Hellobee Boards

@mrbee: You were formula-fed? How are you even literate?!

I hope this study helps bring some sanity to the infant feeding discussion (breast milk as nutritious food, not magical elixir that confers superhuman abilities and immunities; formula not as rat poison but perfectly fine food that will safely get your kid to toddlerhood). But then we'll all have to find something else to fight/obsess about. Plastic in the home, perhaps?

I think formula is awesome and all the formula fed adults I know are so smart and super successful. omg. And healthier than me!!

I'm not sure how much can be taken from this study. The biggest flaw I see is the paper doesn't really define what they mean by breastfeeding and bottle feeding (exclusive breastfeeding, just for a few days, breastmilk can be in a bottle so I'm not sure why they'd call it bottle feeding), and since it was done by a survey with not completely defined terms there's going to be issues with the way it was answered.

But even if the study were done perfectly it only touches a few of the health benefits of breastfeeding. But what's best for baby really depends on both mother and baby and what's best for their relationship.

@hummusgirl: +10000000000000

I love the scrutiny this study is getting from those who guzzle down any pro-bf study as "further evidence of what everyone knows". But, but, but - the formula that half our population has been using for 50 years is actually ok; how could this be?!?!

Breastfeeding these past 12 days has definitely made me realize why some women choose not to or have to give up. It's hard!!!

Nothing wrong with formula feeding. I was formula fed and I think I turned out pretty well!!

Breastmilk (whether straight from the tap or bottled) is best if it's what works best for one family. Formula is what's best if it works best for another family. As long as a child is fed good-quality food, that's really what counts.

I was 100% formula fed from day one and I think I turned out okay Really all that matters is that you feed your baby, not HOW you feed your baby.

@snowjewelz: I think it's free for very few women. I've bought a pump, a handsfree pumping bra, pumping supplies, freezer bags, LC consultations, nursing clothes, nursing bras and I've literally spent HUNDREDS of dollars on herbal supplements to keep my supply where it needs to be. I would say that I've easily spent $1000-$1500 on BFing and I don't think I'm entirely unusual.

@MsLipGloss: I have been reading this book:

http://www.farfromthetree.com/

It has really opened my eyes to the struggle of parenting.

@heartonastring: Haha I formula feed AND EP.

BEST OF BOTH MONEY SUCKING WORLDS!!!!!!

I don't want to minimize the great things about BFing or the benefits it gives your children, but it is refreshing to read something that doesn't make it seem like your kid will be an unhealthy, fat, lump with no intelligence if you don't BF.

My boys were born a month early, were never exclusively BF, and have been on formula exclusively since they were 3 months old. Here's the shocker considering all that terrible formula. They eat as well or better than the other kids. They walk. They've gone from not being on the growth chart at all to being 42% and 17% respectively. They're starting to talk. They're happy, healthy babies. Crazy, I know.

I get so peeved when I think of all the guilt and heartache I went through about having to give them formula. I felt like I was somehow dooming them to a life of being subpar in every area. If we have another child, I plan on BFing and trying to make it work, and if it does, it's ridiculous to think that baby would be so much better off long term than the Baby Dudes.

I think BFing is "best" in a perfect world, but I think formula is friggin' awesome and is a great choice that will also lead to happy, healthy babies.

Rant over.

@Mrs. Sunshine: I know you mean well with your post, but that kind of comment ignites the mommy wars.

I find it so funny that one study is getting so much praise and press, when there are thousands of other controlled studies, with infants and toddlers (not 4+ yr olds) that have found the opposite information.

Do I think formula is terrible? Nope. I was formula fed and have a high IQ, went to an IVY league school, blah blah blah. However, it shouldn't be used to say that formula and breast are the same, because they are not.

@looch: that book is amazing. I read it while pregnant (brilliant? worst choice ever? still not sure) and it practically changed my life. I saw him talk, as well, and he's sort of unpleasant (which I find fascinating!) but so freaking smart.

I was a formula fed baby and I consider myself an intelligent, successful career woman.

I also breastfed my child and hope that he will be successful and intelligent and healthy in his future.

I don't think there's a right or wrong answer when it comes to baby feeding aside from "what's right for your family"

@junebugmama: it's not surprising to me. Any study that finds new information or challenges current thinking is bound to get press. And, as clearly demonstrated by many users, it is reassuring and comforting information for mothers who have experienced guilt about formula feeding.
In my opinion, what is most important about this article is the dialogue it is opening up about how perhaps our current efforts to increase breastfeeding rates should be reframed to help prevent mothers who formula feed from experiencing unnecessary guilt.
There are ways to encourage breastfeeding without shaming those who don't/can't.

@MsLipGloss: 100% agree. This study though isn't the way to do that. Societal change is necessary in order to accomplish that, on both sides. No woman should be judged, harassed, or shamed regardless of the way she is feeding her baby.

@mrbee: I actually have access to the whole study as the hospital I'm associated with purchased and distributed to us. I don't feel as though most of the articles are really expressing how very uncontrolled this study actually was, or how many of the children received some breast milk.

@Mrs. Sunshine: I can only speak for myself, so here goes...

I had no supply, I was pumping and nursing like a fool, and supplementing with formula. The decision to stop what I was doing wasn't one I arrived at lightly and I felt guilty about it for a good year. So, for you, to come in a joke about a decision that weighed so heavily on me for a long time is disheartening. It's almost like "no big deal, I can switch to formula whenever," where I couldn't go back to breastfeeding.

It's about being sensitive to all moms, regardless of feeding choice. I see you "stand by your joke," that's fine, but don't expect people to offer you any respect.

@junebugmama: This study is a small drop in the bucket toward accomplishing that task . . . and is a much-needed tool in trying to tip the balances back toward a more even keel. I am tired of anyone's social agenda being shoved down my throat via *study* . . . and I use that term loosely with regard to some of the nonsense I have seen passed off as *research,* and am even more disgusted at the havoc it wreaks on the mental and emotional health of those who don't fit within what are being construed as the acceptable parameters (which are, in this case, very narrow). And for what . . . what purpose exactly? I really don't know. But none that I can think of are worthy enough to inflict that kind of shame/sadness.

@looch: it was not intended that way at all. I am sorry.