Bottle feeding mothers

Breast milk offers some immunity to some infections. It also contains enzymes that help the digestive system to develop. The act of sucking on the breast – which is quite different and much harder work than sucking from a bottle – helps to develop the mouth and jaw. Research has also shown that breastfeeding mothers have a more acute awareness of the baby's position when co-sleeping. This why co-sleeping is not recommended for bottle-fed babies even if all other factors (e.g. non-smoking parents, not overweight parents, etc) are positive. The "recipe" of breast milk changes with the baby's needs and more milk is produced during growth spurts when the baby is hungrier.

Baby formula is a safe substitute for breast milk, but does not provide anything like the same benefits.

If a mother chooses to breast feed she also has the right to support in that choice. She does not need people giving her strange looks or making comments or sending her to the toilets if she needs to feed out of the home. She does not need someone turning up with a packet of baby milk as soon as she is feeling stressed or tired or the baby cries . Mothers of bottle fed babies get stressed and tired and bottle fed babies get a lot of reaction to formula cows milk causing them distress.
The UK has one of the lowest percentage of mothers breast feeding in Europe and we have a generation of grandmothers of whom few breast fed for any length do time so they don't have the experience to support their daughters who want to breast feed. A common comment is "I bottle fed you and your ok" . As grandmothers we must learn with our daughters and support them. Taking the family a cooked meal is better support than a packet of formula.

Do we really have a generation of grandmothers few of whom breastfed ajanela? I am genuinely interested in the statistics supporting this, as I thought my generation were encouraged to breastfeed. I breastfed my own three children for extended periods (it felt like 10 years without a break!) and I didn't feel unusual at the time. Do the statistics not bear out my experience?

I don't think doctors had much understanding or knowledge about breastfeeding back then. With my first baby I had some kind of postnatal depression and, through that, I became very tired. My gp's answer was to give me tablets to dry up the breastmilk! Needless to say, I was still tired and anxious after that.

It wasn't until I had my third baby thirteen years after the first, that I had the confidence to breastfeed for any length of time.

There definitely was not the encouragement there is now.

It was the other way round for me, jingl. I breast fed my first two successfully because I had support from a lovely district nurse (the second one was born at home) and a good friend who could have held masterclasses in being an earth mother.

We had moved by the time I had my third baby. It was a badly handled difficult birth and I was sent home within 48 hrs to cope with two toddlers and a farm manager husband who was desperately trying to hold it all together - no paternity leave in those days.

My attempts to breast feed only lasted a week. Thank goodness for formula milk and a contented baby.

nightowl I don't know where ajenela is coming from either. Our generation were encouraged to breastfeed and I don't know any grandmother who would not support her daughter/DiL who wants to breastfeed - or support her in not doing so if that is her decision. If ajenela's mother didn't support her , that doesn't mean she can extrapolate to all
mothers.
Why blame grandmothers for the decisions of mothers? Looks very like another "It is all the fault of the older generation" to me. Damned if we do and damned if we don't.

In 1972 I found there were mixed messages about breast feeding. We were told it was good to breast feed, but very little support was offered and samples of Cow & Gate formula milk, together with promotional material, was offered to new mums. The babies were kept in a nursery until feeding time. Breast-fed babies had to be weighed before and after a feed and it was all very stressful. I think the babies were given formula milk by the nursing staff during the night. Out of a ward of approximately 18 mums, about 6 of us attempted to breast feed and 2 gave up.

In 1979 I was in a "cottage hospital" and sharing a room with one other mum. It was a totally different experience - very relaxing and supportive - and although our babies were in a nursery at night, they were brought to us when they needed a feed.

My mum had apparently tried to breast feed me but gave up, her explanation being that her milk was of poor quality - whatever that means. She was not particularly supportive of me breast feeding and I got the impression that she didn't think it was that important.

If someone asked me, I would certainly say that in my opinion, if it is possible, it is better for the baby (and the mother) to breast feed. I would not venture an opinion unless I was asked.

Referring back to the OP, I'd be interested to know more specifically what sort of negative reactions the bottle-feeding mothers are talking about.

My grandson has been bottle fed from the get-go (not going into details here as to why) and he is thriving and did from the start. He is a placid, contented, ever so happy baby adored by both his parents (not to mention 4 doting grandparents). Partly because of being bottle fed, his two parents are practically interchangeable in looking after him. Lucky boy. So my first point is that there's more to rearing a baby than breastfeeding or not.

I breastfed with not a great deal of success but I soldiered on for about 4 months or so with my babies. I remember leaking milk at one time when I felt particularly frazzled and thinking "I am so over this". So I think there is a bit of a myth that all breastfeeding mums are "earth mother" types drifting along on a cloud of maternal bliss.

(I've not read this whole thread so others may have said similar.)

It was the only time in my life that I'd had a cleavage so I wanted it to go on forever. Also found that, if I ate less towards the end of the time that I planned to breast feed, it was a great way of getting my figure back [not sure what it did to my calcium levels but I've always ate lots of cheese so should be ok].

I loved breast feeding - there is something very special about the closeness of feeding a wee babe. I would not have missed the experience for the world and am delighted that my DDs have breast fed all of theirs in spite of initial problems for some.

I was unable to feed my first child and that was a big disappointment to me as I wanted very much to do so - I did not get enough encouragement when problems arose; in fact the midwife said (imagine broad Scots accent) "You cannae feed, you have nae the boosoms for it!" - well that really helped as you can imagine! But she was wrong, as I fed the others till they were one.

I agree with MamaCaz in that I'd like a link to the articles referred to in the OP, or at least some more information as to what sort of negative reactions the bottle-feeding mums are getting.

As it is, this thread is just a list of how successful or otherwise our attempts at breastfeeding were.

Here's the Times article, though it only gives a small part:
www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/health/child-health/article4453498.ece
I wonder if it has been discussed on Mumsnet?

Couldn't find the Huff Post one, but this one from the Mirror is along the same lines.
www.mirror.co.uk/lifestyle/health/mums-who-bottle-feed-babies-5774386

"According to the survey, breastfeeding in public places from parks to restaurants is now more acceptable than bottle feeding as 39% of mums using bottles while out have suffered a volley of abuse, compared with 28% of mothers who breastfeed."

Blimey - it's totally unacceptable that anyone feeding a baby should have to suffer a 'volley of abuse'...

There are known class differences in breast/ bottle feeding habits. No prizes for guessing in which direction.

I am a bit concerned about the article's claims. There is no mention of who conducted the survey and I wonder if there might be a vested interest here. The companies making baby milk have a vested interest in promoting bottle feeding and may have found another way to do it.

I don't see how telling women they're more likely to get abuse thown at them is promoting bottle feeding

I bottle fed all three DDs from the start. They are now all in their 30s and I have always had great relationships with them, so no bonding problems. They have all been healthy with only normal childhood illnesses ( long may that remain so ). They all did well at school and have responsible jobs. Never had any pressure for either side of the 'argument'. mums should do what makes them and their babies happy.

The survey was done by Channelmums "Channel Mum Founder, Siobhan Freegard OBE, previously founded the UK’s biggest parenting website, Netmums."

Actually, it wasn't quite an independent "survey".

On their page they say "We asked mums to share their stories about feeding their babies, to show how different the truth can be from the textbooks" so the replies they got were from those who volunteered to tell their stories, with no control group. No way of weeding out bias.

And do they benefit in anyway from the companies producing baby milk? I know that many of these websites- GN included receive products to review and wonder if this goes further.
Ana the issue is that in stating bottle feeding mums are being abused a backlash effect is triggered-promoting bottle feeding and portraying bottle feeding mums as an oppressed minority who need support.
As I have said I think mums should decide and receive support for their decision,but I am aware that the baby formulae companies have used many different ways to cling onto this profitable market.

The commercial element in bottle feeding is a factor - the adverts plug these as being nearly the same as breast milk. I find that unacceptable. There is no commercial bias from the breast- feeding promoters.

The photographer Martin Parr has a wonderful ironic photo of a topless Mum on a beach bottle feeding her baby.

There is a video on the Channelmums page in my link above, where a lot of different mothers talk about their experiences. It is worth watching, because it echoes a lot of things said on here, by people who did or did not continue.

NOWHERE is there any mention of mothers who bottle-feed getting more abuse than those who breastfeed, yet articles like this one say that -

"The survey commissioned by Channel Mum found that more than two thirds of those who have bottle-fed have been made to feel inadequate as mothers thanks to negative comments from those around them and even strangers. Some new mothers claim they are breastfeeding just to avoid the criticism."

I can't find the SURVEY anywhere online to find out how it was carried out and what the conclusions were, just references to it.

It sounds to me like the "survey", or at least the claims made as a result of it, are to be taken with a pinch of salt.

I can imagine one of the questions now: "Have people around you ever expressed the opinion that it is better to breastfeed?"
It would be nearly impossible to go through pregnancy without someone saying that to you that breast-feeding is best (along with all the other advice that we all like to share with mums-to-be with the best of intentions), so the honest answer to that would be "yes" for most new mums or mums-to-be, wouldn't it? Then the survey might conclude that all of those women have been put under pressure, or worse, when that simply isn't the case.

Ok, that's just my take on it, and I could be way off the mark, but the claims being made sound totally unrealistic to me.