For real? What the hell does it matter??? To ask the question "
Why on earth would somebody give their baby formula instead of breast milk? Is like saying "
Why on earth do people not eat 100% organic, home-cooked meals?" In a perfect world we would all eat the most healthy thing for us all the time. But in reality
some people's lifestyles just don't allow for that. The choice of formula over breast milk is exactly that and really
nothing more! To call formula mothers lazy and selfish is so naive
I almost didn't want to respond here because I'm getting soo fed up with threads regarding parenting being taken over by people who are not even parents talking shit to those of us who --believe it or not-- really do care about our kids and actually want to give them the best
I am responding though because
I think its important to clarify some of the misconceptions about breastfeeding. Even mothers who do have experience still have their judgments about formula mothers, and I actually think that is very dangerous
When I was pregnant and even before that I have been surrounded by what I now like to call breast feeding nazis. They all warned me about the hospital "dont let them give her formula!! they'll try to but whatever you do dont let them!!" As if formula is some sort of poison or something. When I was at the hospital my daughter lost a ton of weight and the nurses told me I would have to give her formula. I told them "All babies lose weight at first, I'm still going to nurse" Her blood sugar ended up dropping to such a dangerous level that they had to put an IV into her and kept it in until I agreed to give her formula. I even got the WIC electric double pump but like some other mother posted, I only got trickles. I tried vigorously for 2 months pumping, taking vitamins and herbs and still trying to nurse her. It got to a point where she would scream bloody murder everytime I tried to put her to my breast. It was more than frustrating for her and me! It was extremely time consuming (one friend told me to pump on each side for 20 min every hour...which didn't leave me hardly any time to do anything else like eat, take a shower, take a shit! let alone spend time with my newborn baby!!!) I finally gave up after 2 months and STILL got shit from some of my friends that I should keep trying!
A lot of people say "well at least you tried" but I think that if formula feeding were more socially acceptable I wouldn't have gone through so much fucking grief over the whole thing. I pretty much spent 2 months crying. My daughter didn't deserve that. Now that I have another child, I went through a lot of the same things and I realized that it really doesn't matter THAT much. I feel that I'm a better parent for opting to spent time with my children instead of stressing out about producing milk. Its a lot harder than you might think. I've heard
many women say that breast feeding is more painful than labor. Imagine having labor like contractions (which you can't really imagine unless you've been through it) every time you nurse for days after actual labor. Cracked nipples? Try bleeding nipples-for weeks!
Not to mention *I* think its selfish to be the only one who gets to feed the baby. Since we decided to formula feed my son as well it makes Dad, Grandpa, Grandma, etc soooo happy to get to bond with him in that way as well.
Also I am one of those people that I made reference to above that grows and harvests their own fruits and vegetables. Problem was, all the things we grow; eggplant, tomatoes, broccolli, kale, daikon--all gave my son terrible gas!!! It was just awful to see him in pain as I slowly eliminated more and more things from my diet.
But go ahead, call me selfish and lazy...
Formula is NOT bad
I think the lowered rates of breast-feeding have an impact on the amount of allergies children now have. This is just my opinion as I have no scientific evidence supporting my claim, but think about it: There are children with so many allergies nowadays compared to 30 years ago. Compared to 30 years ago, more babies were probably breast-fed.
Actually, 30 years ago Doctors were telling women that breast feeding could kill your baby lol idk why on earth that happened but thats the word on the streets from that generation
We all know "breast is best" but that doesn't mean formula is "BAD" For example, it would of course be healthier (and tastier) to grow and harvest your own tomatoes, onions, garlic, etc for a homegrown, homade pasta sauce. But its not BAD or even unhealthy to just buy a fucking can! Its essentially the same thing.
Someone mentioned that formula companies might be lying in order to get their product sold. I actually have often wondered the opposite!! Breast feeding advocates always shout that breast milk guards against infections, allergies, etc...I'm not a doctor and have never conducted a formal study, but in my experiences I haven't found that to be true. My brother and I were both breast fed and we have
a ton of allergies! Pretty much all of my friends breast fed their babies and they were sick an average of 2-3x/month!! My daughter who was exclusively formula fed was sick maybe once every 4-5months. She has a great immune system!! Then again, those are just my experiences.
I wanted to add here that obviously lots of moms cant be with their baby all the time but in that case why wouldnt you just pump your breast milk?
And if you want to bottle feed your baby and not "deal" with breastfeeding why not just pump the milk and bottle feed it to the baby. Its still easier and less time consuming and less expensive than formula so when you compare bottle fed breast milk to bottle fed formula in that case i still cant understand why a woman would choose formula.
Lacey I can tell you are genuinely curious and not just talking shit so I want to say I appreciate you for that. As you may soon find out pumping milk is not so easy! If it were that easy I'm sure more mothers would choose to do so. The truth is that while pumping does help for some mothers, it just doesn't work for others
I breast fed my son for 2 years, (up until the point he started the chew my nipples) and I did'nt find it easy to milk myself at all!!
Id put the pump on and get a dribble after an hours work, I think yes breast feedings great for you and your baby, but it is very demanding!!!
I also had a really REALLY hard time pumping!! I'm happy for you that you were at least able to nurse your son for 2 years! I have heard some mothers say that they didn't even need to pump, just squeeze their titty over a bottle and enough milk would come out. Everyone is different though and I was the same as you that I would pump for over an hour and get such a tiny little amount! It was frustrating to say the least!! I have heard people say that the breast knows the difference between baby and pump and I guess thats true. Its also true that the pump will
never give you as much as the baby can get, although it can be a good indication.
The justifications of "well she just carried a baby for a whole nine months, it's her choice" is bullshit to me. You just gave birth and you're already looking for ways to cut corners? Seems people don't realize that having a child means you're putting them ahead of yourself for the next two decades.
8) Without looking at your profile I'm going to take a wild guess and say that you're not only male, but also have no children of your own.

Am I right? I'm going to just leave it at that because i know it would be a waste of time arguing with you, you couldn't understand unless you are a parent
My mom has told me about when I was a newborn, how she didn't really mind the lack of sleep because she'd hear me crying, wake up in the middle of the night and then just sit in the moonlight coming in the window, just me and her, and look down at me as I quietly fed from her. She said it was always so beautiful and peaceful.
I formula fe(e)d both my children and I never mind getting up in the middle of the night! Its a treasure to be able to spend the time with them alone, quiet, peaceful. Just because I feed them from a bottle doesn't mean we don't bond
The sore nipples thing worries me as well. I've contemplated my ability to stand the pain and discomfort of breast feeding. I think, for me, if I decide breast feeding might not work for me, I'd rather just not have children. I just consider it a part of having children, and if I can't do it I can't be a mom.
I'm sorry, maybe I'm misunderstanding you...are you saying that because you're afraid of having sore nipples you are considering not having children altogether?? If thats the most of your worries, then yes, please do yourself a favor and do not have kids!! Also I'm curious, a personal question--I found out after my daughter started eating regular food that she has several problems, what we now think is a very rare genetic disorder, and that is actually the reason I couldnt nurse her--if you found out during pregnacy that your child would have something "wrong" that he/she wouldnt be able to nurse--what would you do? How important is breastfeeding really??