"Proud Formula Feeder"?

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-23-2004
"Proud Formula Feeder"?
1054
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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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Thu, 01-04-2007 - 11:51am

I think that someone who chooses not to BF at all would, effectively, be hard pressed to get enough donor milk for their child. But someone who can't produce enough CAN, if she tries hard enough, get a good amount of donated milk. I donated to my friend who had breast reduction surgery and didn't produce enough. she used milk from me as well as about 3 other donors IIRC, and while her sons did have to have some formula as well (she only made about 40-45% of their needs when newborn), they also had a lot more BM than if she had not looked into donor milk. They got about 4-8 oz of formula a day, and the rest was her milk and donated milk.

Fio

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Thu, 01-04-2007 - 11:53am

Maybe it's easier here in Canada, but I went in to see my doctor and asked for HIV testing etc. (which is covered by medical insurance here). I suppose the recipiant might be asked to pay for it if they really require it, or something. There is also the possibility of pasteurizing the milk, and it should really be frozen already, so those 2 will kill off a lot of the more harmful problems (such as HIV).

Fio

iVillage Member
Registered: 11-10-2005
Thu, 01-04-2007 - 11:55am
She's FTT though.
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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Thu, 01-04-2007 - 12:02pm

Good lord we lived for YEARS below the WIC levels. ;-)

4 - $712.00 - $3,084.00 - $37,000.00

At 4 people in a family, Dh used to make 450 a week. When he went on EI he only received 300 a week. At 1200 a month, we were paying 600+ for our house mortgage, 273 for our car...it was RIDICULOUS how much debt we racked up that year. I would say that out of DD2's 4 years with us, only 1 of them (the past year) would NOT qualify us for WIC if we were in the USA. Now of course we didn't have to pay medical insurance or anything, but still...heck of a difference in salaries. Not including the fact that the US$ is still higher than the CAN dollar! ~:-o The funniest thing is...right now DH makes more than he ever made, about 1.5 times more. And yet we are poorer now in some ways since we can't buy a house with the money he makes where we live now. We used to be able to afford a middle-class house at 12-15$ an hour in rural Québec. But forget it in Vancouver at 25$ an hour. *eyeroll*

Fio

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Thu, 01-04-2007 - 12:04pm

LOL yeah! The year DH was on EI and we were SOOOOOO badly off, there was one week when beets were on sale for 1.59$ for a 10 pound bag. I used to HATE beets. But that week, they were on sale. And I basically said to myself "this is the week I learn to eat beets". It was that bad. And now I eat beets. :-)

Fio

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-01-2003
Thu, 01-04-2007 - 12:08pm

LOL... I grew up in a very 'working class' family and were eligable for a lot of assistance like hubby and I are now (although we dream of a day that we won't be eligable for *quite* so much assistance). When we got the paperwork at the beginning of each school year there was a form that listed $ amounts to qualify for free or reduced school lunches. My mom waited for that form every year... cause it was good for a laugh. We'd come in and she's say "Ok, go ahead... tell me how much we are *supposed* to be making!". :)

Kristy

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Thu, 01-04-2007 - 12:16pm

Probably you would have had WAY more mother-to-mother support to help Kylie learn to feed. I doubt she would have died...it is HARD to BF in a society that only knows about bottles.

Fio

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Thu, 01-04-2007 - 12:20pm

YOu know what...I have held many babies (before having my own), either while babysitting, or my nephews, or whatever. And yet somehow I managed to drown my firstborn (she survived ;-) I gave her artificial respiration) and drop my 2nd. ;-) She too survived. She didn't quite bounce like rubber but when they say babies are made like rubber it must be true...she screamed b/c she was rudely woken more than anything else I think because she NEVER had any signs of bruising or hurt on her face, chest, or anywhere else.

Fio

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Thu, 01-04-2007 - 12:23pm

Just a thought...did you ever take iron supplements after your births? I recognized what tearyness and "depression" I seemed to have as being really anemia. I got very anemic once from donating blood and not taking iron supplements afterwards, and after that I remembered what it felt like to be anemic. I felt really teary and lethargic and all around about 6 weeks post-partum (that was when it was at its worst) after DD1 and since I recognized it I started iron supplements and within weeks was just fine. When I gave birth to DD2 I just started taking iron supplements immediatly after the birth since you do lose a lot of blood anyhow.

Fio

iVillage Member
Registered: 12-12-2006
Thu, 01-04-2007 - 12:27pm

Good lord we lived for YEARS below the WIC levels. ;-)

4 - $712.00 - $3,084.00 - $37,000.00

"At 4 people in a family, Dh used to make 450 a week. When he went on EI he only received 300 a week. At 1200 a month, we were paying 600+ for our house mortgage, 273 for our car...it was RIDICULOUS how much debt we racked up that year. I would say that out of DD2's 4 years with us, only 1 of them (the past year) would NOT qualify us for WIC if we were in the USA. Now of course we didn't have to pay medical insurance or anything, but still...heck of a difference in salaries. Not including the fact that the US$ is still higher than the CAN dollar! ~:-o The funniest thing is...right now DH makes more than he ever made, about 1.5 times more. And yet we are poorer now in some ways since we can't buy a house with the money he makes where we live now. We used to be able to afford a middle-class house at 12-15$ an hour in rural Québec. But forget it in Vancouver at 25$ an hour. *eyeroll*

Fio"

Problem is with the housing bubble (I know it hit AZ really hard) you can't *rent* a one bedroom apartment for less than $1000/mo unless you live in a *really* bad neighborhood. You have to be rich to buy a home. The people I was referring to made about 30K/yr (just over the WIC requirements), but had no credit/bad credit so racking up debt was not an option, and with the rent payments, car payments, mandatory (aka expensive) car insurance there was no way they could do without assistance especially since they didn't have health insurance. There really is no such thing as middle class anymore.

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