Re: Homemade Formula

[Guest guest]

Dear All,

I have been following the breastfeeding debate, of course, with interest. To

those of you who have successfully fed your children, I say congratulations.

This is wonderful and your children are lucky. But please do have sympathy

for those who have trouble. You cannot imagine how terrible it is to not

have enough milk and have no where to turn for information. Please do not

withhold the formula recipes from your friends--you never know when they may

need them. If someone is determined to breastfeed, having the information

will not deter them. And if someone is having trouble, using the formula

with the Lact-Aid may be the very thing that restores milk supply.

I would say that I get a call or email about one or two times per week from

someone who needs the formula recipe--either because they do not have enough

milk or because they have adopted. I really do not think it is that uncommon

to not have sufficient milk, esp when the baby begins those growth spurts.

In situations where mothers are having trouble with milk supply, changing the

diet may make it increase but it still takes time, meanwhile the baby needs

to be fed. Once again, the homemade formula with the Lact-Aid allows mothers

to get over this hump. And if the diet of the mother has been just terrible,

changing her diet will not immediately improve her breast milk. Once again,

she can breastfeed using the lact-aid and the baby gets the best of both.

And what about the mother who, for whatever reason, won't breastfeed--there

are, for example, some women who are just too embarassed to do this. We

should not condemn. Rather, make the information for healthy alternatives

available. The most important thing is that the baby gets fresh healthy milk

rather than commercial formula.

Sally

[Guest guest]

Sally, I don't disagree with anything you say in this

post. As someone who is very supportive of your work

and philosophy, I simply wanted to convey that I can

see how the tone of some of your breastfeeding and

formula writing would be easily misinterpreted and

therefore dismissed by staunch breastfeeding advocates

who would actually support your message if they took

the time to get the full story. Sadly, many of them

may not give it a chance because they are turned off

near the start, and even if they keep reading their

perception is skewed because of their bad attitude.

That is, of course, their problem (and their babies'),

not yours, and I'm not suggesting you should dumb-down

anything or pander to people who don't have a

reasonable viewpoint.

I would never, ever withhold your formula recipes from

someone who was having breastfeeding difficulties, but

I would definitely encourage them to *also* improve

their chances of success via your diet suggestions

before putting their baby entirely on formula.

As for women who are too embarrassed to breastfeed, I

think that's a serious social and psychological

problem.

Aubin

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