007 14:29:08 GMT

Although I disagree with much of what was written, I believe they should not take out the formula. I am a mother of a 14 month old baby girl and yes I STILL am breastfeeding her, and quite a bit. I did infact keep it on hand "just in case", it made me feel not so panicky should I collapse "new mothers panick--must think of every senario" and my baby was left with nothing to eat! On the second day of bringing her home at about 3 in the morning exhausted from sleep deprivation I grabbed for the ready made bottle of formula that the hospital had sent home for me. Yep I did it, it was there and I was desperate to get my baby satisfied so we could both get some sleep. I put the artificial nipple in her mouth she suckled a few times, made a face, spit that crap out....and that was the end of it! I threw the rest out and nursed my baby solely on breastmilk and it's still am 14 months and going strong! I've never felt the "euphoria" that is mentioned, but maybe it's just my lack of knowledge on the definition. But what I have felt is priceless and I do feel that breastfeeding mothers experience a more intense bond, how could you not? Many times during one day and night to for that matter we are "heart-to-heart", so to speak, with our babies. I've noticed many women who bottle feed their babies will set them down and prop a blanket or something else to hold the bottle until their baby can hold the bottle themselves--so they can go off doing other things....or nothing at all....just to be FREE of their baby. Do I feel superior because I breastfeed, you bet!

re: Enough Already with the "Breast is Best"!

OOSauce — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 20:54:51 GMT

I certainly hope that the author meant to say "ice pack" and not "ice pick" in the first paragraph.

re: Enough Already with the "Breast is Best"!

ann — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 04:52:23 GMT

I realize not all women can breastfeed, what upsets me, is when I see a baby laying in a carseat with a bottle shoved in their mouth. If you can't nurse (or choose not to) atleast hold your child when you feed them.

re: Enough Already with the "Breast is Best"!

nuffsaid — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 00:24:46 GMT

This is such an American issue. In almost no other country in the world (that I know of) are so many babies formula fed. This is not because American mothers have less milk, aren't dedicated to the well-being of their children, or give in easily.

It's because asking a woman to dedicate herself to being attached at the hip to a new little being while having at most 6 weeks of maternity leave (unheard of in most of the world) to figure out how to make it through the night with a modicum of sleep - and no free community or health care support to help her figure things out - is ridiculous.

I'm just coming up to the end of my one year of maternity leave (in Canada) and am still breastfeeding and hoping to keep it up when I return to work. After 11 months of it though, I'm now a pro. At 6 weeks my nipples still hurt like crazy any time my son came near me, I was never thinking straight due to lack of sleep, and would have done darn near anything to get myself out of this hole had I needed to actually function for 8 hours a day at my job.

What you should really be debating is how to get the American government to REALLY support family values by giving families the support they need to make the right decisions for their kids. That support is what will keep women from using formula... not making them pay for it rather than getting it for free.

re: Enough Already with the "Breast is Best"!

barbara — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 20:27:48 GMT

For a great comic series about this issue, check this out: www.thecowgoddess.com

re: Enough Already with the "Breast is Best"!

Maujer — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 18:48:46 GMT

Also, formula's been around since the 20's... (in commercial form, and there were substitutes available earlier than that) I believe my great-grandmother actually used it for at least some of her seven children.

And frankly, with seven kids, who can blame her?

There's a great discussion of the bottle vs. breast debate in Mary McCarthy's "The Group" if you'd like your grandmother's perspective...

re: Enough Already with the "Breast is Best"!

Maujer — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 18:12:02 GMT

Rabid breastfeeders make me unreasonably angry and there are too many of them in this thread.

Here are the facts: New York city public hospitals will no longer offer formula with their free gift bags of stuff, unless a mother specifically requests it. The real issue here is that this will do absolutely nothing to promote breastfeeding or discourage it. It's a token gesture, and a lot cheaper than providing follow-up lactation consultant visits, support, or even longer hospital stays that include getting mother and baby started out breastfeeding right. As a token gesture, it allows lactivists to feel like they've accomplished something while still doing nothing to address the main issues why women use formula in the first place: namely, the lack of resources to establish breastfeeding, and the lack of support to continue it.

Me? I am trying desperately to wean my daughter at a year and wading through several volumes of weaning advice, most of which seems to consist of, "let the baby decide when to wean" -- which is no help at all, thanks! I really think the "breast is best" campaign, while well-intentioned, is a complete mess in terms of actually dealing with real-life women's issues. The best answer? Honestly? If formula's so terrible, they should invent some better formula.

Who's Afraid of the Mommy Wars? - Strollerderby

Who's Afraid of the Mommy Wars? - Strollerderby — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 17:53:26 GMT

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re: Enough Already with the "Breast is Best"!

Nayla — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 16:21:02 GMT

Breastfeeding, like countless other baby related tasks, is a skill and it has a learning curve like any other skill. Certainly the learning curve is steeper than formula feeding, but once you've got it, it's free and there's no STUFF you have to tangle with. Think how positive life with a small child would be if we opted for more skills rather than material skill substitutes! Slinging rather than resorting to piles of baby containers, co-sleeping rather than a whole separate room of baby stuff, and certainly much more. Takes time, but once learned you have those skills for the duration.

StrollerDerby Finishline: Of Breasts and Judgment and Pretty Pretty Mamas - Strollerderby

Mon, 13 Aug 2007 15:50:53 GMT

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Strollerderby Finishline: The I Didn't Go To BlogHer Edition

Strollerderby — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 15:50:07 GMT

Sorry, peeps. Cryitout Mike's on a plane right now, headed for a well-deserved vacation with a sixteen-month-old who has some peculiar sleep habits . Have a wonderful week, Mike, all of you. So I'm filling the void here, so to speak, though I

re: Enough Already with the "Breast is Best"!

Summer — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 05:49:40 GMT

You have to buy the diapers, the carseat, the stroller, and everything else. So buy the damn formula if you want to use it. Why complain when the hospital won't send you home with a big can for free? It's not their job to feed your baby once you get it home. It's your job.

And for those complaining that they don't have lactation consultants from their hospital. I choose a midwife and a freestanding birthing center. She came by two days later to check on me, and that was an hour drive for her. Then called a week later to see how breatfeeding was going. Money talks ladies. Instead of handing your money to the hospital then bitching when they won't pony up for lactation consultants, which why would they when formula marketers offer them more, then take your money elsewhere. If more women voted with their checkbooks there would be a lot more changes going on.

re: Enough Already with the "Breast is Best"!

BF Mom of Two — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 05:33:42 GMT

To Boob Mom's first comments... don't feel lonely. I have successfully BF two babies... still nursing a 13 month old and my first till she was 26 months. Exclusively. I also agree that it is some determination. I have worked FT and have done everything from pump in my car and rush to daycare to nurse during lunch to make it work - so it can be done. Although some women have challenges or just choose not to BF, it is still all very personal. Am I an advocate - absolutely! But, it's not up to me to judge someone who can't make it work.

I do think the free samples are negative - especially to young moms who know nothing about BFing and how to establish a strong milk supply. And they are wasted - I gave them away, whatever to get them out of my house... I didn't want the temptation... And it's a shame to waste formula when so many starving kids could use it.

My closing is Breast is Best from a quality of milk standpoint - NO MATTER WHAT, but we have to keep in mind not everyone has the same story... I know it's HARD and DEMANDING - but OH SO REWARDING!!!!!! And I'll keep it up until my little one naturally weans.

re: Enough Already with the "Breast is Best"!

ommax3 — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 02:15:00 GMT

wow....

this discorse has really become full of hatred...why?

The people who are jumping to attacks are the ones who give this debate a bad name....be kind to each other...and if you can't say something nice...don't say anything at all(grandma advice again....)

My first two children were adopted at 4 anad 5 mos of age...no bf options...well, there are...but neither child would have adated well since they had been bottle fed from birth...and our third is a biological child, and was born preemie and unable to nurse...WITH THE BLESSING of my pedi, she is formula fed....my ped who bf all 3 of her children...has no issue with ff...she agrees bf is best...but, she knows all 3 of my kids to be healthy, smart and amazingly well bonded...and no our hospital which is on board with the WHO healthy babies initiative...did not give us formula, but at our 2 week visit our Pedi did...

Girls...love your kids...read to them...and remember there are a lot of mommies out there who have lost their babies, who would love to give them one more bottle...or one more breast feeding....why fight about it....nourish your kid the way you feel is best.

re: Enough Already with the "Breast is Best"!

djinneyah — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 00:38:56 GMT

actually, our great-grandmothers did have a choice...there was homemade formula, for those times when bf'ing didn't work out....there were also wet nurses, but everyone gets squicked out about that now.

and honestly, i think there were *more* demands placed on our great-grandmothers than on modern day women. technology is supposed to make our lives easier, is it not? why are you using that as an excuse for being busier?

personally, i found bottle-feeding to be way more work than bf'ing, and i'd never do it again. the initial pain and discomfort and sleep deprivation really was temporary.

i guess i just don't understand the trade-off here....why would someone prefer instant gratification in the form of substitution and spending the next year and a half going broke buying formula and constantly being tethered to bits of plastic, to a couple weeks of being miserable in order to form a bf'ing relationship that is free, rewarding, and requires no measuring, mixing, and sterilizing, no bits of plastic, and no extra stuff to pack to go out and about?

when making this choice for your baby, did you consider what they would prefer? if you're making the choice based on what suits YOUR needs and YOUR busy schedule, then you are making it about YOU.

re: Enough Already with the "Breast is Best"!

boob mom — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 21:08:17 GMT

Andie, I did not say "those who give up BF to get some extra Zs are doing it for the wrong reasons and they shouldn't have had children in the first place."

I said "But if you're switching to formula because you want some sleep... well, what the frick did you think having an infant around would be like?"

Please do not misparaphrase me. I did not say nor mean that people who choose formula to get some sleep should not have had their children. I meant only that it is confusing to all hell to me how people can be surprised to be sleep-deprived with babies around. Isn't it one of the biggest jokes made about new parenthood? Or parenthood in general? Once the baby stops waking at night, and the kids stop wetting the bed and have nightmares, you wake up worried where your teenager is or whether your 27-year-old is using condoms tonight. I guess I figured it was all part of the package, and it honestly confounds me when people seem surprised by it. I said it in a snarky way, and I mean it in a snarky way, but I do not think people who are treating their babies well should not have had them. People who put their babies in microwaves, sure.

re: Enough Already with the "Breast is Best"!

andie — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 20:29:23 GMT

Our great grandmothers would say- 'Pass me some formula right away so that I can be free if I choose'!

Our great grandmothers didn't have the choice and our great grandmothers didn't have the demands that modern society puts on women. Demands that technology has brought on. And, I think if a lot of our great grandmothers had the choice, they would have chosen not to go through so much pain and discomfort and sleep deprivation if there was another solution. No, having babies isn't all about US, it's about the baby and the reason I chose to formula feed was because of the baby.

re: Enough Already with the "Breast is Best"!

djinneyah — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 18:08:57 GMT

for the record, ladies, bringing a baby into the world is not all about YOU. it's not all puppy dogs and rainbows and romanticized baby product commercials. sleep deprivation, pain and discomfort, making yourself uncomfortable and even miserable for the benefit of your baby, that's all part of it. i think many of you seem to forget that all of that is temporary.

and do you honestly think that your great-grandmothers had the luxuries you do? they worked their asses off and bent over backwards for their babies. they worked through the pain, discomfort and sleep deprivation to give their babies the best they could. and yet, here some of you are, whining about how it just didn't work for you, you didn't like it, didn't want to do it, and how dare someone who put in the time and effort pass judgment on you?

come on! you brought it on yourself! what would those great-grandmothers say if they could bear witness to this "debate"?

re: Enough Already with the "Breast is Best"!

BabyLogan_DiaperPants — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 16:36:52 GMT

Roxannex-

My co-sleeping comment was not meant to offend anyone; I appologize if you felt that way. For the first month or so, I did have to sit in the chaisse or prop myself up in bed to feed my son; he was still too small to reach my breast lying down. But as he grew, and I got more experienced, I was able to prop myself on my side and sleep while nursing.

I never called you lazy, I never called you dumb. Where on earth did you come up with that?!?!

There is no reason to hate me.

re: Enough Already with the "Breast is Best"!

Dr. Lori Flanagan — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 14:12:46 GMT

Last I checked 7-11 is open at 2am. Heck so is my local grocery store. So any mom who feels that desperate can go buy formula 24/7. That's what I tell my friends - don't have it in your house because you can always change your mind w/ a 10 minute car trip.

Actually, formula is 6th best (2,3&4 belong to mom's pumped milk, wet-nurse, other women's milk, pasturized human milk)

According to the AAP statistics nearly 800 infants in the United States alone die every year before their first birthday simply because they are fed formula instead of breastmilk.

Not everyone can breastfeed. Formula can be a lifesaver. However, that doesn't mean free samples should be handed out by the medical profession. What other profession gives a drug with potentially fatal consequences to every one it treat regardless of need?

re: Enough Already with the "Breast is Best"!

roxannex — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 03:10:26 GMT

A lot of these posts are offensive, but the comments that stick out to me are the women who say that they got sleep because they co-sleep...so duh you stupid moms why can't everyone do that, right? I tried to breastfeed in bed, but could never do it. My c-section hurt too much, and then I couldn't get the baby to latch on correctly in that position. Every 45 minutes (because my baby kept spitting up and I wasn't making that much milk) I had to get out of bed, configure a pile of pillows on the couch, and have my husband help me adjust myself and the baby into the right position. On top of that, I got nauseous and the chills every time I was exposed.

Yeah. I'm just lazy and dumb. Why didn't I just think of nursing in bed!

Sometimes I hate other women.

re: Enough Already with the "Breast is Best"!

Amy Philo — Sat, 11 Aug 2007 20:22:02 GMT

Want some free formula? All you have to do is buy something at Motherhood or sign up for some sort of parenting or pregnancy listserv. If the formula companies get wind that you're a mom or mom-to-be, they'll be bombarding you with free formula samples. Why should a hospital send it home with you? Are they in the business of promoting health and safety, or peddling formula? I am tandem nursing 2 kids and I can't get the formula companies to stop marketing to me. They even somehow got my phone number and called my house to ask if we were happy with our formula. Their surveys don't even allow for "I don't use formula" as an answer.

Have fun in your land of bottle washing and heating and cooling and preparation, I'm off to lounge on the bed and tandem nurse my children with some nice zzzzzs included for everyone.

Google the WHO Code for marketing of breast milk substitutes or the baby friendly hospital initiative.