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That story is really upsetting to me, I cannot understand why someone would dillute formula because it's cheaper ... yes times can be tough, but there are other ways to save money. I had a hard time breastfeeding my son who's now 3, but I kind of looked at the situation like formula was not an option, my child has a right to have the best nutrition available & I stuck with it & was able to nurde him for 11 months. My now 4 month daughter also gave me a really hard time, she wouldn't latch, I was sore & bleeding, I developed mastitis but I was still stubborn & after about 6 weeks she caught on & things are now good. I have a cousin who has 3 kids & she formula fed them all because she tried to BF the 1st child for just one day & said it was too hard, like c'mon. Then all she did was complain that formula was too expensive & so she started giving them all cows milk by 6 months, simply because it was cheaper ... I was horrified! All 3 kids had issues with gas & cramps & diarreha because of it, but she continued because she just wanted to save some cash .... but she still had enough money to buy a new car & a camper trailer, & get pedicures ... it made me sick, poor kids.

Whitney-I hear ya! It takes me about a week to get my milk in (I have to supplement formula until then) but then it comes in and I was able to EBF my daughter for 12 months, with my son I had to continue to supplement with formula, he was just too hungry. But Since I was breastfeeding my son I had to buy very little formula. I see so many women who give up nursing because they don't produce enough milk, but they only tried for a day or two. I really think women should be warned that milk does not always come in within a day of birth, there are those of us that take a little longer. And even 6 oz of breastmilk a day is better than none.

I have met quite a few women over the years who quit nursing after only 2 or 3 weeks because they find some good reason to say that medically they just couldn't. In my opinion, thats BULL, women have been EBF for thousands of years, but now all of a sudden because formula has taken over the market women find all these reasons as to why they " can't " breastfeed!!!

babies in the hospital would probably need their mothers boob more,actually! Unless of course it was because something was wrong with the mother.
my mom said she was allowed to give us cows milk at 6 months i think and we're all still here!

yeah..we are all still here..... as the fattests, sickest, more diseased nation on the planet !!!! Does that say anything?

Ha - krc you are totally right! Just because it doesn't kill you, doesn't mean it's good for you. I was formula fed as a baby & yes I think I'm OK for far (not overweight/sick or anything), but as a child I had chronic ear infections, I have always had problems with major sinus/throat infections my whole life. But my brother & sister who my mom decided to breastfeed never had these problems. Maybe it's a coincidence, but maybe not. Back to my couisn who gave her babies cows milk at 6 months - one child is now overweight, one is very underweight, the other has brutal irritable bowel problems & all 3 had blood in their stools & screamed all the time with horrible gas issues untill they were about 18 months ... she was told by the Dr. NOT to give them cows milk until 12 months & she just used to say "what does the Dr. know", again ... it made me sick. I understand not everyone can breastfeed but at least give it a REAL shot.

You know Whitney, in my baby book my mom has written the various junk foods she was letting me eat( or taste). I was very disturbed to find she was giving me ice cream and pureed pork or beef products as young as 2 months! I have been plague with 2 chronic health conditions over half of my life that I believe was highly influenced by what she fed me as a baby!

amazingly (i'm sure) we aren't the only nation that formula feeds our babies. other countries that aren't as "fat" as the US formula feed babies and they do just fine. oh yes, and all major brands of formula contain trace amounts of melamine. i'm glad you at least understand that there are reasons that moms choose not to nurse. there are women that can't even do that, so i commend you for that. i happen to be one of those moms that doesn't breastfeed. i can, my milk is in, but i'm pumping and dumping for now because i'm on 2g of keflex per day and nursing my baby once a day was enough to give her diarrhea 4 times a day. for some women, nursing is a bit rough.

I am a breastfeeding mom. i believe thatthe health benefits of bm is soo much better than that of formula. when i first became pregnant my husband and i said i would bf because it is free and we could not afford formula. after my bf classes i was excited how healthy it is for her. but even though i feel all of this, i do not look down on those who chose to formula feed. i do agree that bm is better, it does not make them bad mothers. to the mom who diluted her formula, even though she may have had the option to bf, no one knows what stopped her. i was a formula fed baby because my mothers milk (no matter how hard she tried) wasnt having me gain weight the way i should.bfing is hard and i had cracked and bleeding nipples for the first month, but maybe she didnt know that adding more water would take away from the calories.all im saying is no matter how pro breastfeeding i am, i dont think someone is a bad mom for formula feeding. or for being undereducated about baby' milk to know the dangers of diluting

and i am on a tiny laptop so i typed fast and misspelled some stuff.... sorry :)

i'm just eager to be done with the meds so i can start breastfeeding at least at night again. with all the colds going around, i'm so paranoid about my baby getting sick and i'd like her to have as many immunities as possible.

I EBFd my daughter for four only months and I had to work SO HARD for even that. I am a HUGE backer of natural BF and ebf but some times it IS NOT POSSIBLE to be exclusive. So please be considerate with your judgments about formula. When some people say it really was impossible that its not just an excuse made to fit a laziness. My daughter was in the NICU (not a preemie) for over a month in really unstable condition so I was an emotional wreck. To get anything out from the pump I had to take prozac or I wouldn't let down. They told me the prozac wasn't a big deal because she was already on so many sedatives that the 1% dose of prozac was worth having the breast milk to build her strength. Keep in mind that pumping exclusively is so much harder and so different than bf exclusively. You have to get it all out, pump, store , and clean up. The whole process takes about 45 mins. So pumping every 2 hrs means only 1hr and 15 mins in between each pumping. SO DRAINING. Especially when you have to wake up at night, with no baby in your arms, and make breast milk. When I brought her home I stopped using the pump and stayed home with her for four months, breast feeding exclusively. When she was four months I had to work part time and when I tried to use the pump again I wasn't getting more than half an ounce no matter what we tried. The Latation Consultant said that my daughter must have such a strong suction that even my hospital grade pump was too weak now, my body had adjusted. I had to supplement with formula when I was at work. I killed myself with guilt, I felt like I had failed. And when I went into all these types of forums to look for advice, I found some yes, but I stumbled across a lot of critical things. Not helpful. Sometimes its not "bull".

Maybe I speak for myself, but in my opinion - I don't think the moms on this forum as saying formula is pure poison & evil, & I totally understand not everyone can't breastfeed & it's not always "bull" when someone can't. I know how hard it is, as I had a horrible time for the 1st 6 weeks with both my kids, & I do have to suppliment with formula form time to time if I am unable to pump milk - like if I go out for a night with my husband without the kids, get called into work meetings (I'm on 1 year mat leave in Canada but still must attend meetings a few times a month), & I had food poisoning once & had to formula feed for 3 days ... I totally get it, & believe formula can be a life saver at times. I just think every baby has the right to their mothers milk & even if a mom can only BF for a few days, weeks, or months ... every little bit helps & is better then none. I read once that just 1 tbsp of BM had over 500,000 different types of antibodies, white blood cells, hormones, & anti bacterial agents that help protect babies against harmfull elements & germs - that is amazing! Formula just can't beat that. I just have a hard time listening to moms say they couldn't BF when they didn't even try, maybe it's because I have allot of friends like this, but many of them gave up before thye even left the hospital, or I have a few friends that chose not to BF because they would have to quit smoking, drinking, or would be too tied down to the baby & couldn't go out to the bar as often. My own mom didn't BF me because - get this - she didn't want saggy boobs! My husbands side of the family is very anti BFing & actually give me a very hard time about it, they think it's gross & thought it was immoral to BF my son because he was a "boy", & It makes me sooo mad, so maybe that is why I get so defensive about it. I just think every woman should really try for at least 6 weeks... but if it doesn't work out after genuinely attempting they shouldn't beat themselves up for it.

Yeah I do know alot of women who gave up out of convenience, which is so sad. I know its "gross" and taboo in western culture but the idea of a wet nursing community has always sounded logical in my head. Emotionallly, I don't know if I could do it. But logically, when you think of all the health benefits of having multiple contributors and all of their antibodies in the bm. Babies with moms who can't or wont bf could reap the benefits as well giving every child that advantage they deserve.
Like you said even a little bit is so helpful. I've used bm to treat pink eye and clogged dear ducts for my daughter. When my daughter was on bypass and they were giving her my colostrum in a tube, they would give it to her even if it was just a splash in the bottle, less than a pea sized amount.

My dad's mother couldn't breastfeed either of her children. She might have been able to if she had the help we had today with lactation consultants. She tried until she dried up with both of them, and she'd never even heard of a breast pump back then. So everyone on my dad's side of the family thinks I was trying to be a "martyr" for trying so hard to pump so that I could BF when she came home. They all think that formula must be just as good because my dad and aunt are alive and I'm selfish for insisting on BFing because it just "makes everyone uncomfortable". They all make me leave the room and shut a door behind me when I BF. It's like I'm being exiled. It's definitely frustrating. While everyone on my husbands side is expecting me to nurse till she is 3 or 4. So Ive got it from both sides. Immoral to bf a boy? "Sorry son, babies with penises can't have mothers milk. Don't you know its not civilized?" My goodness the things people let themselves believe! I'm so sorry Whitney that has got to be so frustrating for you.

I't great for all of you ladies who can breastfeed... but bashing women who choose to give formula is tasteless. Yes, breastfeeding is a good choice, and 'free'...

But take into consideration women who are physically unable to. With my first son, I tired to feed as best I could. Unfortunately, the supply was minimal. After trips to the doctor and a mammogram later, it was confirmed that I had an overwhelming amount of cystic tissue in my breast and was unable to meet the demand a baby needs.

So while you complain that this 'wouldnt happen if she breastfed' and about all those 'kids in China dying from formula'.... why not stop judging and actually consider that there are women out there who try but cannot do it for actual reasons. Not every woman who tries and 'gives up' is making up an excuse.

Consider yourselves lucky that you don't have that problem and stop bashing women who aren't as lucky as you.

I tried to bf our first child for 6 weeks with supplementation, but what she was getting from me was not nearly enough. Over time the amount I produce became less and less. With our second child I tried again and was only able to bf for 12 days and then there was nothing but a few drops from each side. As with our first I was up throughout the night pumping and trying to build supply to no avail. Finally my OB did some testing and found that I have less than half the amount of milk ducts as the average woman. With a bit more research and a trip to my endocrinologist, we discovered that this was not an uncommon problem among women with Thyroid Disease, which I was diagnosed with 15 years ago and have been on Synthroid for ever since. I really wanted to bf both our children and it kills me that I couldn't. I did however, make sure they each got every last drop before stopping. Also, both of our kids were supplemented with formula from the start due to the lack of volume.