Breast who?

[u/sunshinewithclouds]

I see so many posts about the guilt and if it’s okay and the long stories about how much you’ve tried and the pain it’s causing you. So I just want to say I see you but come to the dark side of formula feeding and leave that guilt behind!

I had the same fears and feelings but at almost 8 months it’s crazy how much formula feeding is just a regular part of our day and honestly not even on my radar anymore. It’s such a short season of life and I’m so thankful I can formula feeding my little muffin.

[u/dangersiren]

Formula is a modern medical marvel. I am beyond grateful for it!! I often joke with my friends about “Big Breast” out here trying to guilt good moms away from formula

[u/RebeccaMUA → u/dangersiren]

🤣🤣 Big Breast

I’ll need to use that

[u/dangersiren → u/RebeccaMUA]

Please do!! I think it’s funny.

Breast milk is truly amazing, an incredible gift you can give your child and a big sacrifice of the breastfeeding person (time, sleep, mental health, etc.), but I do not believe that the benefits are SOA dramatically better that we see marked differences down the line.

I think that parents should be supported in any (healthy, evidence-based) choice they make for their children. The guilt around formula is out of control.

[u/becsos]

Formula, epidurals, vaccinations and planned c-sections. These are just a few of my favorite things.

[u/RebeccaMUA → u/becsos]

💯💯💯

[u/oldzazu → u/becsos]

Amen.

[u/SensitiveDrummer478]

Formula has been such a blessing to me and my time with my daughter 😭♥️

Endlessly grateful that we have so many wonderful options available to us.

[u/annakiin_]

I probably could’ve breast fed, I made some milk. Absolutely hated it and happily switched to formula. If parents want to breast feed, more power to them! However, my friends deal with weaning, nipple vs bottle preference, supply issues, biting, cracked nipples, etc. and I am soooooo grateful formula exists so I don’t have to lol

[u/ttwwiirrll]

I had the nicest postpartum EFFing. I took the recovery sleep and pace I needed. With formula, my husband was equally capable of all things baby care so my healing got to be a priority too.

Formula set a standard we've continued that nothing is ever solely mom's job. That was important to both of us so we hopefully would have arrived there anyway. However, I've seen BFing undermine that intention in some of our friends and it's proving a hard trap for some to escape.

[u/sunshinewithclouds → u/ttwwiirrll]

That’s been one of my favorite things about FF being able to catch up on sleep without worrying about supply dropping or needing to wake to feed the baby.

[u/OwnCartographer6373]

I LOVEEEE FORMULA!!!

[u/fineapple__]

Thank you, I feel so crazy in my due date groups because so many women post so often about how awful and guilty they feel for needing to formula feed. So many of them even say they’d rather buy breast milk from a stranger than use formula??? I just don’t get it.

I feel absolutely no guilt for opting to use formula. I have had a few small twinges of sadness that I won’t get to experience breast feeding, but those feelings are so fleeting because ultimately I’m just happy to feed the baby. Plus the benefits of formula/bottle feeding are so nice (sharing feeding responsibilities with partner for one).

[u/Obvious-Tax-3812 → u/fineapple__]

It’s crazy how many moms think formula is like giving your kid something specially brewed by the devil lol

[u/Obvious-Tax-3812]

I understand mourning your experience if it didn’t go how you planned, but I see moms on social media talking about their guilt with breastfeeding and their kid is 7 years old. It’s time to let it go, your kid is still healthy!

[u/sunshinewithclouds → u/Obvious-Tax-3812]

Oh that’s so long to carry that with them! Totally agree I mourned my lost experience but switched pretty quickly when it wasn’t working out. It just breaks my heart hearing some of these stories and them ending their post with is it okay to switch? Like girl yes you never even needed to try if you didn’t want to of course it’s fine to switch!

[u/Obvious-Tax-3812 → u/sunshinewithclouds]

For me, I just look at it as I’m thankful to live in a time where I have another option. But I get frustrated with the idea that breastmilk gives your child this gold suit of armor. I gave both of my kids breastmilk in the beginning to get the colostrum, but they’ve been completely healthy without an entire year of breastfeeding. I know it’s anecdotal, but most of the exclusively breastfed kids I know are way sicker than my kids, so it’s just taught me that environment and genetics are factored in a lot more than people let on with breastmilk. I’ll get off of my soap box now lol