any strong views on formula milk
Discussion
I hope you don't mind me asking but there do seem to be a fair few parents here.
My daughter has a medical condition meaning she has to have thickened milk. She won't take anything else and has literally stopped feeding for 24 hours - so it has to come from a bottle. She is now 3 months old.
I am getting a touch cheesed off with eating a non-dairy diet and extracting milk for her 4-5x a day. (hah ha )
She has been prescribed a special hypo-allergenic formula which she is on for a couple of bottles a day.
I am wondering how bad it will be to make the change to formula milk now. Medically I know there is no real issue but the old saying breast is best has some truth.
Has anyone here formula fed a baby?
My daughter has a medical condition meaning she has to have thickened milk. She won't take anything else and has literally stopped feeding for 24 hours - so it has to come from a bottle. She is now 3 months old.
I am getting a touch cheesed off with eating a non-dairy diet and extracting milk for her 4-5x a day. (hah ha )
She has been prescribed a special hypo-allergenic formula which she is on for a couple of bottles a day.
I am wondering how bad it will be to make the change to formula milk now. Medically I know there is no real issue but the old saying breast is best has some truth.
Has anyone here formula fed a baby?
My little guy is 6 months tomorrow. He wasn't feeding properly, so lost 25% of his birth weight. We had to go formula as well as breast, with the former being the majority.
He is healthy, not fat, just solid, but then I am 6'6".
If you can do both, then at least getting the best of both worlds, the required feed from the formula, but still get the benefits of breast milk.
He is healthy, not fat, just solid, but then I am 6'6".
If you can do both, then at least getting the best of both worlds, the required feed from the formula, but still get the benefits of breast milk.
Both of ours were formula fed after the first few days (the youngest was on bottles 24 hours after coming back from hospital). Now aged 6 and 4, they have always had significantly fewer illnesses than most of their breast-fed friends.
I'm not trying to claim that formula is better, but certainly I think the benefits of breast over bottle are overstated.
I'm not trying to claim that formula is better, but certainly I think the benefits of breast over bottle are overstated.
My wife had always planned to breastfeed but, in the event, after a difficult birth, she was just too tired. Our daughter breast-fed twice but after that it was bottle all the way.
She's healthy, happy and of above average length and weight for her age, so formula milk clearly hasn't hurt her.
Just about all of the midwives and health visitors who came to see my wife and daughter after the birth made the same comments about not letting anyone make her feel guilty for not having breast-fed.
If it's a real chore to continue breast-feeding in light of her condition, I wouldn't feel too worried about switching to formula now. I'd have thought the important formative stages are in the first few months, so having got to 4-5 months that shouldn't be an issue for you.
She's healthy, happy and of above average length and weight for her age, so formula milk clearly hasn't hurt her.
Just about all of the midwives and health visitors who came to see my wife and daughter after the birth made the same comments about not letting anyone make her feel guilty for not having breast-fed.
If it's a real chore to continue breast-feeding in light of her condition, I wouldn't feel too worried about switching to formula now. I'd have thought the important formative stages are in the first few months, so having got to 4-5 months that shouldn't be an issue for you.
My little lad had a condition that meant his milk had to be thickened, so we used formula (SMA Gold, because that was what he was given in hospital).
He shows no signs of formula milk being detrimental, he is a bright, cheeky, gregarious 16 month old now. He hasn't suffered from more illnesses than his breast fed peers.
He still has the occasional bottle of SMA Progress which he seems to prefer to whole milk.
Like others have said, there is a lot of pressure on mothers to breast feed, which is unfair. Do what suits your own circumstances best.
He shows no signs of formula milk being detrimental, he is a bright, cheeky, gregarious 16 month old now. He hasn't suffered from more illnesses than his breast fed peers.
He still has the occasional bottle of SMA Progress which he seems to prefer to whole milk.
Like others have said, there is a lot of pressure on mothers to breast feed, which is unfair. Do what suits your own circumstances best.
Edited by PH5121 on Thursday 25th September 14:04
OK, to get things kick-started... my wife started feeding our twins (now 2) with as much expressed milk as she could produce and top-ups of formula - by about 3 months they were on mostly formula and by 4 months exclusively formula. You've done well to do the initial 3 months...
...after 3 months much of the benefit of breast milk (antibodies, etc) has already been given to the baby, but if she has dietary requirements that you are struggling to meet, then it makes sense for you to consider the alternatives.
CH
Disclaimer: I'm not a doctor/ medical person, my opinions are those of a parent who researched the issue fairly thoroughly.
...after 3 months much of the benefit of breast milk (antibodies, etc) has already been given to the baby, but if she has dietary requirements that you are struggling to meet, then it makes sense for you to consider the alternatives.
CH
Disclaimer: I'm not a doctor/ medical person, my opinions are those of a parent who researched the issue fairly thoroughly.
bingbong said:
just do what's right for you and your baby
(most of the time)
(most of the time)
I was lucky, and had a healthy baby, and had no problem with breast feeding. However my best friend went through hell breast feeding, and finally had to move on to formula. She was so upset, and felt a failure....but 6 months on, she now realises that it was right for her and her daughter.Don't feel guilty if you move on to formula, sometimes things are just out of your control....and your child is your priority, not everyone else's opinions
My daughter was 8 weeks premature and very underweight. She went onto formula very early because it was the only way to accurately measure her calorific intake. She`s now 4, bright as a button, healthy as you like and as lively as lively can be. The breast is best nazi`s are effective at propaganda but you really have nothing to worry about.
bingbong said:
Ignore the breast feeding Nazi's just do what's right for you and your baby. Our little one has been on formula since 3 months (now nearly a year) and she's fine. Apparently I was never breast fed and I'm ok (most of the time)
The longer the better, but if you've done 3 months then that's 70% of the benefits. For the OP, why not do half and half ? As far as Formula Milk goes, I have a problem with the way Nestle (and other) Market it to the third world (ask Mark Thomas or the World Health Organisation on that) so you may want to think about the ethics, if you are that way inclined.
I fed my first on formula due to having a large amount of morphine in my system. I found Farleys better than SMA, which caused constipation.
She did suffer with colic more than my second child who was fed with breast milk, she also went through a bout of Eczema before she went onto cows milk.
She did suffer with colic more than my second child who was fed with breast milk, she also went through a bout of Eczema before she went onto cows milk.
Dave_ST220 said:
NHS push breast feeding to the point of making the mother feel like a failure if they can't/don't want to do it
Our local trust don't push it, they give you the facts and allow you to make your own decision. Yes, it's Breast fed slanted, but there's no questioning the benefits of breast feeding. Their take was that if you can, then do - but at least try and they'll support you all the way.My son was breast fed for about 18 months (obviously not exclusively after 6) and he was ok - he wouldn't take a bottle and therefore I never fed him and, in all honesty, didn't bond with him properly. He's a bit too much of a "Mummy's boy" now though which I feel may he easily explained by him not bonding with me.
On that note, however, my daughter was breast fed for about 2 and a half months, but it was too hard for mother and baby to breast feed and express as my OH was feeding/expressing all the time. We switched to Bottle (phased it in over about 2-3 weeks) and our daughter's been happy ever since. She's put on the right weight and is now being weaned rather happily.
Edited by james_tigerwoods on Thursday 25th September 14:23
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