I have to start out with a bit of background info for this to make sense.  You may or may not have seen my post about breastfeeding. If not, and if you’re too lazy to click and read it, let me sum it up for you: some more scientists have proven (yet again) that breastfeeding is the absolute best for babies, and that breastfeeding can lower infant mortality rate (and they’re not talking about third world countries where there isn’t clean water, either, this is the United States they’re talking about) and that hospitals are not giving new mothers the breastfeeding support they need.  In that post, I gave the story about how I formula fed Hailey, and breastfed Keegan.

An anonymous commenter, SW, made the statement “and don’t forget about us soy babies! milk was entirely more dangerous”, which sparked my post on why our family chooses to avoid soy products.

Naturally, SW was back with some things to say including the following…

Honestly, why do you even care what other people feed their children? They’re not your children, so whatever.

Well, SW, let me tell you why I care what other people feed their babies.

First: and foremost, I am human. I have compassion.
I don’t really think it’s that odd to want other people’s children to be as healthy as they can be. Over nine hundred babies in the US die per year from formula-related issues. Does it really make me a crazy boob pushing zealot, that I don’t want people’s babies to die?

Second: those other children are living in a world with my children.
My children may one day breed with them and I want what’s best for my future generations. If we start an upward trend on breastfeeding now, perhaps that will carry on. Currently, only 14% of mothers are found to be exclusively breastfeeding at six months (which is the minimum recommendation by the World Health Organization). Maybe if we were to raise awareness now, that rate could double or triple by the time my kids have babies.

Third,  life expectancy is getting shorter, largely due to obesity.
And obesity is on an uprise. Studies are showing that formula fed infants are at a higher risk to be obese later in life. That’s scary to me! I don’t want my kids or grandkids have a shortened life expectancy just due to the fact that, like I was, they are unaware of the risks associated with formula.

Fourth, the US incurs $14 billion dollars in health care costs that are formula-related.
FOURTEEN BILLION DOLLARS. That kind of speaks for itself, doesn’t it?

Fifth, and maybe my second largest concern, is that breastfeeding is better for the environment.
Formula is created in factories, which use water and energy, and in return, pollute the air. It’s put into cans made of paper, plastic, and tin- that generally end up in the dump. It’s usually made from cow’s milk from cows that may have been fed things grown with fertilizers, pesticides, and antibiotics; or it may be made from soy, which is one of the most genetically modified crops in the US. Land has to be cleared for the keeping of the cows or the clearing to grow the soy crops. The soy has to be watered, the cows have to be fed and watered. And then once it’s processed, manufactured, and canned, it has to get shipped to stores. And then there’s the manufacturing and distribution of baby bottles and nipples.

A few more thoughts on breastfeeding vs formula feeding:

• Breastmilk cannot be recalled. Formula has had tons of recalls for things like salmonella and other contaminates, unsanitary production conditions, and even glass particles. Yum. This is a good read about some recent recalls and the reasons behind them.
• Breastmilk is free. Formula averages $13 per can. At $13 a can, a baby drinks over $900 of formula in one year. I’d be pretty happy if someone handed me $900 one year, wouldn’t you?
• Breastfeeding benefits the mother as well. It’s been shown to reduce the rates of breast cancer, ovarian cancer, and endrometrial cancer. Formula obviously doesn’t have any comparable claims.
• Breastmilk will always come out at just the right temperature and changes to meet your baby’s nutritional needs. It even changes from the beginning of a feed to the end.
• Breastmilk always available. You don’t have to spend time mixing and warming it (unless you’re using a bottle to feed expressed milk obviously)- that’s especially nice for those 2:00 AM feedings!

Yes, again, I realize there may be circumstances in which a baby cannot be breastfed for medical reasons.  Clearly, in those cases, breast isn’t best.  I’m not stupid or insane, if it’s a health risk for your baby to breastfeed, use formula.

This post, or my other posts, are not intended to make someone feel guilt if they could not or did not breastfeed their child!   Remember, I formula fed my oldest.  Do I feel guilty?  Not really, no.  I was not informed, I didn’t know any better. My intent with all this boob talk is to inform, not judge.  If you formula fed your kid, you did and that’s that.  No amount of blogging or arguing  is going to change that, so let’s drop the guilt crap and move forward and help other mothers make better decisions.

SW, I really am not trying to be mean to you.  I promise.  Like I said, if you were deathly allergic to your mom’s milk, clearly she didn’t have a choice about what to do.  She was doing what was best for your health.  So no, I am not judging her- I would never judge a mother for doing what was best for her child’s health.  But please understand why I feel so strongly about this.  What other people feed their babies DOES matter to me, and these are the reasons why I think you should care, too.