Baby Formula is Not Rat Poison

i have 5 children and i breastfeed all them for different amout of months. I dont see any differences in breast feed and non-breast feed my kids stil lgot some ear infections and still got common colds and coughs. i think any mother should do what they feel is best for there babies. and its no ones right to judge anyone else in there situation for no breastfeeding. there where days i hurt so bad i wanted to stop but i didnt that was my choice and some have a higher tolerence level for what they like or dont like. so everyone should stop judging others and take a look at your own problems and mistakes in life.

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My physician would not let me breast feed either of my children. I developed a post partum pneumonia immediately upon delivering my children. Don't know why, this happened because I would be fine while in labor, but the moment they were delivered, my lungs would become congested. The physician was afraid I would pass it along to my infants, so I had no choice. Do I think my children suffered because I didn't. No, I don't.

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it's an individual choice. and i agree with the author, just because there is some evidence that breast-milk is best, does not imply that formula is "bad" and that using a bottle is the equivalent of maternal deprivation. there are lots of formula fed babies who are healthy, just as there are breast-fed babies (like my oldest sister) who has more childhood allegies than any of the rest of us.

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I should note that my formula-fed kids never had any ear infections nor allergies.

I would like it if moms could try to breastfeed, unless they have a known situation that makes it a bad idea (or impossible). But, it's not my decision and I'm not judging people for that choice. Except for those who are on the government dole and using my tax money to buy formula, when they could be breastfeeding. That's basically making "me" formula-feed your child. If I'm supporting the child, I don't feel bad making judgments about the parenting choices I'm paying for, to the extent I have enough information to judge. (Like with my step-niece who formula fed 3 of her 4 kids for no reason other than personal convenience.)

I still say breastfeeding is only one relatively minor factor in the well-being of a child.

Do you think the next big parenting debate will be over whether kids should be fed only organic food? We've sure beaten the breastfeeding and spanking arguments to death. Oh, and immunizations.

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You can't always do what's best for your baby...whether that's breastfeeding them, homeschooling them, protecting them from danger, etc. It's humanly impossible to provide the best all the time. For you to judge someone on the way they choose to feed their child is ridiculous. I agree with the person that said do a combination feeding, some breast some formula. Not everyone's job allows them to sit in a coat closet and breastfeed. Sorry but most people don't have that luxury. So don't say what they can do when you don't know their situation.
If someone chooses not to breastfeed it doesn't mean they are a bad mother. Honestly no one can be a good mother 24/7, and if you think you can you seriously need to get checked. You will make some type of mistake along the way. As long as the baby is getting feed, clothed, and sheltered, it honestly shouldn't be a big deal. No one puts this much emphasis on mothers who smoke or drink while pregnant, or leaves the baby unattend to have grownup time or whatever. So why is it such a big deal about how the child gets fed?
If it's such a big deal to you that children get breastfeed do something about it. Start your own business and provide your breast milk for women who can't do it or choose not to do it. Provide your services for those women in whom you feel are being bad mothers. It's for the baby right? If you're not willing to do anything about the situation shut the h**l up and leave people alone. It should not be your concern. You didn't lay up and have the child so you should have no comment on how people raise their children.

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I have three kids that I commited to breastfeeding. I was only able to breastfeed them all for about 12 weeks due to health issues that made it impossible for me to produce enough milk. Furthermore my second child stopped breathing on my lap at 3 weeks old (thought breastfed babies don't get sick) WRONG!! He was hospitalized for 5 days, had a spinal tap and he was diagnosised with RSV and asthma (yes at 3 weeks old). I pumped and gave him breast milk every chance I got, in the hospital and sat vigil by his crib. I would NEVER argue that breast is best, however a healthy, happy, mother is also best for baby. When she becomes anxious, frustrated, or ends up with a horrible abcess in her breast, and almost dies (which happened to a friend of mine that will never breastfeed again!!). That isn't good for ANYONE, especially baby, that 5 week old baby was away from his mother for a week!! My point is, we all do things that we feel are best for our family and our children and its NO one else's business. If you stand in front of me and tell me I'm a bad mom, you are either way overly judgemental or just plain ignorant and probably shouldn't be pro-creating anyway.

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It's not always your choice. Sometimes the milk just never comes in, despite trying EVERYTHING to get it to come in. And I mean EVERYTHING!

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Oh Brother! I think the reason more women don't breastfeed is because we don't support that choice. We are not animals and breastfeeding does not come naturally to a mom or baby. Many of us need to be taught and advised by an experienced lactation consultant. If human beings were not capable of nourishing their young without formula, our species would have died out. To produce milk you need to spend time ( which may be the real issue) with your baby attached to your breast, it releases oyxtocin (the bonding hormone) which stimulates prolactin to produce milk. A pump can't do the job as well as your baby, unless you love your pump like a baby. If it hurts your baby is not attached properly. You need to rest, eat (not diet), drink a lot of fluids, and not take medications or alcohol.........=too much sacrifice. Our culture pats us on the hand with understanding, we validate each other for being too busy, or not wanting to change our lives to fulfill the needs of our infants, even for a short time.

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Breatsfeeding is crude and immoral and will lead your children down the path of sexual deviancy. Human being are intlligent, civilized and don't need to engage in such filthy animal behavior.

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I breastfed all my children, but supplemented with bottles after having an experience with my second child wherein I had to put her on the bottle and it was very, very difficult to switch her over at 5 months. After that I made sure to supplement the breast milk with occasional bottles in case for reasons unexpected I would have to switch them over. Breastfeeding is wonderful and I loved it, but it is NOT for everyone and, when people ask me about it, I tell them that. Breastfeeding takes a lot of time and dedication and can be painful at times. If a person tries breastfeeding because of pressure from others rather than because it is something THEY want to do the results are going to be less than satisfactory. I get so tired of breastfeeding (so-called) advocates that think they can go around beating people up for decisions that should be personal. If it's not your baby, then it's not your decision. Period. There is nothing wrong with formula and some babies thrive much better on formula than breast milk.

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As my lactation consultant told me, "The best mom is a mom who knows her limitations and her child." Every mom is different as is every child. Not every woman is equiped to breast feed, I was unable to succeed at it due to surgery and inadequate supply. Only those who are not professionals frowned at my decission to give up trying to breastfeed. Mothers, doctors, nurses, and most importantly my babies, were very supportive of my decision not to breastfeed. I have two very healthy, happy and well adjusted children as a result of my decision. Oh, and as my doctor stated, "you were most likely formula fed and turned out just fine." Thank you for this article. It helped to eliminate the touch of guilt I was carrying.

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WHEN MY MILK CAME IN I WAS A DOUBLE EE. I TRIED FOR 1 MONTH, MY SON CRIED ALL THE TIME. MY SON'S PEDI. SAID OOOOHHHH IT'S JUST BEING A FIRST TIME MOM. AT 1 MONTH WHEN WE WEIGHED HIM AT THE DOCS HE HAD LOST 2.3 POUNDS AND HAD DRY DIAPERS. BIG BOOBS GORGED NO MILK OUT PUT. THE NEXT BABY I BOTTLED FEED AND IT WAS HEAVEN FOR HE AND I.

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i chose Not to breast feed my son..and my son who is now 15 years old is as healthy as an ox that stands over 6 feet tall...hes got great grades in high school,hasnt been sick that much his entire life..has had perfect attendence since kindergarten and is overall a great kid...when he was small i always held him while feeding him a bottle...i would coo and talk to him while he was eating..i never let him sit propped up with a bottle in his mouth..i always held him..i do not regret the decision i made...and frankly to be honest ..my son doesnt hold it against me either..so if my son harbors no ill feelings towards me then why the hell should i be worried about what someone else thinks of my decision..because really...isnt it between the mother and child anyways?by the way my son is 6 ' 1 and 168 pounds and is in the golden gloves boxing club...

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Ladies, I have 6 children, all were breastfed to an extent, My oldest has ADHD, my 2nd son, has severe asthma, allergies and ear infections which required tubes in his ears, they are all different, they are all allergic to cows milk protein, except for 1 who was only breast fed for a month when my supply just was not able to keep up because he as a preemie. Take it with a grain of salt, you are the mother, you know your baby better than anyone, Take care of them to the best of your ability, breast or formula, whatever makes your baby happy and healthy. This is all that counts!!!

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Sometimes babies are allergic to their mothers milk. I had to have formula as a baby because I would get sick every time my mother tried to breast feed. In this case, formula spared me from getting sick.

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i'm a new mom and i wanted to breastfeed but can't. i never produced milk. formula is not a BAD thing. don't forget 90% of breastfeeding mothers don't have enough milk so they have to substitute with formula . and in a way i hope you are 1 of those so you can "put a sock in it".

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Responding to: "Certainly, some women who are on medications can't breast feed. However, most of the ones who just "couldn't" either didn't try very hard or didn't really want to do it. If it was as difficult as some say it is, the human race would have died out long ago."

For some people -- I am one -- it wasn't just "difficult" -- it was physically IMPOSSIBLE to get enough milk out of me to keep my baby alive. How As one who tried like hell for three weeks, I doubt that I'm that unusual. But the milk just never came in -- I never got more than two ounces per DAY -- not enough to keep a baby alive. And that was trying EVERYTHING -- seeing lactation consultants (3 of them), supplemental nursing system, mother's milk tea, fenugreek, domperidone, pumping with a hospital grade pump. Yes, while I was trying to recover from a C-section and with my baby in the NICU for the first week (where she ended up with a "weak suck" b/c I couldn't take her away from the bili lights long enough to feed her), I pumped exclusively -- eight times a day, 15 minutes a side -- what with set-up, clean-up, and breakdown for the hospital grade pump, that was AT LEAST 45 minutes per pumping session -- you do the math. I learned that it was okay if there was blood in the milk (due to bloody nipples), the baby could still have those two ounces a day ("supplemented" -- ha! -- with formula, of course). After I went for 3 straight days/nights doing this after we both came home -- I was too busy with the pumping to actually feed her myself the EBM in bottles, so my husband did that, along with feeding her the formula in bottles (can't mix them, according to all sources) and washing two sets of bottles for each of the eight feedings -- I missed my baby too much to continue spending eight hours per day/night to get a TOTAL of two ounces of milk. (That's a half a tablespoon of breast milk for one hour's effort.)

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I breast fed for 6 months, but now in retrospect, I wish I would have gone longer. I recently read that formula lacks over 200 nutrients found in breast milk and that broke my heart. I wish I would have known that then. And to the moms who boast that they choose to bottle feed to save the look of their boobs all I can say is WOW. How sad for you.

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I breastfed all four of my children who were born between 1980 and 1992. Particularly in the early 1980s, breastfeeding in public was not very accepted, even when fully covered with a blanket. People seemed very put off by this basic human "act" of nurturing a child. Perhaps this anti-formula feeding attitude is a result of the effort it took to promote that breastfeeding was natural, good for your baby, and an acceptable alternative. I'm sorry to see that women, yet again, are being made to feel that their choices, situations, or preferences are somehow unacceptable. Please, allow women to make the choices they need to make. Breastfeeding is a wonderful bonding experience that promotes natural-type (organic if you will) feeding. But it demands a sacrifice from your body and requires certain behaviors, like being accessible to your child or pumping in your absense. If you are a women who has a career or must work to survive and be separated from your child, and you successfully can pump and feed, congrats. If you breastfeed exclusively, congrats. If you choose, for whatever reasons to bottle feed, congrats. Your choices are your own. Research the benefits. Consider who you are and what your life looks like. Make your choice. Be confident in your choice. Society - please tread more easily on mothers.

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My bottle-fed baby graduated a healthy 9th in her class and is currently excelling in her second year of college (financed by six academic scholarships). Breastfeeding wouldn't have made her smarter, healthier or happier, and I was more than willing to do it - the day her Dad pitched in and did it too!!

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