Breastmilk or formula, a twist!

Tah - posted on 06/03/2011

Formula

Elizabeth - posted on 06/02/2011

Wow, thanks for the intriguing question. I have debated with myself as I read all the posts. I have no one that I'm close enough to that breastfeeds, but in a hypothetical situation where a friend or relative did, I would chose the wet nurse. Anything that would keep my baby hydrated and healthy would work though. My 88 year old grandma had to supplement my dad and his twin, then she had to work when she had my other uncle and didn't know how to express by hand so she used what the doctors were recommending that everyone use instead of breastmilk "because breastmilk was not healthy." You know what they used? Cows milk mixed with Karo (cornsyrup). Seriously. Baby's survived and even thrived.

Laura Zoey - posted on 06/02/2011

Kimberly, breast isn't 'best' it's normal. Formula is an alternative choice, it's not 'worse' but it is lacking alot of ingredients that's in human milk.
Obviously each mmom and baby has to evaluate their specific situation, and if mom has to be on unsafe drugs then of course formula us going to be safer then moms milk tainted with harmful drugs.
But its good to remember that every baby is supposed to eat human milk, in ideal situations.
We aren't dealing with 'best' and 'worst' it's really 'natural' and 'man-made'

Kimberley - posted on 06/01/2011

My Daughter was formula feed straight from birth. It was a choice I made during my pregnancy. I NO NOT agree that "breast is always best" give it a break, my daughter will be three in July and She has always been well advanced for her age. Even at our 6 weeks check up she was lifting up her head and moving it to watch different things. My doctor has always said to me that my daughter is extremely advanced. I choose to formula feed her because I have epilepsy and have had it since I was 6 months old. and always been on medication for it. there was no way on earth that i would breast feed my little miracle baby when the medication i have always been on are a brain altering drug! I received so much backlash from nurses and other mum's because of my choice. I had a doctor that I had seen during my pregnancy and I explained my reasons for not going to breast feed and he agreed with me. he had been practising medicine for over 40 years and told me I was making the right decision as there was no research proving that epilepsy medication does or doesn't harm babies through breast milk! I have an extremely close bond with my daughter just the same as what breast fed babies bond with their mothers. I had the added bonus my daughter and my husband also have a very close bond because he was able to feed her and form that special bond too!! It was the greatest choice I ever made!

Mel - posted on 06/01/2011

awesome video - and Sarah Im with the others Id always heard that breast milk even with a crappy diet is stil better then formula, but I could be wrong Im not an expert on the topic

Liz - posted on 06/01/2011

Option C, then B, then A.



In reality though, it would probably be A. Because if I asked the women I knew to breastfeed my baby, they would think I had gone mad.



I would be a wet-nurse for a friend's baby in a heartbeat, but again I doubt any woman I knew would want me breastfeeding their baby. They'd probably have me arrested if I tried! Well no, but they might call a shrink.



P.S. Beautiful video of Salma Hayek. Thanks for posting it!



P.P.S. I have all this pumped milk in my freezer that's going to go bad soon. It's a shame I can't donate it to anyone or anywhere where I live. It makes me sad when I think of those African babies in that video.



P.P.P.S. Here is a story about actress Jenna Elfman donating milk to a drug-addicted baby:



http://www.bestforbabes.org/jenna-elfman...

Bernie - posted on 05/31/2011

My son had my exspressed milk right from the get go, so I would pump in advance other wise it would be formula. He had formula from three months. And before anyone jumps on my back, I could not breastfeed it was literally impossible for me to. I don't think there is any donated breastmilk where I come from.

Barb - posted on 05/04/2011

Here is the video and beautiful story of Salma Hayek breastfeeding the baby and a little more to the story.

to answer the OP. i would choose B or C. I had to go to work when my Jr was 2 months old, so i pumped bottles for him. He took them rather well. I fed from the breast when i could.

It's been almost 20 years since i have breastfed my baby (omg) but if i hold a newborn now, by the next day i'm leaking colostrum for a day. I have no doubt i could be a midwife.

Sherri, you crack me up.. it took me a minute to realize you meant "bm" for breast milk instead of the other "bm" but i don't take bullshit well either.

Sherri - posted on 05/04/2011

Formula, no other option would ever be viable for me. I have major issues with wet nursing or buying someone elses bm.

Danielle - posted on 05/02/2011

If I knew about the situation before hand (surgery) I would pump my own, if not, then my only other option is formula...we live out in the boonies and in a small town so I couldn't recieved mailed bm and I'm not asking people around her to donate.

Jayde - posted on 04/29/2011

B! :) I'd be too jealous if my daughter bf off another mother - i want the bond

Mary Renee - posted on 04/28/2011

yeah, I would have done the same thing as Salma. I've gotten the urge to breastfeed other people's babies more than once, anytime they're crying and hungry, I've seen Dads and Grandpas taking babies on walks in strollers, no doubt trying to help out and give mom a break but the babies will be crying bloody murder while the grandpa is looking at the birds in the tree, hahaha, and I just want to do a drive-by boobing or something just to stop the baby from crying.

April - posted on 04/28/2011

Sometimes I fill up even when there isn't a baby around! We are planning to try for our second child next month and just thinking about that makes my boobs fill up!

Laura Zoey - posted on 04/28/2011

Mary, I've had that urge too with the baby I used to watch, he was sick and so crabby and just got himself hurt and with all his crying my boobs were filling up! That's one positive of breastfeeding, no chance you get stuck without your breasts!
And yeah I saw salma hyack bfing a sick baby in Africa, she said it was wonderful and natural. Baby needs milk, she had milk, so why not help!

Mary Renee - posted on 04/27/2011

Actually thinking about it again, I wouldn't think twice about letting one of my cousins or friends nurse by baby. It's weird to think about a stranger doing it, but my cousin and I were nursing our babies at the same time and she had twins and when she was tandem nursing in my head I always wanted to be like "Can I help you out?"

Also once I was stuck in a parked car with my breast-fed baby and my friend and her formula-fed baby. The formula-fed baby started crying because she was hungry. My friend (the mom) couldn't find the bottle and was calling her husband to find out where he packed the bottle and my boobs naturally were filling with milk and litterally my nipples just wanted to feed the baby! I knew it would be so strange but it took all my self-control not to be like "Please let me breast feed your crying baby!" I think I might have jokingly offered because I didn't want to offend her, but if she would have taken me up on it, I totally would have done it. Wasn't Salma Hayek photographed nursing a malnourished baby in Africa or something?

Mary Renee - posted on 04/27/2011

B, because my selfish self doesn't want her bonding with another woman! That said, I'm afraid the only option might be C because I've tried to give my daughter a bottle of my own pumped breast milk multiple times but she'll have none of it! She'll drink water from a bottle but not milk, she only wants it directly from the source.

April - posted on 04/27/2011

Option C. Depending on HOW temporary, I would consider cup feeding (yes you can cup feed a newborn) before I would consider bottle feeding.

Laura Zoey - posted on 04/27/2011

Wow Sarah! That truly is interesting. Too bad you don't live in a big city or you could have been famous :P I don't doubt your situation, but I hope you know how rare that is! I've heard too many moms say 'my milk was bad' when it wasn't, but it sure sounds to me like you had either a seriously rare condition, or a seriously confused set of drs! My pumped milk usually was see through, so idk about color, but maybe Lisa is in to something with the formilk hind milk stuff. I know for sure the formilk is usually tons of water, but the hind I'll doesn't come out til the very end of the milk ducts empty. Sorry, don't mean to pick apart your situation but it's so intriguing!

Sarah - posted on 04/26/2011

Kathy - I live in the most backwater hick town you have ever laid eyes on...i doubt they know what a medical journal is but im sure its somewhere...although my lactation consultant was a fruit bat very crazy woman indeed. it was more like a cloudy colour but no sign of it looking nutrious god only knows what it tasted like but definitely not yellow...what can i say my body is strange

Kathy - posted on 04/26/2011

Sarah, that is amazing! This is so rare, I assume it was written up in some medical journal. Do you have a reference so i could find out more?

Sarah - posted on 04/26/2011

I prefer A or C
I have a 5 wk old. I had to do half breast milk and half formula due to all the drugs my doctor had me on. I slowly weened off. I am now back to breastmilk. In my opinion breastmilk is best for baby. There are some cases where it cant always happen due to illness mothers may have. :(

Sarah - posted on 04/26/2011

Lisa - no no it was clear...the lactation consultant had never seen it before either and by the 6th week of my son's life my milk supply dried up still can't answer as to why it did but we're thinking stress

Minnie - posted on 04/26/2011

Hmmmm...perhaps you had a severe foremilk/hindmilk imbalance and what you pumped for the test did not have the fat globules in it?



It does make me scratch my head, about the milk having the nutritional quality of water- I mean- wasn't it white (or even blueish-white) when it came out? Then it had nutrients in it- calcium and protein at the very least...

Sarah - posted on 04/26/2011

Sarah C - they can test for this stuff if you provide a sample of breast milk...he had actually lost weight within the first two weeks of birth but hadn't grown much so thats why they questioned it...oh and the constant every 15 minute feeds no wonder my supply was so damn good

Sarah - posted on 04/26/2011

@Sarah S, why's that? I have never heard of that! How did they know it had no nutritional value? Sorry for the questions, just curious :)

Jennifer - posted on 04/26/2011

B - she needs the real deal (and no dairy or soy) but no one else gets to breastfeed my baby!

Sarah - posted on 04/26/2011

Sara - no matter what the doctor did no matter what i ate i produced breast milk with the nutritional value of water...hydrating but not a lot else

Laura Zoey - posted on 04/26/2011

Babies like the real deal don't they! Some are just too smart to take to a 'fake nipple' :)

Tyrae - posted on 04/26/2011

The only way my daugther would eat is if it is directly from another mother that I knew. She won't take bottles and just screams bloody murder if I try, whether pumped or formula in the bottle. I could probably try a sippy cup or something with pumped. But I would try and pump as much as possible before the surgery/medication time in order for her to have mine for as long as possible.

*Fluffy Bunnies - posted on 04/26/2011

Sarah, what do you mean by "worst quality you could imagine"? You could eat crap all day long and still make quality milk. Women who are starving in Africa still make quality milk. Sorry to go OT.

Sarah - posted on 04/26/2011

considering i dont know any nursing mums and im pretty sure the breast bank at the townsville hospital wouldn't give out their milk if you were medicated and couldn't breastfeed...i wasn't ever in this situation i formula fed because my milk was the worst quality you could imagine. but a friend of mine whose on long term medication had to formula feed as she had no other options available

Amanda - posted on 04/26/2011

@Laura Yes I was breast feeding my one year old at the time. I have never with all three of my children had an issue with production so I had plenty to share with the little one. When I suggested I wetnurse her child, I thought she would be shocked or disgusted, but to my surpise she laughed and said "I am glad you brought this up because I didnt know how to ask you." Her child never had any issues with switching between us, milk was milk to her.

Sarah - posted on 04/26/2011

Example of a surgery, my friend had to have her gall bladder removed because she was in absolute agony. Her baby was only like 3-4 months old and had to have formula. They didn't exactly have time to organize a wet nurse and theres not really any access to breast milk banks in this area.
I don't know she still might have chosen formula, that's her business :) I say good on her for continuing to breastfeed when the hosp said it was okay after a couple of weeks of not doing it! :D Her baby obviously hasn't suffered from the short term formula use so i see no problem with it :)

If it were me, i would probably asked if my cousin would pump for me because she was breastfeeding at the same time. If i had a really young baby i would look into a breast milk bank, but after say, 6 months of age, formula for a few days is perfectly fine when there's no way around it :)
My 13 month old would just have cows milk bottles and have to just suck it up i guess! :(

I LOVE Amanda's story! :D

*Fluffy Bunnies - posted on 04/26/2011

I've actually discussed this with my husband and told him what I would want if an awful situation would come up. I told him about HM4HB too because I'm sure many men think that formula is the only other option.

Susanne - posted on 04/26/2011

Well if i was in a coma you'd have to ask my husband it would be his decision not mine lol

Laura Zoey - posted on 04/26/2011

Like a car accident in which you needed surgery to survive. Those reconstructive surgeries can last hours and sometimes medically induced comas can be needed. Or regular comas I guess as well.

Susanne - posted on 04/26/2011

I wouldnt have the surgery or medication, theres not many accidents that can stop you breastfeeding either but I suppose if something happened and my milk dried up I would buy a goat.

Laura Zoey - posted on 04/26/2011

Amanda that's awesome! I love hearing stories like that I couldn't imagine being in the place of your friend and what a relief it would be to have someone to help that way. Were you also breastfeeding a child of your own at the time? Did your production jump up quickly when needed?

Amanda - posted on 04/26/2011

Wetnurse. I have even been a wetnurse for a friend for almost this reason. She gave birth to twins, one was extremely ill and had to be in the hospital for 3+ months. This hospital was an hour away, so I would watch her healthy twin and wetnurse her, so momma could be with the ill twin with no worries about her healthy one.

Now that these twins are almost 2, the one I didnt wetnurse is actually closer to me then the one I did nurse. We use to joke when all our kids were nursing, if one wanted to be feed while we were out, about whos turn it was for which child LOL.

Kathy - posted on 04/25/2011

wet nurse like a shot. No question.

Brittany - posted on 04/25/2011

I would use up any pumped milk I had first, then go to formula. I would worry too much taking milk from another mother.

Minnie - posted on 04/25/2011

Yes you're right, Laura. I imagine a breastfeeding mother would be at significant risk for developing mastitis after surgery if she wasn't able to frequently express the milk; the tax on the immune system, most of her body's faculties going toward healing from surgery, the milk not flowing frequently, etc.

I agree that a wet nurse probably wouldn't work for a baby much older than six months who had an established breastfeeding relationship with his or her mother and had never nursed from another woman. I know Adelaide wouldn't have. But for older babies and toddlers nursing becomes very special to them- Adelaide was referring to our nursing sessions by name at eight months, so...

Mel - posted on 04/25/2011

I would prefer my baby to have formula. When I went away for 8 days my baby had formula. For one she like alot ofother babies refused breast milk from a bottle

Carri - posted on 04/25/2011

When my younger daughter was 12 days old, I became extremely ill due to a medical mistake (another story for another day!) and needed an emergency MRI which required an injection of radioactive dye where I was told to "pump & dump" for 24 hrs. If I had access to a close friend or family member who could/would nurse her, I would have gone that route without question. A stranger though? Probably not. It turns out I had a friend with frozen breastmilk who would have helped if she had been in my geographical area, but she wasn't. We ended up using formula for the 24 hrs, I was in the hospital away from the baby (so at least she wasn't tempted by the forbidden boob), and she drank the formula without much trouble. After the 24 hrs, we abandoned the formula and she went right back to the breast. She is 19 months old now & still nursing!! I strongly believe in breastfeeding, but I equally strongly believe in each mother doing what is right for herself, her child, her family.
Laura, thanks for asking this question! I've really enjoyed it!

Jocelyn - posted on 04/25/2011

I had to have an emergency appendectomy when my son was just three weeks old. He ended up on formula for a couple days and it did not go over so well. I would have MUCH preferred a wet nurse (first choice--my reasoning is he was so young and I wanted to avoid all types of artificial nipples) and donated milk (second choice.) Sadly, I was the only breastfeeding mother I knew and we don't have a milk bank.

*Fluffy Bunnies - posted on 04/24/2011

Since I don't know anyone close to me who's BF then I would go with donated breast milk. Like Lisa I would prefer it to not be in a bottle so that baby would go back to nursing from the breast easier. I would only give formula if it was an absolute last resort. There are so many organizations like Human Milk for Human Babies who are connecting moms who need milk to moms who have extra to donate. If you could find a mom there then cost isn't an issue.

Amy - posted on 04/24/2011

Well, my sister and I are due at the same time and we already talked about if one of us had a rough start, we'd help each other out on the milk front. We're due within 3 weeks of each other. Wouldn't bother me to nurse hers or have her nurse mine.

I did formula with my daughter. E c section, she had a hole in her heart and was in NICU where they shoved a bottle at her.....yeah, she never took me. I wish I knew now what I knew then. I would have done whatever I could to switch her back to me. If it was a TEMPORARY thing and i knew it was coming, i'd store up. if it was an accident, we'd probably do formula until we could get back to breast. If it was past a year old, though, I'd probably just wean and be done with bmilk.

Rosie - posted on 04/24/2011

i'd take donated breastmilk in a bottle IF it was cheaper than formula. i've looked at the cost and it's fucking astronomical.it would cost us like 3 times the amount of money we make in a month.
i wouldn't do the wetnurse thing, it creeps me out. sorry.

Laura Zoey - posted on 04/24/2011

Johnny, that's an interesting thought about older babies, it's possible that a wet nurse wouldn't even work at all for an older baby because by then they know who mom is for certain and might refuse to feed from another woman.
Lisa, it might even be a medical necessity to pump for a woman who is unconscious etc, mastitis could come up quickly if the milk builds up in recovery.

Minnie - posted on 04/24/2011

Hmmm...yeah, sugery- I'd make sure to stockpile my own milk. If I was down for the count in recovery I'm pretty sure the nurses can use a hospital-grade pump on me. I know other mothers have had the nurses do that when they couldn't for themselves.