Early findings about link to obesity & formula

[butterfly_warrior]

I've always wondered why articles such as this inspire guilt in those who have no choice but to formula feed. Now that I find that I'm in that position, I think I know.

We all know breast is best... it's pushed everywhere...

I was going to breastfeed, I was determined... but then I found myself with an early arrival who couldn't suck, a really stressful time in hospital, supply never really establishing and then finally a severe arthritis flare which meant I needed to begin medication where I had no choice but to formula feed.

And I felt guilty because the best I could do was to give Samuel dribbles of breast milk for two weeks. I felt like I was giving him the worst possible start - he was premature, he needed breast milk... I didn't have any worth mentioning.

One day, someone said something that finally broke through the fog of guilt. How dare I give my baby formula and not let him starve. Shocking, but it finally got through to me.

Yes, breast is best, but there are some where it's just not an option. And then it comes down to the question of is it better to give your baby formula or let your baby starve?

Sure, there may be health problems down the track from being formula fed... but at least by having formula there is actually going to be a down the track.

I still have moments, but while I am not necessarily giving my baby the best start in life, I am at least ensuring that he has a life and isn't starving to death - as that's where we'd be without formula.

Please, those of you who are upset by such articles when you had no choice but to formula feed, try to see it that way... I think of this as an indication of what we may need to look out for in Samuel in the future. Something that we can take steps to avoid later in life by encouraging a good diet and being physically active from very early on.

BW

[MantaRay]

Well said BW.

[Kazmar]

[alioops]

BW - That is exactly why I dont feel guilty giving Em a bottle. Even at 18 months I know that I have to get it into her however she will take it, and she wont drink her formula from a cup. I feel more guilty for giving up before asking for help with Sarah, because she COULD BF.

[butterfly_warrior]

Thank you, everyone.

It's so easy to read something like this and get stuck on thinking that it's another way that I've failed my son... but the truth is that I'm not failing him, we're just making the best of a bad situation and it would have been more of a failing to persevere with breastfeeding where he would starve.

BW

[Bathsheba]

Some great comments by Manta and BW I totally agree. Articles like this one are valuble NOT because they inspire guilt but because they raise awareness so that possible future problems can be avoided. Would Mums who need to use artifical milk (like myself during several points of my BFing journey) prefer not to be told and then have their children suffer these preventable problems (like obesity) later on in life? Would ignorance be more blissful, really?

[paradise lost]

You're going on a journey of parenthood. You can go by bus or by taxi. I'm going to tell you how great the bus is. I'm going to impress on you how much BETTER the bus is for you and for your baby. I'm going to tell you how second-rate taxi's are for transporting kids and how careful you must be if you choose to go that way. I'm going to give you a list of bad things that can happen in the taxi and tell you how careful and vigilant you need to be if you go in one. I'm going to say whatever i can to make sure you feel, at the outset of your journey, that it's bus-or-Bust for you!

Then it's time to go. I won't tell you where the bus stop is. Um, yeah, over that way, not got time to draw you a map though... Just keep going, its THAT way, no, silly over THERE! You've got a lot to carry. I can't help you though. I'm busy. I can't give you the number of the bus company, no. Timetable? Oh you don't need one. Just DO it! Come on now, you're not trying. You're making too much of this - other women just GET ON THE BUS! I'm impatient and act bored and unsympathetic. I look at my watch and tap my foot.

Taxi's with apparently happily journeying families pass you. There are taxi's everywhere. Every now and then you see a bus, but you still have very little idea of how to hail one or get on it. Well-meaning friends and family start sending taxi's to you. You search frantically for the bus stop, for a timetable, for ANY information on how to get on the damn bus. I might stop by occasionally to tell you once again how important it is that you're on that bus. No sorry, i still don't really have time to help you get on. People passing by give you advice. Just jump on! Throw the baby on first! Use a step! Shout and the driver will come to you! It comes every 4 hours, no it comes every 2 hours, no it comes twice a day, no it doesn't stop on this road, yes it does it stops right here, did you miss it already!?

I'm getting impatient again. I don't have time for this. No i can't help you stop the bus and get on with your little family. Oh ok, fine, but be quick. Hurry up. No. You're doing it wrong. Oh for goodness sake! I do NOT have time for this! Just get a taxi!

BW you did your son proud. Those "dribbles" of milk filled his tiny tummy and kickstarted his immune system when he needed it most. When you were sore, shocked and exhausted there was no oxytocin to get your milk out. You got it out with desperate determination and love to give your little boy what he needed those precious early days. NEVER allow yourself to forget how those days ACTUALLY felt. It's so easy when the baby is fed and sleeping in your arms, when the pain is somewhat tempered with meds, when life is beginning to feel less desperate, to forget the pressures of the times when you struggled and convince yourself you failed in some way. But you did NOT fail. You squirted breastmilk in the eye of terrible adversity! You have always made sure his needs are met, and when fate threw a roadblock down you re-routed without missing a step. And i am going to keep reminding you, so you don't forget it!

Bx