Breast is best! Formula is poison! We moms have heard it all. At least, I thought I had. Then a breastfeeding educator was caught telling moms that baby formula is "like AIDS."
Yes, that AIDS. The AIDS that created mass hysteria in the 1980s because people didn't know what it was and why it was killing people. Allow me to insert my eye roll ... here.
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Let me be clear. My eyes are not spinning 'round at the outrage over this ridiculous bit of nonsense from a so-called educator. What she said was just this side of insane. In fact, here's exactly what this woman told a room full of moms about the "dangers" of formula:
Formula is a little bit like AIDS. Nobody actually dies from AIDS; what happens is AIDS destroys your immune system and then you just die of anything and that's what happens with formula. It provides no antibodies. Every 30 seconds a baby dies from infections due to a lack of breastfeeding and the use of bottles, artificial milks, and other risky products. Every 30 seconds.
Every 30 seconds, huh? Well every 5 seconds a child in this world dies from not getting enough to eat. And that scary little figure is not hyperbole. That's a fact that puts the breast vs. formula debate in perspective, doesn't it? And I didn't have to make it up to scare parents.
Fortunately most formula-fed kids I know are not dead. In fact, after failing at all my attempts to breastfeed, my daughter's main sustenance during the first year of life came out of a can. She'll be starting second grade in a few weeks.
Unfortunately, however, moms are still hearing this type of ridiculous nonsense every time we turn around. Instead of cold hard fact, we are treated to hyperbole. And this is where the eye roll comes into play.
The takeaway message to comments like "formula is like AIDS" isn't "yes, formula sucks." It's that moms are still considered too stupid to make the right choices for our kids. Rather than present us with the truth, they try terrify us into once choice or the other. It's too bad -- they might have something worthwhile teaching us underneath it all, but they lose us with their inanities.
Please, stop with the "formula is poison" rhetoric. We get it. It's not as good as breast milk. As a mom who ended up going the bottle route, I'll readily admit it. I don't need you to sugarcoat it to make me feel better. I just need the truth.
I expect you to respect the intelligence of my choice. I knew formula wasn't like AIDS. Formula is there because sometimes breastfeeding doesn't work out -- for more reasons than I can list in just one blog post -- and when that does happen, most moms are smart enough to reason out that feeding their child something out of a can is far preferable to letting them starve to death.
Do you believe people who start with this kind of over-the-top rhetoric about formula?
Image via brokinhrt2/Flickr
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Comments 94
I dont see an issue with scare tactics when they are in the best interest of a baby. She said "a little bit like AIDS" meaning ...well, how she explained it... It was not the best analogy to use, and is likely hurtful to any mom that could NOT BF. But poeple should be aware that when they choose to use formula, they are putting their children at risk at that time, and also in the future (facts vs. opinion). Its great that so many formula fed people are saying that they are healthy, awesome... but you are at risk for a lot more than others because you were formula fed vs. BF. Its just the way it is...if you are ok with that, then thats fine. Personally, I choose to BF.
Before judging her offhand comments,and I do concede they are,she could've used a better comparison,remember the agression marketing tactics and LIES formula companies have fed women for the best part of a century now. The billion dollar industry v the breastfeeding counsellor.
Formula is still a subpar product,it lacks vital immuno building properties,stem cells....the list goes on. That is not a dig to make Mothers feel bad but the reality of an industry that doesn't give a fuck about its customers:children!
The proof is in the pudding with Nestles latest 'improved' formula,that which made 1000s of babies ill,and that's in 1st world countries.
So before you write some offhand crappy post,think who the real villian is,open your eyes to the broader picture.
*facepalm* thanks for making us upfront and SERIOUS (read: rational and supportive) lactivists look like utter douchebags. You're such a big help. Not.
Are there health benefits to breast feeding? Absolutely. Does this country suck at supporting women with breast feeding? Absolutely.
These moms should be supported to reach their personal breastfeeding goals whether it be a week or a year, just as formula feeding moms should not be made to feel as if they must defend their infant feeding choices. Moms have the uncanny ability to assess the big picture and do what is best for them in their particular situation and they shouldn't be judged for making that choice. When we can all get to the point of serving as resources for each other, free of judgment, guilt, and animosity, all of our kids will be better off, both the FF and the BF ones. Breastfeeding promotion is not anti-formula feeding, it is anti-manipulation by formula companies, it is recognition of the reasons why moms are forced to abandon their breastfeeding goals and instead formula feed, not to make them feel guilty, but to show them that the barriers to breastfeeding success are real and unfair and that those barriers are to blame for their breastfeeding failure and it is not their fault. This recognition is important so that we can ensure our daughters are not faced with the same ordeals. I hope they can be free to choose to feed their babies in whichever way is most suitable for them free of aggressive marketing, bullying, and judgment.