Breastfeed or else

Nurses General Nursing

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Specializes in L & D; Postpartum.

Instead of placing warning labels on formula (warning exactly what I wonder), maybe formula should just be outlawed. Then we could go back to the "good old days" where wet nurses were hired to feed babies whose moms couldn't or chose not to. The premie death rate would skyrocket, and there could be other negative results (like moms failing to bond because they were being forced to breastfeed), but breastfeeding would be the only thing in town and by golly! that seems to be the goal.:banghead:

The breast is best idea considers only one thing: nutrition. I believe you have to look at the big picture. A mom who is, for whatever reason, unable to breastfeed, but who is given the big guilt trip, is NOT going to bond with her baby properly. And how beneficial is that?

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Specializes in L & D; Postpartum.

And another thing. I would NEVER ask a new mom if she was breastfeeding, unless it was required as part of my employment as an RN. Neither would I answer that question if posed to me, as in the grocery store line example. It's a personal thing, a confidential thing and I think it a rude question to ask. It's a privacy issue. But that's just me. It shouldn't be a badge of honor thing.

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Specializes in NICU, Telephone Triage.

A question for the moms here that never started breastfeeding...did you have the pain of engorgement? I think they used to give women a "shot" of some kind to dry up the milk in the 60's...but what about now? As long as you don't have that stimulation of the sucking infant, do you not have any milk coming in? This is a serious question, I've always wanted to know....sometimes the engorgement can be so painful you just want to get rid of it

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Specializes in L & D; Postpartum.

I was given the injection to dry up breast milk, after both deliveries 30 and 34 years ago. After the first, I don't remember being engorged but even six months afterwards I could still express breast milk out in the shower. I didn't experience that with number two baby, but I was engorged some also. Maybe I should have done some expressing in the shower.

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Specializes in NICU.
Formula is considered to be close enough by too many people in our society, and our society itself places too much of a sexual focus on breasts. Formula is 4th-rate for feeding an infant, but when 1, 2 or 3 aren't possible, then 4 is better than 5 or 6 or starvation.

Is formula good enough? No. And it never will be. It's an artificial, static substance, compared with a dynamic, natural substance designed just for the recipient. But is it better than homemade formulas? Of course! Is cow's milk based formulas better than soy? Of course. Are both better than starvation? Of course.

But nursing is by far better than giving the baby artificial milk.

We get it already. Yes, formula will never be as good as breastmilk. NO ONE is disputing that!

But I want to know how in the world you can say that formula is 4th rate! What are the 2nd and 3rd rate choices? Breastmilk is first choice, formula is second. Saying formula is 4th rate? That is extremely offensive to formula feeding moms. Like, what kind of mother feeds their child 4th rate food? :(

I was formula fed - and soy at that. Since childhood, I've rarely been sick. I have a genius IQ.

Artificial or not - it's still nutritious.

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Specializes in NICU.
The breast is best idea considers only one thing: nutrition. I believe you have to look at the big picture.

Thank you for pointing this out. :)

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The nipple Nazis are the ones who shoud wear a warning label because the few extreme radical LC's out there who intimidate and belitlle moms actually deter some women from breastfeeding. I have heard many moms say "I tried to breastfeed last time, but it didn't go well. I don't want to go through having the lactation consultant make me feel guilty again. I'd rather just bottlefeed." As a former bottlefed baby (born in 1965 when most babies were bottlefed), I can tell you that as a kid, I was not obese and neither were most of my contemporaries. We probably ingested formula far less nutritious and far less like mothers milk, than kids today who bottle feed.IMHO (that is all it is), since we have created a world where kids and adults can be entertained without the need for physical activity, we have done more to contribute to child hood and adult obesity than any form of infant feeding could have. Again breast feeding is best in terms of nutrition. It is not suitable for everyone and frankly as long as they have been given all the information and understand it, their reasons are their own business. Sure it is great to know the myriad of reasons women don't breastfeed so we can address them globally, but we need to stop picking on individual parents.

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Specializes in Government.

I probably shouldn't post on this because I have no kids and never worked OB. However, it made me remember what happened to my sister-in-law a few years ago. She couldn't wait to have babies but was very naive about the realities (she was 35 but had had no contact with infants/children). When she went to her OB, she was told the benefits of breastfeeding. She said "Oh, I'm not doing that, that's disgusting". After talking to her about 45 minutes, her OB referred her to a psychiatrist. The OB felt that the attitude was so extreme as to foreshadow problems ahead (which was true).

Psychiatric treatment probably saved a life in this case. I think a complete refusal to even consider breastfeeding at least indicates a serious concern. On the other hand, I'll never forgive the "nipple police" for making my cousin cry because she couldn't handle breastfeeding her triplets after a month. If it isn't working, you move on to what does.

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Specializes in NICU/Neonatal transport.

Actually, everyone is disputing that breast is best, by constantly saying how formula is not that different, that it's not that big of a deal to not nurse your kids.

methods of infant feeding, in order of quality:

1. Nursing your own infant at the breast.

2. expressing your milk and giving it to your infant in a bottle

3. the milk of another human mother

4. artificial infant milks

Even just look at many of the moms here who have posted. Many have said they just didn't want to - I'm not saying they're horrible mothers at all, but it isn't a case of people of trying their all, then going to formula as it is intended to be, a failsafe backup. This is the sole source of nutrition for an infant for many months, some of which are the most important in their lives, developmentally speaking. There is no guilt involved if you are giving your child the best that you possibly can, even if that is the 4th choice. If 1, 2 and 3 aren't available, you are a wonderful mother because you are giving your child the first available thing and not letting them starve!

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Specializes in Oncology.

This subject is such a thorn in my side. I was a bottle fed child and turned out just fine. I bottle fed both of my children and am happy to say that they are very, very healthy. Neither of them have had more than 1 cold a year, never had an ear infection or any other problems (knock on wood). Where as my sister-in-law who has breast fed both her children for at least 12 months each had two children who were sick constantly! Between cold and ear infections we could not keep up.

Don't get me wrong I totally support anyone who wants to breastfeed and think it is wonderful. I just don't feel those who choose to bottle feed should be felt we are putting our children in danger. I remember when I was pregnant with my first child, my husbands aunt actually cornered me and yelled at me for at least 15 minutes as to why I WILL breastfeed. :angryfire This is MY choice, no one elses.

Sorry for the rant, this subject just infuriates me! :flamesonb

Jenn

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Specializes in NICU/Neonatal transport.

Just by the by, could we stop referring to breastfeeding advocates as nazis? Last I checked, I never advocated for the mass extermination of an ethnicity. I think attaching the word Nazi is somewhat offensive and there are obviously crazy people on every side of the fence.

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I have not read the article, but I, too, bottlefed. And yes, I felt guilty for not breastfeeding b/c people would seem to say that it was not the right decision. Hello, it is my decision! I was unable to breastfeed so the nurses at the hospital did not push me to. However, I was surprised at how many people would ask me when I was pregnant if I was going to breastfeed. When I said no, most of the people would try to persaude me to. Even total strangers. What business is it of anyone? And why try to talk me out of it? After a while, it really began to bother me. Especially reading all the pregnancy books out that would make it a point to practically tell you to breastfeed. Okay, everyone knows that "breast is best". Please don't anyone get offended, I am just saying in general. Sometimes I almost feel like there is a "cult" to get women to breastfeed. I was unable to breastfeed and yes, I feel bad as it is.

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