"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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Diane Wiessinger (lovely lady, by the way...) just likes to come across strongly to make her point. It is interesting how she turns around the "BF is superior" into "Formula is inferior" and shows how the percentages change if you compare everything to BFing (ie. X% raised chance of breast cancer in FFing women) rather than comparing to FFing (where you'd see X% chance of lowered Breast cancer in BFing women). I also think her "Just one Bottle" is a VERY informative article that is not trying to put anyone in particular down...it is just trying to get across the truth that bottles DO change a baby, gut flora does change, etc. and it CAN mean a difference. Maybe not a noticeable difference in EVERY baby, but at least a measurable one in some...
Fio
OK but whose choice is it? It obviously is the mom's, in reality, but what do you think the baby would choose?
Fio
Thank you! Dang, that's an expensive book!
I have Ruth Lawrence's and that one was well worth every penny. I wish I could remember which of the 11 boxes of books it's in so I could see if it has info about milk being different based on baby's gender.
Very interesting information. I guess I did my job today since I learned something new! =)
RPS
Unfortunately, milk from "proper milk banks" is NOT widely available. You usually need a prescription to even be allowed to buy it, and even then, quite often lots of medical companies don't cover it and it can be very cost prohibitive (3$ an ounce or so?) to buy in that case. HOWEVER, it is easy to find out a) what questions the banks ask b) what tests they run c) how to pasteurize milk and it CAN be possible to find a friend or more than one to donate if you are in the right circles. I did a mother-to-mother donation for a friend and we talked in length about my eating habits, medication use, etc. as well as having me pass blood tests for HIV, HepB, HLTV, etc. (all the illnesses the banks test for) every 6 mos while I was donating. She actually made the choice to not pasteurize the milk since that kills off some antibodies and enzyme activity, and since she knew me and knew I would be TOTALLY honest with her about stopping using my milk IMMEDIATELY if I ever had any question about its safety. No matter whether it was to do with a cheating husband, an inadvertant use of an unsafe drug (ie being slipped a drug in a drink), or whatever...it was a no-brainer for me that I would TOTALLY tell her not to use my milk if I had any question whatsoever.
But some people would want to pasteurize the milk like a milk bank does and that is FINE. It is relatively easy to do, and the milk still retains human proteins, human fats, human hormones etc., and so because of that is still above formula.
Fio
I'm not sure if it is "recommended" as yet, but I wouldn't be surprised to see this coming someday soon: an HIV mom should be able to safely pump, pasteurize and feed her baby. In fact, recent studies have shown inactivity (ie death) of the HIV virus after simply freezing the milk in a deep freezer, which damages/changes the milk composition less than pasteurizing it, but "to be on the safe side"...one should be able to feed BM if not actually feed AT the breast.
Fio
Yes. The rate of transmission is low while babies are exclusively BFed. For this reason, they recommend 6 mos (more or less) of excl. BFing followed by abrupt weaning. The rates of transmission are lower in that case. The rates of DEATH are lower in BFed babies whose moms are HIV+ than are the rates of death in FFed babies in 3rd world countries without access to clean water and where they can't afford formula. Of course some of the reason for that is due to diarrheal illness, malnutrition due to watered down formula, etc., but the current policy is that since the death rate is lower, even if the mom is HIV+, if she Bf's, then she should BF.
Fio
Unfortunately I'm pretty sure my book is in a box about 5000 km from here. :-( We relocated from Québec to BC a year ago and we still don't have all our stuff with us yet. I did bring one important BF book (Hale's medications book, as I use it a LOT) but I did not bring them all. Couldn't. :-(
Fio
One thing I read in Jack Newman's book really made me think. He said that feeding formula to a baby girl increases her risk of developing breast cancer 33%.
I switched my older daughter to formula at the advice of the ped because DD1 wasn't gaining weight like the ped wanted. However, DD2 was exclusively breastfed and not weaned until she was 5 (years, not months). I really wish now that I had known more and not given my DD1 formula, especially since I know now that my kids tend to gain weight slowly whether they have formula or breastmilk.
I think if more mothers of little girls knew about this risk, they might be more inclined to not give up breastfeeding.
RPS
"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."
I remember seeing something to that effect on a nature show on Discovery - very sad. Like I said I don't doubt women who are severely malnourished could still produce, but I wonder if you are really *that* close to death if the mother's survival would not in fact take precedence to milk production.
"Diane Wiessinger (lovely lady, by the way...) just likes to come across strongly to make her point. "
I took it as her liking to come across condescendingly to make her point :) but I guess it's all in how you read it. I found her way of expressing herself rather extreme and kind of insulting. JMHO.
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