Comments on: Breastmilk: The Other White Milk

By: Ashley

Ashley — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 08:58:45 +0000

Formula’s greatest accomplishment is that it is a safe alternative to breastmilk. Unfortunantly, it will never the the same as breastmilk. Formula companies tell you that straight up. As for breastmilk containing what mom eats, basically if a mom only eats potatoe chips, she still will produce breastmilk that is still superior to formula. Her body will take the good stuff out of her body and she will suffer while the baby benefits.

By: kamala

kamala — Sat, 10 Feb 2007 10:53:16 +0000

well currently i am breastfeeding my 9 child a girl who is just 9 months old and that i am still pregnant again today with twins (boys) and that i am also currently breastfeeding my daughter’s children who are twin girls. I do not think that feeding by bottle is essential for the children. Being a mother and a grandmother, i feel that breastmilk is the best in most conditions and that it provides nutrition to the baby. Even today i am still breastfeeding my 5th child who is a girl, 8 years of age as there is no medication or therapy available to treat her for cure. But the doctors here have told me that as long as i have milk supply in my breasts i can still breastfeed my 5th child who is a girl of 8 years of age. I am going to breastfeed my daughter till she is 13 years old as that is the age of attaining strength.

By: John Biggs

John Biggs — Sun, 04 Feb 2007 15:23:50 +0000

Fair enough.

By: Kathy

Kathy — Sat, 03 Feb 2007 16:42:40 +0000

Let’s clarify: A “BF Nazi” would be someone who approaches a woman who is bottlefeeding and reads her the riot act about why formula is evil. Or who bursts into your hospital room throwing unsolicited breastfeeding literature at you. Or a nurse who physically takes your breast and repeatedly attempts to jam it into the baby’s mouth without your consent, and who won’t leave the room until she is satisfied you’re doing it right. I would not call that nurse a breastfeeding nazi…I would call her a horrible nurse who should not be anywhere near postpardum women. Perhaps you should complain to the hospital about her poor performance instead of classifying all breastfeeding advocates as “Nazi’s, Terrorists, or Taliban.”

By: John Biggs

John Biggs — Sat, 03 Feb 2007 16:00:17 +0000

Breastfeeding terrorist? Breastfeeding Taliban? How do those sound? Listen – my wife was in a very delicate state. We both were exhausted and overwhelmed. A nurse comes in, yells at her for doing it wrong, and leaves, explaining nothing, but it certainly sounds as arbitrary and violent, in the supposedly sacred context of these first few hours, as anything else I can imagine. Hyperbole, sure, but in this rare case the experience was freighted with such emotion that we have every right to use it. I suppose you picketed the “Soup Nazi” episode of Seinfeld and sent a sternly worded comment to Mel Brooks for his parody of Hilter’s springtime?

We can take and use words as we see fit IF they fit. Could we not call the pork company that attacked a breastfeeding group a “bunch of short-sighted pinheads” or are we insulting the memory of thousands of circus carnies who died in the service of Barnum and Bailey?

Please… pick your fights more carefully. There are more important things to think about here, especially in terms of problems with early breastfeeding education.

By: milkmonkeezmom

milkmonkeezmom — Sat, 03 Feb 2007 03:00:22 +0000

How sad for Annonymouse Coward and John Biggs that they need to stoop to name calling in an attept to get their point across.

They picked a doozy – Breastfeeding Nazi. What is sad is that in choosing that particular epithet they dimish the horror that was the Holocaust. Comparing someone who promotes breastfeeding to a group whose mission it was to exterminate a whole race of people is absurd. I know of no breastfeeding proponent who has attempted mass murder of those who use formula.

By: Kathy

Kathy — Sat, 03 Feb 2007 01:55:44 +0000

You’ve got to be friggin kidding me!

“It however, is not *BETTER* for your kid.”

Please tell me where you get your information, because it couldn’t be more wrong! Formula manufacturers admit IN THEIR OWN ADVERTSEMENTS that “breastmilk is best.” Even they admit it!

Formula will never be the same as breastmilk, period. It will never be as good for babies, period. They can’t even figure out all of the components of breastmilk…why? Because it is so complex and constantly changing. That’s right, the composition of nutrients in a woman’s breastmilk changes as her baby’s needs change. It is custom made food for her child. Formula is a one-size-fits-all substitute. In addition, one must consider the antibodies and immunities that mothers pass on to their children through their breastmilk. And if a child gets sick, a mother’s immune system will help fight off the infection in addition to the child’s own immune system. That is because there is a “backwash” affect of milk that returns to the mothers breast tissue. If there is illness in the child, mom’s immune system will pick up on it through this process and kick into gear, producing antibodies and giving them to the child.

As for nutrition, even if a woman “exists on twinkies and junk-food” the vital nutrients will go to her breast milk first, and her second. So she’ll feel lousy and not be healthy, but her child will get everything they need. Nature’s design to protect offspring.

If you chose not to breastfeed, fine. If you want to lie to yourself and say that formula is just as good if not better, fine. But don’t spread that garbage around like it is the truth, because it isn’t.

By: Nursing#7

Nursing#7 — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 16:59:35 +0000

Pleasepleaseplease tell me you’re being ‘ironical’ (gag)! You are incorrect on so many levels that I can’t even begin….please educate yourself on the differences between bm and formula. At formula’s BEST, it will never be as good for your baby as bm. Mom’s diet, while having a certain impact on bm, does not affect the nutritional quality – bf-ing moms in starvation situations have bm that is on par with the bm produced by moms in middle America. Breastmilk is alive with antibodies, immunity factors, and child-specific factors that cannot be quantified or replicated by formula. I’m sorry to sound ‘preachy’ or ‘pushy’, but when someone is so blatantly wrong, I have to say something.

The NPB is full of ….. stuff. I think they’re a bunch of stuffedwhiteshirts.

By: Anne

Anne — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 16:42:44 +0000

As a mom that is currently nursing my baby, and having nursed my other children, I agree that breast milk is convenient, cheap, promotes bonding with baby, and as the first post mentions, healthy if the mom eats healthy. I also think that it is a personal choice each family makes so that whatever is chosen is what works for that family.

Like ALL UNSOLICITED advice, be it about breast-feeding or which products to purchase for babies or for your own personal use, IT’S JUST AN OPINION. Take it or leave it. Even if it really upsets you.

To the original post about the Pork group, that’s too much!

By: John Biggs

John Biggs — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 15:53:37 +0000

oh, i agree totally. My wife was very upset when we got the milk nazi in after our son was born and she basically said “You’re doing it wrong.” She was very upset until we got home, could settle down, and actually think about the process.

By: Annonymouse Coward

Annonymouse Coward — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 15:16:11 +0000

I hate ‘BrestMilk Nazis’, That is what my sister – a registred Pedi-nurse said to me when my wife was almost in tears after getting a ‘dressing down’ from some lady who overheard us talking about how she didn’t want to breastfeed our child.

I can understand if people want to breast feed their kids, its natural, its free.

It however, is not *BETTER* for your kid. At best, its the same as formula, in less than ideal situations .. its worse. Breast milk contains what mom eats .. mom exists on twinkies and junk-food .. breast milk doesnt have all the vitamins etc that a kid needs.

Its 2007, we have artificial blood almost perfected fer chrissake, yet people are still in the dark ages when it comes to feeding your newborn. Of course, I know some people who refused ultrasounds, and still don’t use a car seat .. but they are adamant on how breast feeding their child is the best thing they could have done.