"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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It might. Can you try supplementing at the breast? When you are able to nurse, I mean; that might help your supply more than anything else. As for fenugreek, each brand has differing amounts in their pills (for example, I had 2 different brands, one with 400 mg per pill, one with 600 mg per pill...) and basically the best way to judge if you are taking "enough" is to take enough that your body begins to smell like maple syrup. ;-) Your DH should love it, LOL.
Fio
I'm not sure at what point the body would stop producing milk, although I would agree that it does happen. It is much like pregnancy; there is a point where the body can't support a pregnancy so (she) will not became pregnant or will miscarry. Even so, women who are in famine conditions become pregnant and deliver infants.
There is a lot of talk regarding mothers diet and breastfeeding. So many moms say they don't want to have to watch their diet or they want to loose weight and restrict calories or so forth. The reason the "malnourished woman" is brought up is to point out that even they (usually) produce plenty of good quality milk, there is no reason that an average women in developed countries could not.
Melissa
>>Every time the topic of risks associated with FF comes up, I get this image of Jack Nicholson shouting "You can't handle the truth!"<<
And then you wonder why you are accused of judging/making people feel guilty. Amazing.
>>There is a lot of talk regarding mothers diet and breastfeeding. So many moms say they don't want to have to watch their diet or they want to loose weight and restrict calories or so forth. The reason the "malnourished woman" is brought up is to point out that even they (usually) produce plenty of good quality milk, there is no reason that an average women in developed countries could not.<<
I think that it would be far more helpful to avoid the *extreme* scenario of a malnourished woman still producing; it gets a kind of a 'WTF' reaction (at least from me, lol). Tell these women what I found out. It was a concern for me. I was in a motorcycle accident that took over a month to recover from (bedridden) and became pregnant soon after. Needless to say I gained some weight being laid up for so long and then with atrophied muscles, lower metabolism, etc, not to mention quitting smoking, I gained more than I should have with this preg (45lbs so far, on top of what I gained being laid up). I wondered if I would be able to diet while bfing, so I looked into it. I think it's more helpful to tell women who are really concerned about it that bfing burns 500 to 700 calories per day, so even if they *don't* diet or exercise they will still in all likelihood loose weight. For those of us who have a bit more to loose :) tell them that bfing and exercise are *not* mutually exclusive activities, (once you have your practitioner's approval to resume moderate exercise postpartum) though finding the time may be difficult - true for any new mother though. Also, if you are careful to eat very nutritiously, you can cut calories (slowly of course) to about 1800 a day - which should be enough to make *anyone* loose weight. Yes fad diets/starvation diets should be avoided but that's true for *anyone*.
I think this is a perfect example of why a ffer might want to proclaim herself "proud" of ffing. There is a lot of hyperbole and extreme examples being tossed around (by both parties, I know) when it is totally not necessary. If someone truely has a concern about loosing the weight postpartum (beyond 5 - 10 vanity lbs) give her the *information* and save the sanctimony for someone who cares. The extremes are what tends to drive a wedge between the two groups, IMHO.
>>>I think this is a perfect example of why a ffer might want to proclaim herself "proud" of ffing. There is a lot of hyperbole and extreme examples being tossed around (by both parties, I know) when it is totally not necessary. If someone truely has a concern about loosing the weight postpartum (beyond 5 - 10 vanity lbs) give her the *information* and save the sanctimony for someone who cares. The extremes are what tends to drive a wedge between the two groups, IMHO.>>>
This is kind of what I feel. That there is a lot of extreme examples and things that are slipped in...I just have to say that I agree here.
I think it is wonderful that I have found a place where I have learned a lot however, extremes are not neccessary...just something that I have been finding a lot lately again in a lot of posts!
Spud...
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Actually, when I learned this, it was huge relief to me.My diet is a work in progress but it used to be much worse. It helped me knowing that even if I was making a poor choice for ME, it wasn't affecting my breastmilk.
I do tell women that they can diet while breastfeeding but a lot of misinformaton regarding diet out there. For example, the earlier post which suggested that all women would have to meet with a dietician in order to make sure their breastmilk is as "good" as formula. There are a lot of people who are likely to believe that they may be harming their infants because due to their poor diet, their breastmilk might be "missing" something. I would think that knowing that women can still provide for their infants in famine would reassure them that they really can't screw up at this one, nature designed it to work that way. They will be harming their own health but so would a poor diet and not breastfeeding.
Melissa
When I first came here, my oldest (now almost 7) was about 18 m/o when I joined this board. He was breastfed up until 4 months when he was diagnosed as FTT. The long of the short of it is that I switched to formula. I came on here feeling like I really was one of those women who can't breastfeed (I EBF my 3rd child until she was past two yrs and currently have a 3 m/o *porker* who proves that theory wrong!)
My point is that a lot of the language on here used to upset me when I first came here. There was one poster in particular who isn't here now, who made some remarks about my experience and I was really upset over it. I am pretty sure I left the board for awhile afer that and when I came back she was no longer here.
Up until that point, just about everyone had said something along the lines of "you tried your best", "some women can't breastfeed" etc. Most BFing women just ignored it all together which I felt meant they didn't believe me. Although they were trying to make me feel better, (or not feel bad) those responces didn't help me. I was really upset that BFing didn't work out with my first. It was the person who confronted me and made me validate my experience that eventually helped me discover why my experience went the way it did. (although honestly it could have been done in a nicer way).
Sometimes on here though, it's hard to decide the tone of someone's post. "Did you see an IBCLC" can be "heard" as an accusation that the mother didn't try hard enough or it can be heard as a troubleshhooting aid to discover what went wrong an how to change it.
Melissa
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