*disclaimer* As man I am not equipped with milk makers. This rant only poses my opinion, purely from a cost perspective.
I am not going to look up the actual costs because I have no idea how much a container of formula powder lasts!
Let us analyze the costs of nursing vs. bottles. My Brother's wife bottle fed, My wife nurses. My wife's breasts are not only visually appealing, but God gave them to her for free! The bottles, while you may get a bunch of them as shower gifts, you will undoubtedly not like them and have to buy a different more expensive brand and more nipples. The SIL had to have the bottles that are angled and with a grippy surface so the infant can hold the bottle by itself. My wife's nipples wipe clean in the shower, the bottle nipples must be boiled. Boiling my wife's *censored* is not a good idea.
While boiling those bottles and nipples, there will come a time when you step away, probably to tend to the baby, and when you return you will smell burning rubber and notice that the water is all gone. This scientific experiment in evaporation, will cost you the price of a few nipples, a bottle or two, and maybe a new pot. My brother had to get the new pot. My wife has yet to have to replace either of her *censored*. Minor cost added to the brother's total for electricity for his stove and very little cost for the water. My wife was going to take that shower anyway, so no cost for me.
Then they have to buy the formula, my wife makes hers all day long (comment from wife: All night long too!) They have to add water, ok my wife drinks water too so we will not count this against them. I will however note that drinking this water keeps my wife healthy, and putting the water in the bottle does nothing for my SIL. This formula is expensive and they always seemed to run out meaning my brother had to spend gas money in the middle of the night to get more. If I wake up in the middle of the night I get my baby, hand him or her to the wife and hold the flashlight while she attaches our baby to her *censored*, then I go back to sleep.
Go out to the mall, my wife will never forget her breasts, nor will they ever need to be thrown out because the milk was left in them too long and you are afraid that even boiling them (again the bottles not the breasts) will not make them reusable. Her *censored* may leak, and her shirt will get cleaned when she washes it anyway, if the bottle leaks, it may ruin everything else in the pack, like my peanut butter sandwich, or worse the older kid's snacks.
Once the infant is older they will, and I guarantee this, use the bottle as a means of distributing the formula to the floor. This will inspire them to make a Picasso-like image on the carpet that will need to be deep cleaned if it is not noticed right away and blotted up. The odds of my wife painting like Picasso with her *censored*- not likely at best.
I will never find one of my wife's *censored* with old milk in it lying under the bed or behind the bookcase, ever. The child will never have to be scolded for throwing one of her *censored* and knocking something valuable over.
My wife feels a special bond with the child while she is the sole source of life. My SIL puts the baby down with a pillow on its belly to help prop up the bottle and reads a magazine on the couch next to the cute little guy or girl. Not much bonding there.
And last but not least, once the child is off the bottle, which may take a while as they are used to carrying it around with them, the bottles go back to taking up space until they are needed again. My wife's *censored*, well I get them back!
The post has been censored at the wife's request - twice. How do I feel about this? I am *censored* and *censored, censored* that the *censored* word *censored* can not be used in this *censored* blog!! Oh yeah *censored*
Bottles vs. Breast milk...no contest.
March 16th, 2006 at 03:22 pm
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March 19th, 2006 at 03:05 pm 1142780710
Keep mixing the humor with money...........can't have too much of that!
March 19th, 2006 at 08:45 pm 1142801129
You get out of more baby work! Ha Ha!
Nina's mom
(who breastfed all three daughters, ages 26, 25 and 18)
March 21st, 2006 at 04:18 am 1142914700
I honestly am not sure what kind of baby-mom I would be if I couldn't breastfeed. I really don't think I'd be as good of a mom. The feel good hormones coupled with the ease of comforting baby and not having to mess with measuring, mixing, heating, sterilyzing, etc - priceless.
March 21st, 2006 at 04:35 am 1142915735
March 22nd, 2006 at 02:53 am 1142996022
March 22nd, 2006 at 02:42 pm 1143038559
Based on my experience as a breast feeding mother and as a grandma ( bottle feedeing using the mother's expressed milk), I have a couple of observations: First, there is absolutely no need to sterilize either bottles or nipples, and no one I know does it. Second, formula now comes thorough pre-mixed- just pour it out of the can. It's a bit more exensive, but life is too short to try to measure out formula while holding a screaming infant.
That having been said, I think breast feeding was and is great - which is not to say that there weren't times when it was painful or frustrating. One of the problems is that only Mom knows how much the child is getting, and everyone else is eager to toss in their observations based on no knowledge whatsoever.
No need to go over all of the desirable aspects of breastfeeding like immunities and bonding. The bonding issue is a two-way street. Many mothers find that breast feeding helps them to bond with their child, especially after a difficult birth.
From a father's perspective: If Mom breastfeeds, then Dad doesn't have to get up in the middle of the night to feed the kid.
Lastly, a little perspective. When my kids were born, it was SERIOUSLY contended that the reason people took up and stuck with smoking was that they had been bottle fed instead of breast fed. The theory was that the bottle flowed so easily that the c hild did not have to suck strongly enough to satisfy its sucking instinct. Cigarettes, therefore, were thought to be a substitute for breast feeding. HONEST! And people believed it.
March 23rd, 2006 at 01:27 pm 1143120430
ps: as an added benefit dirty diapers of breastfed babies have an almost pleasant smell...you definately need to take the trash out a lot more with a formula fed little one!!
March 23rd, 2006 at 04:37 pm 1143131861
lets just face the facts. breastfeeding is better. everyone knows it. formula feeding is the 4th best choice for feeding a baby according to the world health organization.
you offer truth, insight and a lot of humor!
March 23rd, 2006 at 05:00 pm 1143133256
this would be exactly what my husband wrote- but add in there- breastmilk puke comes out easily with a shout wipe or other laundry pen, but the formula puke i have seen, well- i threw the shirt away.
i breastfed my two kids because i like sleep. and what is easier than rolling over and feeding your kid, while all parties drift off to sleep? it's a wonderful thing.
March 23rd, 2006 at 05:18 pm 1143134289
As for the bottlefeeders that will come and tell you that you're making them feel guilty waaaaaa, and that you paint a bad picture of bottlefeeding are just feeling guilty for making the wrong 'choice' about using formula. And then the will go on to say that they had a *cough* medical *cough* issue that stopped them from breastfeeding. blah blah blah, excuses excuses.
Breastfeeding is not a choice, it's a birthright.
March 23rd, 2006 at 05:35 pm 1143135326
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March 23rd, 2006 at 06:24 pm 1143138281
Another plus for breasfeeding is that the antibodies are transferred from mom to the baby, so they are less sensitive to infectious diseases...
March 23rd, 2006 at 06:25 pm 1143138306
I just want to say in response to some of the comments that "breast is best". I know it's a popular phrase, but saying that "breast is best" implies that formula-feeding is totally sufficient but if you want to do something even better, you can breastfeed! The truth is that breastfeeding is the baseline, it's what babies are designed to eat. If you choose to formula-feed, you are giving your baby something inferior. It isn't a matter of "formula is okay but breast is best" - it's a matter of "breastmilk is the default and formula is inferior and barely adequate". Yes, babies can thrive on formula, but they are doing so *in spite* of the formula, not because of it.
My heart goes out to women who legitimately can't breastfeed; even in very pro-breastfeeding societies like Sweden we see a 97% breastfeeding rate, so there are a few percent of women who are unable to breastfeed. I feel truly sad about that and I wish there were more milk banks so that everyone could give their baby breastmilk, even if it wasn't their own. (And yes, I donated my breastmilk to two babies who needed it, so I walked the walk as well as talking the talk.) I also feel sad for all the women who could breastfeed and who tried their best, but they weren't given sufficient information and/or support to make the breastfeeding relationship work. They didn't fail - we as a society failed *them* by not providing the support they needed. Sometimes formula is necessary, and I hope those women don't feel guilty if they are forced to formula-feed.
But women who are perfectly capable of breastfeeding, who make a conscious choice not to - I have no respect for that, and I hope every time they look at their baby they are aware that they have *chosen* to give their child something inferior, something that raises their child's risk of death and/or illness and something that doesn't develop their child's brain to the extent that breastmilk does. I hope they do feel guilt about making a conscious choice to feed their child formula, because maybe then they won't make that same choice with future children.
March 23rd, 2006 at 06:59 pm 1143140360
March 23rd, 2006 at 07:39 pm 1143142776
And, those formula feeders that are so offended should STFU already. They're just upset because everything you say is true. Even my mom who couldn't breastfeed agrees.
-Erin
March 23rd, 2006 at 07:46 pm 1143143218
Brestfeeding is NORMAL!
March 23rd, 2006 at 09:20 pm 1143148851
Don't forget to factor in the costs of future medical care for mom and babies as well. Women who breastfeed greatly reduce their chances of developing many types of cancer, and the children will be much healthier. Less diabetes, obesity, ear infections, asthmas, allergies, etc. Breastmilk isn't quite a panacea, but it's pretty damn close.
March 23rd, 2006 at 10:46 pm 1143154019
I am breastfeeding my second child who is now a toddler and only hope he will breastfeed as long as my daughter did. Its their birthright!
March 24th, 2006 at 12:30 am 1143160256
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March 24th, 2006 at 02:05 am 1143165943
A bottle of expressed breast milk, so Mommy could get some away time, and because I wanted some one on one bonding time.
I really liked the comment about the child thriving *in spite* not because of the choice. I feel that way about a lot of the things some parents do. They can show you how a good portion of children in a given situation end up normal or above average, and I always wonder how much more above average that child could have been in a different situation.
March 24th, 2006 at 02:28 am 1143167287
To the woman who seems to think that there are no medical reasons why anyone would ever not be able to breastfeed (two month's prematurity and my own health in my case)...wouldn't it be karmatic if it were to happen to you and you could eat your words. Hopefully you'll never know what it's like to desperately want to breastfeed your baby and not be able to. Or maybe you will and learn a modicum of tolerance.
March 24th, 2006 at 03:01 am 1143169319
March 24th, 2006 at 03:08 am 1143169734
Good article!
March 24th, 2006 at 04:32 am 1143174756
I'm a proud breastfeeding mother! Good for you for being so supportive of your wife doing the VERY BEST for your baby!