Why do people think formula feeding is more convenient?

Question

I don't get it. I breastfeed my 8 mo old but i care for a 6 mo old little girl that is formula fed. Her mom brings me prepared formula but since baby is going through a growth spurt i keep a can of formula at home. Man, i have to wash bottles, sometimes sterilize them, prepare the formula and heat it. What a pain and a hassle! I can just imagine what a pain it is to go out with this kid. Imagine trying to find somewhere to heat the stuff. I'm sooo glad i breastfeed because it's so much easier and so much more convenient. I thought i was just being biased until i started caring for the little girl. I would never think of going through all that trouble. And at night? Please!! Getting up, heating up the formula..ugh..i just don't get it.

BTW this is for the women who could breastfeed but don't want to. I don't get why you choose such a tough way to feed your babies. If it were the best nutrition i would understand but it's inferior nutrition, why go thru the trouble?

So what they work? After this last child i decided that I would work from home but with my other 3 children I worked full time and pumped. It's what a real mother should do. I won't feed my children inferior nutrition because i have to go back to work..I pumped for the whole first year when i worked..that's not an excuse.

To those that have trouble with the word "inferior" Formula IS inferior nutrition, it's actually 4th best nutrition for babies. 1st is the breast (even the formula companies say so), 2nd is a wet nurse, next is expressed milk, and 4th is formula. Sounds very inferior to me. You can go blue in the face saying your babies are happy and healthy but you don't know any better. They would be a lot better and smarter if they were breastfed. Ignorance is bliss. I don't see why my attitude makes people not breastfeed. On the contrary, since i'm very honest and don't sugar coat anything it should make mothers think instead of blindly following doctors advices. Any mother can breastfeed, you just have to know how, well unless you have no breasts

For butterfly: Please girl you can say your baby is perfect til you're blue in the face..but if you have never breastfed you don't know the difference..your baby is fine but it could be much better if it would've been breastfed..if you did breastfeed and you stopped then please don't throw your guilty feelings on me..it's bad enough your little baby has to deal with them..go to therapy

Answer 1

Many people have been convinced by advertising! Which is really easier:

Shop for bottles. Bring bottles home. Shop for nipples. Bring nipples home. Shop for formula. Bring formula home. Sterilize bottles. Mix formula. Give baby a bottle using 2 hands. Wash bottles. Walk around with screaming baby. Go to doctor with sick baby. Give antibiotics. Try a different formula. Start all over again.

Lift up shirt.

Personally, I think the answer is obvious, but a lot of people disagree with me...*and* think that their answer is obvious, too!!

P.S. It's only a *very* small percentage of women who *can't* nurse;; most women either choose not to nurse, or just don't have the information and support they need to do so.

Answer 2

Not everyone has the luxury of pumping at work. I didn't. The only place I could have pumped would have been the restroom and that is completely out of the question. I breastfed my first son for 4 months, but since I couldn't pump during the day my milk dried up.

Remember that breastfeeding has actually only recently become the norm. Ask your Mom about it. When my Mom had us, breastfeeding was what the poor people did. Most people bottle fed and that is what the doctor's actually pushed. If you were of moderate income they didn't even ask if you wanted to breastfed they just told you how to make the formula. So some of the reason women may choose not to breastfeed is family history and what their Mother's taught them. I decided even after my Mom told me she didn't breastfeed us (and we were all extremely healthy children) that I would and I have for all 3 of my children. But it's every woman's right to decide.

Answer 3

Everyone is different. I breastfed my first 5 children and loved every minute of it. But when my 6th came along, the doctor had to put me on medications that made it impossible for me to breastfeed safely. My first thoughts were OMG I'm going to hurt this baby, it won't be convenient anymore, etc. Well, I found there were pros to bottlefeeding, too. (much to my surprise) I found the biggest convenience of bottle feeding was that I actually had HELP with childcare! Soemnone else could actually feed my baby besides ME! (sidenote:...I could never pump, so I always had to give the breast while breastfeeding) I think being able to hand baby off at that 2 am feeding and ask hubby to do it was wonderful!

I am very pro breastfeeding, but I have learned not to be so hard on women who chose to bottlefeed. Not all women have the patience, time OR energy to do it. And, then there are women like myself who didn't have a choice and HAD to bottlefeed. Don't judge too harshly women who bottlefeed!

Answer 4

KB, or someone else who "can't" breastfeed - It would be nice if someone would tell me the definition of not being able to breastfeed. I was one of "those" who claimed not to be able to breastfeed - my first two children were formula fed but it was because I was just lazy - breastfeeding is HARD at first - for the first 6 weeks it is very, very, hard... you are feeding every 2 hours, sore nipples, feeding for up to 45 mintues sometimes only to have to feed again an hour later - it is hard. You must be diligent if you wish to provide the best for your baby, breastmilk. With my first two children I just gave up after a week of no sleep, sore nipples, crying baby, baby losing weight (which is actually normal for a breastfed baby). This time I stuck it out, I dealt with her crying, I dealt with her practically at my breast 20 hours out of a 24 hour period. I devoted myself to feeding her, that was my primary purpose in life for the first 6 weeks. Why do you all think you get 6 weeks off for maternity leave?? It is to spend recovering and feeding your new baby the way God designed. Other than people who are on medication that can be harmful to the baby - or in some cases where breast surgery has made it impossible to breastfeed... what are they other reasons? just curious.

Answer 5

Glad breastfeeding works for you and you have what many Mother's would consider an ideal lifestyle. Everyone is different. If people were all the same it would be a very boring world. I personally could not pump enough and my milk was drying up and yes at 6 months had to go back to work so my daughter went on formula. I tried it did not work for me.
If you teach your child to be so opinionated and so judgemental sure she may be physically healthy that you breastfeed but she's going to emotionally traumatized wondering why she doesn't have many friends.

Answer 6

It's a matter of personal choice isn't it? We all know that breastfeeding is more nutricious, but nobody ever tells you about the bleeding nipples, the engorgement and pain, the leaking onto all your tops, the having to wear a bra in bed and the fact that only you have to get up to feed the baby in the middle of the night.

Making up bottles is not that much of a hassle if you do it every night a the same time of day - it's a routine that you get into that's all. By the way, I breastfed both mine for a couple of months until I was absolutely sick of it and felt like a cow dispensing milk all the time. I didn't enjoy it one bit and only did it because I knew it was good for the children. I also got tired of the benefits of breastfeeding being forced upon me all the time by midwives and health visitors, who were clearly trying to reach their government targets, but, at the same time, nobody actually tells you how to do it!

Answer 7

What makes you think that you're so much better than anybody else. All I hear you say is "go to therapy", "there's therapists that will listen to you", blah blah blah. Why don't you go to therapy for your superiority complex? Get over yourself.

P.S. - your comment on "Any mother can breastfeed, you just have to know how, well unless you have no breasts" was pretty ignorant. I can't breastfed because I had a breast reduction and now I can't produce milk. I had the breast reduction for medical reasons, just thought I would let you know that before you think that I did it for vanity reasons and that I doomed my future children to "inferior nutrition" for vanity reasons.

Answer 8

Why do people like you think that you're better than all the other mothers that don't breastfeed? Why can't you just leave people alone and let them decide what they want to do. And no, not all mothers can breastfeed. There are all kinds of reasons why it is impossible for certain women. And maybe you don't "get" why people would choose to bottle feed their babies, but guess what! You don't have to get it!! If you chose to breastfeed, good for you. That's your decision. Just like bottle feeding was my decision. It's my baby and my body and my decision. And yes, my baby is happy and healthy as he could be and no, it's not because I don't know any better. He is 11 months old and has never had to go to the doctor for anything but his checkups and immunizations. He's never even had a runny nose so I would say that's pretty healthy. And he has always been on formula. Just leave it alone and let people make their own decisions.

Answer 9

I think your answer is wrapped somewhere in the defensiveness of the bottle feeders I especially liked the one who said that breastfeeding has only recently become the norm. What does she think her great grandmother fed her children? Formula hasn't been around that long in the grand scheme of things.

I think the biggest problem is awareness and advertising. Formula companies have big bucks to endorse their garbage but breastfeeding groups are all non-profit or government funded. It starts from the time we're little too. On Elmo's World about babies it shows them being bottle fed instead of breastfed. Maybe too many people would think that's obscene, but what a shame that is!

Your question did not sounds offensive or self righteous in any way, and yet the bottle feeding moms just wanted to sink their teeth into you and rip you up over it. Maybe that shows that they're a little disappointed in themselves. Studies show that breastfeeding moms get a lot more criticism than bottle feeders, yet when I receive it I don't get defensive. I use it as an opportunity to educate people about breastfeeding. If they're so set in their ways that they won't listen it's their loss not mine. I'm going to keep nursing my 11-month-old for as long as SHE wants to.

You're right, there's no way my butt is getting up in the middle of the night and fixing a bottle! To me bottles seems dirty in a way. I worry about all the bacteria growing in them, breastmilk is always sterile when drank directly from the breast. I'm not saying that bottle feeding is all bad and dirty (I was bottle fed and my sisters bottle fed their kids), I just worry about the sterility of the formula/juice/milk that's in the bottle (could be from working in a restaurant and taking food safety classes LOL).

Congrats on breastfeeding!!!

Answer 10

the main reason why i gave up breast feeding was bc my son wouldnt attatch right....the nurses at the hospital couldnt help me...i was turning black and blue and couldnt go any further than 3 weeks like this. I also didnt care for it bc while visiting i had to sit in another room (men through a fit i breastfeed in front of them...even with a blanket over top of us both)...going to the store i didnt want ppl watching me breastfeed either. i got a breast pump but i was pumping every 2 hours and had to wash and sanitize everything before i could use it again and it was just too much so i went to full formula feeding....its expensive but easier on me....and at 8 months the bottles dont need to be warmed anymore...theyre teething and it helps when the milk is cold.

Answer 11

I breast fed my daughter for her first 4 months of life. But I can tell you, when I went back to work, breastfeeding was hell. I had to pump every 2 hours, and if I didn't, I would become engorged, or better yet, begin leaking right in the middle of a meeting I would be running with clients (extremely embarrassing). The third time that happened, I switched to bottle feeding. I didn't have the luxury to stay at home and breast feed whenever it was time - both my husband and I have to work to pay our bills. If I was a stay at home mom, I would have just breast fed. I think that it is whatever works for you and your baby. Besides, if it was really that horrible for babies to be formula fed, do you honestly thing that the AMA and soceity would allow it to continue??