"Proud Formula Feeder"?
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| Thu, 12-14-2006 - 8:27pm |
In my playgroup, I've noticed some members have a blinkie I haven't seen before: "Proud Formula Feeder". In the past, I've seen the "Formula Feeding Mom" and "It's formula, not rat poison", but this new one struck me as odd. I can understand simply stating that you formula feed or saying that formula isn't rat poison (because it isn't), but I've been trying to figure out just why someone would be "proud" to FF.
While I don't think that women should necessarily feel guilty about not BF, I don't get what about FF there is to be proud about. Most (or maybe even all) of the women with said blinkie acknowledge that breastmilk is better, so why would they be proud to feed their babies something they know is substandard, even if they couldn't BF and FF was their only choice? What do you ladies think? Is/should there be such a thing as FF pride?



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>>>Banking your own BM will mean the milk you produced for your child *that day*, which was absolutely exactly tailored for his or her needs THAT DAY can then be fed to the child on a later date when the needs are somewhat changed. It is not as big a difference as feeding banked milk from anonymous donors, nor is it the same by FAR as feeding formula instead.>>>
Thank you for asnwering my question!
Spud...
Unlikely. Much more likely is that he wasn't latching on properly, wasn't getting any (much) nourrishment, and therefore her supply dropped. some people have no pain with "bad" latches (there are varying types and degrees of bad latches, some which cause no pain at all) and can't tell something is "wrong".
ETA: "Starving" women in 3rd world countries that eat way less than we do still produce excellent quality milk. So much so that while some of them are literally dying of malnutrition, their babies thrive as long as they haven't been weaned. Once they are weaned or almost weaned, that is when the malnutrition problems start in childhood.
Fio
Edited 1/3/2007 10:09 pm ET by macbump
"ETA: "Starving" women in 3rd world countries that eat way less than we do still produce excellent quality milk. So much so that while some of them are literally dying of malnutrition, their babies thrive as long as they haven't been weaned. Once they are weaned or almost weaned, that is when the malnutrition problems start in childhood."
I don't doubt the truth of the statement, but I have heard it many times and have to ask a question.
Why is it that, say, a mother lion who is starving will stop producing enough milk and her cubs will starve to death? Is it only humans that are capable of producing milk even when the mother is so severely famished she is on the brink of starvation herself? Why are other mammals so different? Why is the life of the mother lion more important than that of her cubs? Why is the life of the mother lion more important than the life of the mother human? It never made much sense to me, was hoping someone could clear it up.
"...and even with the sex of the child ("boy" milk is different from "girl" milk)."
Wow, Fio, are you serious? I never heard that! I'll search for more info, but if you happen to have a link to something that talks about this, I'd love to have it.
RPS
A woman would really have to starve herself in order for her milk supply to be affected (by her diet). It's possible that her son wasn't gaining weight for a number of reasons. Maybe her supply was fine, but the baby's latch was bad, so he wasn't feeding well enough to get what he needed. Or maybe her supply was low, but it was due to scheduling feeding or hormonal issues or a hundred other reasons. Or maybe her baby was just one of the ones that's destined to be a slow gainer.
I gained approximately 40 lbs. with each of my kids, going from about 110-115 lbs. to between 150-155 lbs. at delivery. With all but the first, I lost the majority of pregnancy weight in the first 2 weeks. I gave birth 11 weeks ago, was back in a size 5 by 4 weeks postpartum and only have maybe 6 lbs. left to lose. I don't pay much attention to it since I'm nursing and know it will come off.
My supply has always been good, even when my diet isn't. I'm horrible about remembering to eat; there are some days when I don't eat anything until late afternoon. But my baby still gets all that he needs.
RPS
>
I have never heard of infants not gaining weight when plenty of breastmilk is available. (edit to put a disclaimer here: healthy infants who are recieving plenty of breastmilk) Your MIL may have had bad information, women who had children in the 40s-70s were likely led to believe that FFing was better than breastmilk because of a varity of reasons (bm was thought to be too "thin", BF babies often grow at a slowe pace than FFed infants and the constant feedings led them to believe they were always hungry, etc). It is very likely that she had bad maagement (scheduled feedings, etc) or was told this by someone she trusted (ie doctor).
If she was literally not eating, it *could* effect her supply and the nutrients available to her son. (If she was making "plenty" of milk, he would not loose weight but show other signs of malnutrition). It is a misconception that no matter how trashy your diet, it doesn't effect your milk quality and quantity; it does. However, most of the time, it will still be enough and still be better for your baby than formula. There are women who are malnurtritioned who cannot make sufficient milk, and there are women with eating disorders who may not as well. For the typical woman who is maintainin a body weight above starvation, there is no evidence to believe that milk production or nutrients would be below neccesary levels. (A good diet can provide BETTER breastmilk though).
Melissa
Edited 1/3/2007 11:50 pm ET by missamae
Where do you know of a mother lion having her milk dry up in order to not die off? I don't necessarily doubt it, but I am wondering where you learned that. I'd not be surprised that if a mom really IS nearing dying from starvation that the milk production will dwindle and stop. But even so, many women in many places eat WAY less than we do and still manage to produce excellent quality milk.
Fio
I'll look for one. I can't remember exactly where I found this but it MIGHT have been in Auerbach's Guide to Human Lactation (I THINK that's the title in english...I actually only own the book in french...) book. ETA: Whoopsie, ok it's called "Breastfeeding and Human Lactation". :-D
Fio
Edited 1/3/2007 11:42 pm ET by macbump
Well Stacia, I've often said (which is basically paraphrasing a quote from Dr. Jack Newman) that there is NO study out there that proves that formula is any better than any other home-made concoction out there. Not one single study. And yet...there are a bazillion studies proving that BM is superior to formula (or formula is inferior, whichever way you want it...). What I find so befuddling is how if a woman says she will FF she is basically told "well BF is best but if it's not for you, formula is ok too" but if she says she'll use any other mix, she could probably even get CPS called on her for neglect...and yet formula versus homemade mixes still carries a burden of proof, whereas formula vs. BM has been proven over and over and over yet again to be inferior! It REALLY doesn't make sense to me...
Fio
And did you know that the FDA really holds NO clout over the formula company if they decide their product is just fine, despite the FDA being positive there is a problem???
Fio
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