Keep the Formula » Teeny Manolo






Keep the Formula

By Glinda

As a mother of two who had a HORRIBLE time producing breastmilk despite trying like the dickens, I’m not pleased that there is a group asking all hospitals to forgo giving new mothers free samples of formula.

If I hadn’t had those sample bottles, both of my children would have gone very hungry in those first few weeks.  My son didn’t want to latch on at all (despite the help of a lactation consultant) and my daughter might have been a good latcher, but I’ll never know because I had a hell of a recovery from my C-section.  She did fine in the hospital, but once I got home, I could barely move, much less get in any type of optimal breastfeeding position.

After three months of trying to get my son to breastfeed and pumping, my milk supply, which was never great to begin with, dried up completely.  We now know that it was most likely due to undiagnosed hypothyroidism, but who woulda thunk?  Instead I felt like a huge failure.

For my daughter, I bought into the whole guilty breastfeeding is best thing, and I chose to pump for a full nine months, which was probably a big mistake.  Waking up every three hours at night when all you want is to grab as much sleep as possible probably turned me into a horrible mother.   And even though I was on medication to alleviate the hypothyroid symptoms, I was never what you would call a champion at producing milk.   In fact, the last few months saw me supplementing with both previously frozen milk and formula, despite spending a lot of time being hooked up to the pump.

I think that if you can breastfeed, you are entitled to embrace it as fully as you like.  Go ahead, pop the girls out in public when needed!  I support your right to breastfeed! But I also think that there are circumstances where breastfeeding exclusively is just too much for some women (read: many working moms) and the judgey-McJudgersons should shut it.









5 Responses to “Keep the Formula”




  1. Mommy Says:

    I had a 9 pound 9 ounce baby who ended up in the NICU for a week after birth (dehydrated and an infection). Still I tried breastfeeding and he kept loosing weight. 3 weeks of this and after the 3rd visit to the breastfeeding clinic the NICU doctor met with us and told me to supplement with formula. So I did a few months of pumping and supplementing before switching to formula. And I was judged for switching to formula, even by close friends… which can be heartbreaking.




  2. Awesomemom Says:

    Amen to that! I am a horrible producer and my giant babies have all been born with large appetites so nursing never got very far. In fact I pretty much didn’t even try with my youngest. I would have appreciated some samples (my other kids I got samples).

    It irritates me that the ability for women to choose seems to be under a lot of attack of late. I should be free to choose the spacing of my children and if I even have them at all. I should not be labeled a slut if I do. I should be free to choose the manner of feeding my children. If I don’t want to breastfeed my kids I should not be made to feel guilty. Personally I would have chosen to breastfeed had my body cooperated but I don’t need to be shamed and made out to be a horrible mother because my kids are fed by formula. I should also be free to choose to stay at home with my kids or go to work with out being made out to be a neglectful mother who is not interested in her kids or a helicopter mom who has to hover over everything that the child does.




  3. La Petite Acadienne Says:

    I agree completely. If a woman is planning to breastfeed, a sample can isn’t going to make her go, “Huh…I never heard of this ‘for-mu-la’ thing. To heck with breastfeeding, then!”

    My main quibble with the lactivists is this: it is extremely possible to nurture, encourage, support and promote breastfeeding WITHOUT demonizing formula and formula-feeding moms. Unfortunately, a lot of people cannot manage to talk about the merits of breastfeeding, without denigrating formula. And as a BFAR (breastfeeding after a reduction) mom, who worked her ass off, only to provide maybe 1/2 an ounce a day…well, let’s just say that I felt bad enough about not being able to BF, without hearing incessantly that formula is “inferior nutrition”.




  4. Seana Says:

    Totally agree Glinda! There are inumerable reasons why new moms may not be able to breastfeed. And in prior generations, women were instructed to use formula almost exclusively. Being a mother is hard enough without having everyone and his brother judge a new mom. The world would be a better place if people judged their own behavior before they judged nursing (or non-nursing) moms.




  5. teckelcar Says:

    Breast feeding was not a problem for my first two children, but with my boy girl twins the boy just couldn’t get it together to latch. It took a couple of weeks (Hooray pre-made formula samples!) until he finally put it together. Thankfully his sister was a little champ and was able to keep the supply up until he could join in. I was/am committed to breast feeding, but the case of samples helped us through a really hard patch.

    And for those moms who go straight to formula, I don’t care. It’s none of my damned business why. It’s your decision and not mine. Do what’s best for you and your family.












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