Are bottle feeding mothers mistreated?

05 Aug 2011 07:58p.m.

Kaye wrote:

I am APPALLED that this bullying is still going on.
My first 'baby" will be 20 in September and was born at the height of the 'your baby will die from cot death if you dont breastfeed" hysteria. After an horrendous birth he was naso gastric tubed and never successfully fed directly off the breast. I fed him through an extended nipple shield for 6 months with ever worsening post natal depression, dreading him waking because I knew I would have to feed him. When I stopped feeding my PND lessened.
With my next child I nade the decision before delivery that he would be bottle fed and my specialist told the nursing staff that no-one was to even mention breast feeding to me. She must've been scary because no one did and as a consequence we had a happy well fed baby and a more relaxed mum- a totally different relationship. He had the same childhood illnesses as his brother although mr breastfed had excema.
New mums are coping with enough and should be encouraged not bullied!

07 Sep 2010 09:34p.m.

Melissa wrote:

My first children were preterm twins. Very sick, My son nearly passing away with breathing issues. They were fed via IV line, then nasal gastric tube, then bottle fed expressed milk, then tandem breast fed with nipple shields as they were so little they couldn't suck. After that I then 'learnt' to latch them both on without shields. It was so hard, I had no support for the logistics of tandem feeding twins with chronic reflux. I was so determined to breastfeed I made it work. I have always believed anyone can breastfeed, but after the birth of my third child I learnt first hand why some people can't. My 4 month old had the RSV virus, causing viral pneumonia and bronchilitis. Again issues with breathing caused extreme stress and also causing my milk to stop completely within mintues of watching him be sedated. I couldn't believe it that when I was pumping milk nothing was coming out. Another long story, but basically involved tube feeding via nasal gastric tube and a lot of feeding. I did wonder if i needed to use formula or start solids early as the poor little man was sucking on a wet flannel most the day for weeks. Once home I breastfed every hour for 24 hours for approximately 2 weeks+ feeling like it was all over for breastfeeding this little man. I knew i could breastfeed as i fed twins for 2 years, so I kept going. Then after good food, rest and lots of st johns wort tea and trying to destress my milk came back and is afire now. Im a size 6, people like my mum think im too thin to breastfed but I'm not it's fine, but if your mind isn't healthy, happy, confident, and rested with good help that is where breastfeeding doesn't work. Have confidence in your body, take herbs, feed lots and lots the sucking stimulates the milk, it will eventually come. Stay strong. Xx

23 Jul 2010 02:47p.m.

Lee wrote:

I'm slow posting this as I've been caught up just keeping up with my baby. I think there is a bigger story here. In NZ mothers to be struggle to get any information on bottle feeding. The free ante natal classes are not allowed to give out any information on bottle feeding unless people ask and then they'll only tell them in private. That's why babies get sick. When bottle feeding is done wrong it is very dangerous as bottles must be sterilised and the formula out together properly. I was very lucky to have an English midwife so the decision to go to formula was made for my baby in his best interests. Formula is consistent every time whereas breast milk quality depends on the time of day and on the Mothers nutrition. Being adopted I was raised on formula and am an extremely healthy person. My son has had no illnesses of any kind since birth and is a wonderfully health little guy. I think it would be worth researching why the Health department in NZ has taken such a hard line against bottle feeding.

08 Jul 2010 07:33p.m.

Mathew wrote:

My sister was in the same predicament as many of you women - she could not produce enough milk for her baby not long after she was born. In one example, comments directed at her from a gas-station attendant when she went to purchase a bottle of "V", caused a great deal of upset at the new mother - and the last thing a new mother needs is anyone passing judgement because she is not breast-feeding her baby. Plunket nurses were not much better. Yes, breast is best, but if she is medically unable to provide milk what choice does she have - let the baby starve? Of course not! I'm all for breastfeeding, but if a mother cannot or chooses not to breastfeed her child, people should just shut the hell up and keep their opinions to themselves. Studies around the world have often suggested that breastfeeding after 6 months has no medical advantages anyway. I can safely say that if anyone were to pass negative comments about my wife when it comes time for us to have children, then they will receive more than a strong word from me about it!

29 Jun 2010 08:31a.m.

Debra wrote:

Thanks for bringing this to light. I too could not breastfeed as I didn't have enough milk and NO amount of trying helped, however many midwives tried to pressure me both in and out of hospital. My baby was also starving and it was only when he started to lose weight that the 'experts' took notice. It was the wise words of my friends who told me that it was for more important for my baby that he had a happy healthy mother, which made me realise that breast is not always best.

27 Jun 2010 09:56p.m.

Paula Minnehaha wrote:

Breastfeeding is a natural process and it means to happen. For women that have "medical conditions" i believe it may also be a psychological barrier created for some other fears. If you're negative about your milk coming out your mind will believe it and you end up really with no milk getting rid of the hard job of breastfeeding using your "medical condition" as an excuse. Giving formula to a 3 days old baby for me sound so sad but in certain cases some physical conditions may apply. I dont want to judge, i just believe that years ago when formula didnt exist breastmilk was the only option and it was way more accepted. Sometimes it doesnt happen straight away and you have to wait even for a couple of weeks to have your body adjusted to the milk production. It happened to me when i had my daughter 4 years ago. We came from Brazil and she had breastmilk untill she was almost two but i tried hard in the beggining. I went a bit over the limit but its very common in Sth America, where buying a formula can be luxury and it is seen as an extreme, last option.
I didnt do the same with my son that was born last year here in NZ. I did breastfeed him for 6 months and decided I dint want create that dependency again. But I commited myself for the first 6 months because I knew that was the best for my son. But every mother has the right to choose whats more convinient. I personally experienced breastfeeding here in NZ as a very unconfortable and restricted situation. You are always trying to find the "parents room" or somewhere empty because people do look at you strange here if you are breastfeeding on public. Midwives and health professionals giving their support and trying their hard to show how important it is but when you are out on the street with you kid you feel that breastfeeding is not part of the society here. Its probably one of the reasons that make some mothers feeling more confortable pulling out a bottle.
Its also a social reaction that needs to be reviewed.

27 Jun 2010 09:55p.m.

Su wrote:

I couldn't breastfeed as I never had enough milk and my daughter starved for the first six days of her life. At last my lovely midwife suggested formula and having her support - as well as a supportive husband - made all the difference. I'm from the UK and the negativity surrounding bottlefeeding is much worse here than in the UK where women are much kinder to those that cannot/do not breastfeed. The message is very strong here that not breastfeeding is a failure on the mother's part - this attitude is pervasive. In hospital I kept trying to breastfeed - it was made very clear that I shouldn't even contemplate bottles but they must have realised that my baby was screaming constantly as she was starving. I've now discussed with my midwife how soon I can leave hospital after my next baby (and a planned c-section for medical reasons) so that I can avoid the scorn for possibly bottlefeeding very early if my next baby is starving.

Seriously, what is more important? A fed baby and a supported mum, or a starving baby and a mother at high risk of post-natal depression because of the judgements passed on her? Why can't we be kinder to each other? I've never felt any guilt at bottlefeeding, but I do feel guilty that my daughter had to starve for so long to start with.

27 Jun 2010 09:33p.m.

Kath Rushworth wrote:

I am a mother of two and due to complications of birth I could not feed my son at the breast for the first 6 weeks of his life. I chose to bottlefeed my child my expressed breast milk instead and made a point of seeking help to get my breastfeeding established. It is my firm belief that formula is something that was first developed as a fallback for women who could not breastfeed, and that it was created in response to high infant mortality. I think it is problematic that so many people chose to embrace the option of formula feeding especially if it is because they don't receive adequate support or information. It is unfortunate that because so many mothers like me have had to fight hard to be able to breastfeed, we sometimes mistakenly heap scorn on those mothers who chose artificial feeding methods when they are the mothers for whom formula was first developd - those mothers whose children would die without adequate nutrition. I think that breastfeeding rates in NZ are really low and that the MOH is prioritising spending well by trying to encourage breastfeeding. In the long term this investment would save the government money as breastfed babies tend to need fewer doctor's visits and both mother and child have numerous health benefits from the arrangement. The reason that mothers who bottle feed by necessity are getting the short end of the stick, is because so many mothers who could otherwise feed their babies in a biologically normal way seem happy to thumb their noses at health recommendations and feed their infants in a way that suits their convenience rather than their child's health interests.

27 Jun 2010 01:43a.m.

Midwife wrote:

As a health professional it is my job to encourage breastfeeding which has many health benefits for babies. Please do not get angry or blame health professionals for doing their jobs. If you do not want to breastfeed you have to say so. I have looked after women who keep giving the baby a bottle of formula but they tell me they wish to breastfeed - mixed messages. I think are they just saying they want to breastfeed to keep others happy but really don't wish to, or do they really want to breastfeed and they are asking for help. Babies need to be feed and it is the parents choice how that is done. I will continue to support breastfeeding and if you tell me you wish to bottle feed I will show you how to do that if you ask me. If you give conflicting information though on what you want to do you can not blame others.
It would be nice to see in the media an article saying Midwives do a wonderful job because so many of us do. We are present at most births in NZ, and most of us try to give really good support to mothers. If I sent in stories when babies or mothers have been harmed by pore decisions made by specialist Drs...and I know of many, or a story of how my bank manager told me about fixing my home loan at a certain rate which ended up costing me alot of money... would that make it into the papers? I don't blame my bank manager he was doing his job and it was up to me to do what I wanted with the information he provided. It seems though society now always needs blame someone other than themselves, and it is always easy to do that from behind from a computer. Don't blame health professionals for doing their job which is promoting breastfeeding. Yes if they don't provide you with information about formula when you ask for it then that is not professional, but there is also guidelines which govern what is said around this. Information on formula can be given when asked for on a one to one, not within antenatal group education, and the risks of this decision should be given. Formula is in shops and the instructions are on the tin, no one can stop you from formula feeding if you wish to.

26 Jun 2010 11:13p.m.

Caroline wrote:

Balance/Sanity/Situation weighed up by an individual is BEST.

The Ministry of Health has got their focus wrong. Currently, we are all subjected to breastfeeding advertisements -that either preach to the converted, add unnecessary guilt or bore those without children. MONEY WASTED.

Money well spent would be to keep mothers in hospital longer in a non-rushed and non-pressured environment. Currently, many women are encouraged to leave hospital far too early, hence not being given the chance to learn the very hard skill of breastfeeding.

Secondly and most importantly, if it is agreed "Breastmilk is Best", WHERE IS THE MILK BANK? It has been written in several very prominent international articles that New Zealand encourages breastfeeding but lacks a bank, only one of a few countries to do so. Embarrasing. Screening/testing has improved since the 80's when the bank was closed due to an inability to test milk correctly.

Spend your money more wisely ministry!

As a mother of a 10 week premature baby my journey has not been "normal". My daughter had a very weak sucking reflex and after 2 months in hospital, with the very best of support, she came home partially breastfed and partially pumped bottle. Ten months later I am now weaning my daughter onto formula, very happily. I have however, in the last ten months been questioned by the public in cafes and other public places as to "my choice" to bottle feed at least 6 times in a negative manner.
I would encourge those interfering cretins to leave mothers alone and spend their energy on rallying the goverment for more hospital time for new mothers and a well needed milk bank.