The Risks of Formula Feeding

Dear all,

In posting this below link to a PDF (you'll need acrobat reader, you can get it from the adobe site if you don't have it already), I am doing so for those who want information and to make an informed decision on how the choose to feed their baby. The individual risks are organised by headings and studies are cited. I am not being anti-formula, I am being pro-being informed. It's the same as providing risks for c/s, drugs and all the rest. Where we deviate from normal (not 'best', because that varies), it's important to know everything we can about what that means to us and our babies, which may be either option. If the problem was a serious one, of course you wouldn't have time to sit down and research options... you'd do what you needed to do. But some people do have this luxury.

I also found this quote interesting from a lactation resource site:

A 1988 study suggests that the strongest predictor for breastfeeding duration may be prenatal intent (Coreil and Murphy). Ruth Lawrence believes that if women are given complete information on risk : benefit ratios, they will choose to breastfeed (Macadam and Dettwyler 401). Health care professionals are familiar with risk: benefit ratios. The process is called informed consent. To make an informed decision, parents need to be fully informed about the risks that may be avoided by breastfeeding. When a woman chooses to breastfeed, or bottle feed, she is making a decision that will have long lasting consequences for her child's health. Breastfeeding should not be presented as a lifestyle choice. Health care professionals have a duty to provide the information necessary for informed consent. The facts need to be presented as expert medical guidance toward health. Then we can be assured that the mother who chooses to bottle feed does so because it is truly right for her.

In her article, "When Women Decide not to Breastfeed," Gigliotti says, "Women find themselves reacting to the implication that they somehow deprived their otherwise healthy children of a once-in-a-lifetime experience (315)."

So on that note, I hope you find it informative.

http://www.infactcanada.ca/RisksofFormulaFeeding.pdf