Baby Formula is Not Rat Poison

by Lenore Skenazy (Subscribe to Lenore Skenazy's posts)
Apr 13th 2010 11:00AM

Filed under: Opinions

Do you think we could maybe take a break from beating up non-breastfeeders? Formula is not rat poison. The moms who use it are not Simlac abusers. In fact, they are the majority of us: Only 14 percent of American women are exclusively breastfeeding at the six-month point. They must have some reason beyond massive indifference to their babies' health.

Like, maybe it's hard to do? Or it hurts? Or, as with two of my dear friends, the whole thing never kicked in, despite the desperate days they spent attached to miniature milking machines? Or maybe some moms actually have to go back to work and don't want to sit in the coat closet with a pump and a copy of People?

There are plenty of legit reasons for not breastfeeding, and yet formula moms are often portrayed as selfish jerks who don't care if their babies live, die or end up allergic to dubious studies that make moms feel guilty. I'm allergic to those, too.

The latest one appears in this month's Pediatrics, saying that each year 911 babies (what an evocative number!) die from the infections and/or illnesses they might have fought off had they been breastfed.

Let's leave aside the scientific problems with this study -- most saliently the fact that it is impossible to separate the benefits of breast milk from the benefits of having a mom so health-conscious that she breastfeeds. These two factors are "confounded," as Joan Wolf, assistant professor of Women's & Gender Studies at Texas A&M and author of the forthcoming book, Is Breast Best?, puts it. In other words: It's quite possible that it's the upbringing and not the milk that is conferring the rather minimal benefits we associate with breastfeeding.

Minimal? Yes and don't jump on me! Dr. Michael Kramer, a professor of pediatrics at McGill University and breastfeeding consultant to the World Health Organization, tells London's The Times that the benefits conferred by breastfeeding in terms of kids avoiding leukemia, lymphoma, bowel disease, type 1 diabetes, heart disease [and] blood pressure are "weak." So are breastfeeding's benefits when it comes to allergies, asthma and obesity.

Breastfeeding does seem to cut down some on ear infections and diarrhea. But then again, formula feeding helps fend off rickets.

Every day we make decisions about how to raise our kids, factoring in risks and preferences. For instance, city kids are more apt to get asthma. So do families immediately relocate? Says Wolf, "Most couples would say the costs are too great." Staying put is a small risk they're willing to take. Or what about the fact that more kids die as car passengers than from any other cause? Do we immediately stop driving them, because five or six die each day? Or, says Wolf, do we make a calculated decision that the minimal risk is worth the convenience of driving?

No one questions our choice to live in the city, or to drive the kids to grandma's house. But when it comes to choosing formula, suddenly we are heartless hussies.

Interesting, isn't it, that we focus so harshly on the one part of parenting that only women can perform? A part that society uses to determine whether or not a mom is doing the right thing, as if there aren't a thousand decisions we will make in the next 18 years?

Babies need love and they need food, which they can get from the breast or the bottle. Next subject please!

(And, in case you were wondering, I breastfed.)

Related: Is Any Baby Product Safe Enough?

ReaderComments (Page 4 of 32)

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4-17-2010 @ 2:15PM

Penstar said...

I know a few people who could not breastfeed. My mom was one. Also my neice. But in the vast majority of cases, it seems to be more a case of not doing it because it is inconvenient or it will alter their appearance. Just my 2 cents.

4-17-2010 @ 2:13PM

Christine said...

If I do breast feed, it will NOT be in public like so many do, some never heard of privacy

4-17-2010 @ 2:16PM

momtotwins said...

Does anyone realize we are the only mammals that don't breastfeed our offspring? I really think women should be more encouraged and supported to breastfeed. I know it is tough, I breastfed twins for the entire first year while working full time as a nurse practitioner. I don't regret it and am so happy I made it. I see children who have a lot of problems with formula and I feel they wouldn't have those problems if they were breastfed.

4-17-2010 @ 2:17PM

Dan said...

Wow Jennifer, you are gullable. I am a physician and an expert in evidence based medicine, a wrote the book on it, and this was the first article I have ever read on this subject that was accurate.

4-17-2010 @ 2:21PM

brit said...

The way i feel is if u can do it, do it. If u can't a leat u tried. With my first baby i was doing great in the hospital breastfeeding but when i got home it all went downhill. i did it for the first 6 day with out a bottle then i pumped it for about a week and then that was it. But when i had my son in 08 i breastfed him about 8 weeks but i pumped it becuase i had a 2 1/2 year old runny around and it was easier that way. and yes he got formula in with the breastmilk, i mixed it. but i was proud of myself but i wish i would hvae done it longer..... but what i'm saying is if u can. "do it". Yes it is the best for the baby but what about mom. My sister-in-law's milk never came in so what was she supposed to do she tried and tried but it never came in. so if whatever the mom want's or can do. BUt u should aleast try it. thanks.

4-17-2010 @ 2:23PM

tee said...

It's not mom's fault that she has to go back to work at the crummy job with the closet for pumping. We live in an anti family, anti woman culture. (Look at France.) Too bad that people who write about it continue to feed misinformation.....It really is not OK to feed formula unless there are compelling reasons - like the adopting mom.

Hard? Hurts? That what we thought about intercourse the first time too.
Nursing is fun, warm, cozy, worth it. The fact that the kids are protected from allergies and ear infections is just a little bonus.

One good thing about bottling. You can keep smoking, hand the baby to a buddy and avoid the side smoke related diseases. Bottle feed away all you smoking moms.

4-17-2010 @ 5:01PM

Beth said...

Really? All moms who use formula are smokers? Talk about judgemental.

4-17-2010 @ 5:57PM

Jennifer said...

I am 40 years old. I was not breast feed. My brother is 43, and he was. Here is the difference between us. He has oral fixation issues, I do not. I am think, he is heavy. Is there a connection to being breast feed? Who's to say for sure? I'm just stating a fact here between me and my brother is all.

4-17-2010 @ 2:28PM

luvmylileskie said...

Over thirty years ago I nursed my baby and had to go back to work when he was 7 weeks old. Pumps were terrible back then so I tauhgt myself to hand express and my son was on just breast milk for 4 months, then one bottle of formula a day for another 2 months. By then pumping was not working and he got two bottles of formula a day at the sitters. I continued to nurse him until he stopped on his own at 9 months.

4-17-2010 @ 7:25PM

cinnamontoast said...

I don't think that the big issue is nutrition- the big issue is bonding with your baby. It's one thing if you *can't* breast feed, but not *wanting* to? I don't get it. I nursed my child longer than most, and I worked. I didn't take a real lunch break for over a year- I had two 15 minute pumping breaks. It's not that big a deal. The best thing was coming home after a long day at work and nursing my baby.

I don't know how someone could start nursing a newborn and give it up in the first couple of months for any other reason than medical ones. I'm not saying you can't be a good mother if you choose not to breastfeed. It's not the only way to bond with your baby. But *choosing* not to breastfeed is something that I will never understand.

4-17-2010 @ 2:24PM

Priscilla said...

I tried really hard to breastfeed my youngest child exclusively. I thought all was going well but at the one month point he needed surgery and we found he was well under his birth weight, so something was going on that wasn't good. I worked with two lactation consultants, I used an electric pump several times a day, and I couldn't make much milk at all. The most I was ever able to pump out was an ounce and a half after half an hour on the pump. My son was starving. I then used one of those bottles you hang around your neck with tubes going to the nipples, so that you can give your child formula at the same time they're nursing. I put the narrowest tubing on there so that he'd really have to nurse hard to get it and so hopefully I could give him as much of my own milk as possible. At six months of age, he turned his head away. He was exhausted with trying and he was hungry. He never again would willingly put his mouth to my breast. I don't see how anyone could say I didn't try everything possible to breastfeed. I wish it had worked for me, and I felt terrible that it didn't. I felt even worse when I heard from smug, happily nursing moms about how terrible formula was. My son is almost 20 years old and it still kind of pains me to read comments blasting mothers who don't nurse. I think every mother has heard how breastfeeding is best. I think every mother should get help if she needs it in order to breastfeed. Anything that can be done to further breastfeeding is great, but putting guilt trips on moms who can't breastfeed or who have what they see as good reasons to choose formula isn't helpful and can be awfully hurtful.

U did ur best not everyone can do it, both of my sis-in-laws couldn't do it one her bay was born 3 weeks early and he was way to small for her big breasts and my other sis in law it never came in so u did what u could. don't fell bad.

4-17-2010 @ 2:32PM

now that's just selfish, u would rather smoke than breastfeed. I would never choose smoking over breastfeeding my baby.

just try it.

4-17-2010 @ 2:26PM

Christy said...

SERIOUSLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I breast fed both of my kids for a year. It was hard. It was time consuming. I wouldn't trade it for anything. I made it through because of the looks on my kids faces while they breast fed.

BREAST FEEDING IS NOT FOR EVERYONE!

Yes, it is a choice. Yes, most can breast feed. Yes, it is supposed to be best for your child.

SO WHAT!

You are not going to be a better mom while stressed out. You really aren't going to produce milk either. For a "let down" to occur you have to be relaxed. (at least with me)

YOUR CHILD WILL LOVE YOU NO MATTER WHAT!

The only thing I did not like is "Only 14 percent of American women are exclusively breastfeeding at the six-month point" Most are already starting food by then. SO, that is a mute point.

Love your children. Do YOUR PERSONAL BEST by your children, and stop judging or allowing yourself to be judged by other ppl. It isn't worth it!

4-17-2010 @ 6:36PM

Linda said...

Well said...

zhelixuya said...

Why is nothing ever said that in order for breastfeeding to be best, the mother needs to eat a nutritious diet? I'm not a biologist or a medical doctor, but it seems to me that if the mom isn't eating well, she's not passing on anything to her baby that is better than formula, but none of the breastfeeding propaganda ever mentions that.It has been 1 years alrealdy since i retired from the military. I'm 27 ,rich but still single.It's hard to get a girlfriend in my town ,most of them like my money more than like me.Ijust want to find my true love.so i uploaded my hot photos on militaryloves . c om under the name of sammy561.It's the best club for seek ing Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, Police Force, and their admirers.if you girls see this comment,i hope you will check my photos out there.maybe you are the one who i'm looking for!!!

4-17-2010 @ 2:30PM

s said...

I breastfed my first child exclusively until she was a year old, my second for six months, and the thrid wanted nothing to do with it because he was immediately given bottles of sugar water after brith while I recovered from a c-section because his blood sugar was too low. My first had several ear infections despite the breastfeeding and has even suffered hearing loss, so breastfeeding sure didn't help there despite the scientific evidence. Hopefully, you'll be able to stand the immense pain of it, not just the nipple soreness but the excruciating cramping! Formula can be a lifesaver for working mothers and babies who just won't take to breastfeeding. Before you pass judgments, walk a mile in the shoes of those you are passing judgments on. Breastfeeding is not for all and it's really nobody's business whether or not it is!

beth said...

I tried to breast feed my daughter but when her fathers mother was around I was told to go to the bathroom to do that because it was nasty and i was nasty for doing it in my own bedroom. I was glad when the DR told me to stop breastfeeding her and put her on a bottle because she was not getting enough and my milk was to thin.
With my son, the only problem I had was when he started getting teeth and would bite me, twice I had to get stiches then I started pumping my milk and putting it in the bottle for him.. easier on him and me... He got the milk he wanted and needed and I did not have to get stiches...

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