Anyone who says breastfeeding is cheaper than formula is full of it!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would be really interested to hear to what extent these physical problems existed in earlier times when breastfeeding was the norm and what the solutions for them were then.

Wet nurses for those who could afford them, and sadly, lots more babies died before the invention of formula.

[Anonymous]

After my first, my Freestyle seemed to poop out. Those personal pumps are great but are meant to last one baby. For my second, I coughed up $1300 and bought a medela symphony hospital grade pump. I want two more kids. I was tired of paying to rent a symphony in the first few months. I don't want to pay $400 for a new Freestyle every time either. Got the money from my FSA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would be really interested to hear to what extent these physical problems existed in earlier times when breastfeeding was the norm and what the solutions for them were then.

Wet nurses for those who could afford them, and sadly, lots more babies died before the invention of formula.

Maybe, though I very much doubt that the non-existence of formula is the only reason for infant mortality among populations without wet nurses.

If anyone knows of histories related to this, please recommend them as I would love to read!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I had lots of bf issues including no latch, delayed/low supply, infections/pain, etc and had multiple visits w lc, tried every herb, every device, pump, bottle, storage system, etc, everything out there...but I'm afraid I have to agree w others that say this doesn't mean that bf is more expensive. it was an expensive process because I insisted on making it work and I have the means to try all this stuff... that doesn't mean bf itself is expensive.

I think that the point is not whether Bf is actually more expensive than FF, but rather that when you have trouble with BF, there are tremendous hidden costs that take you by surprise, and these costs quickly add up. I am not a frivolous person, but I spent over $1000 to BF. Costs included over $150 for the generic version of diflucan b/c I had to be on it for longer than my insurance would cover. It also included a very expensive LC because with my first child I saw multiple less expensive LCs and they just couldn't address my BF pain. If you have copays for office visits and prescriptions, then each bout of mastitis can easily cost $30-50. I'm not talking about buying a recliner or a freezer, I'm talking about the cost of minimal amt of care to make BF work for me.

What I'm saying is that these hidden costs take many of us by surprise, and when you are already struggling with BF and maybe struggling with whether or not you can continue to BF, they can increase the feeling that there is something "wrong" with you b/c so many people told you that BF is so much cheaper than formula. For the PP who posted that if you are "truly indigent" that you don't need all of this expensive stuff, I have to point out what we all know: In this country poor women don't breastfeed, or at least only a very small percentage of them don't. So I think we need to take seriously the cost barriers to BF.

You hit the nail on the head. Anyone who pretends that there are no financial strains associated with breastfeeding does a disservice to those promoting breastfeeding. Maybe if we acknowledged the expenses, we lower-income women would have better luck getting financial assistance. WIC covers a breast pump; does it cover nursing pads and nipple cream? And nursing bras? I had a G cup and my bras were not cheap. A regular underwire bra, for many women, leads to clogged ducts...and mastitis.

From a cost perspective - costco formula for a year is probably cheaper than breastfeeding, unless you have 100% smooth sailing from the beginning.

You think the government should pay for your nipple cream and nursing bras? If you're that broke, the only thing I would support the government paying for is your birth control.

I didn't say that. But for some people, it is important to encourage breastfeeding. When you have a woman in front of you with a newborn baby, will a prescription for birth control promote breastfeeding? If we make formula feeding free, some would argue that it's important to make breastfeeding free if we want people to consider breastfeeding. Whether we, as a society, want to support breastfeeding to that extent is another issue entirely.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would be really interested to hear to what extent these physical problems existed in earlier times when breastfeeding was the norm and what the solutions for them were then.

Wet nurses for those who could afford them, and sadly, lots more babies died before the invention of formula.

Maybe, though I very much doubt that the non-existence of formula is the only reason for infant mortality among populations without wet nurses.

If anyone knows of histories related to this, please recommend them as I would love to read!

When my mother was born (in India) her mother was extremely ill and could not breastfeed. My mother's aunt breastfed her.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This thread has been really interesting to me because I somehow managed to go almost 30 years without realizing the large number of problems that apparently go along with breastfeeding. I did not know there was a whole industry around products associated with it, from special chairs and pillows to pumps of varying intensity. My mother breastfed all 3 of her children, at a time when it was not common to do that. My entire experience prior to having a child was that breastfeeding is the right thing to do for your baby - I never once heard the caveat "if that is what you choose" or "if you are able to" before moving here. When my friends started having children, they did complain of the difficulties of breastfeeding, but most of those difficulties involved unsupportive doctors, nurses and family members. I never heard of physical difficulties. I do not for a second disbelieve their existence, but it really is surprising to me how many people in this area seem to have physical problems breastfeeding.

I would be really interested to hear to what extent these physical problems existed in earlier times when breastfeeding was the norm and what the solutions for them were then.

Part of why you may not have heard about it is generational/cultural. Perhaps it just wasn't acceptable to complain about your lot in life - it's like people who feel guilty admitting they don't enjoy pregnancy. Would you complain about breastfeeding if you knew people whose children died shortly after birth? Would you complain about it if everyone else around was formula feeding, and you were committed to breastfeed? After all, everyone around you would say "see, this is why you should formula feed!"

And I also think that amongst social circles where people have very strong feelings in support of breastfeeding, it might be taboo to admit that you're struggling.

Before I had a baby, I assumed I would be successful in breastfeeding, and that people who weren't were just not educated enough, or they fell prey to formula companies' marketing, so on and so forth. I thought sympathetically "if they had just had more support!" And then I got a slap in the face when my baby was born.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think this discussion comes down to the following:

1. Breastfeeding IS FREE. This is how infants around the world survive !!!

2. However, the more comfortable/better/easier/enjoyable, etc. you want to make it for yourself, (after all there are so many ways and things available to us in this area), the more 'hidden' costs could surprise you. If you have difficulty with breastfeeding, there are even more avenues of help/items available that can make the overall costs go (way) up.

3. This country has no protection for working mothers. One of only 3 (!) in the world together with Swaziland and Papua New Guinea that has no legal guarantee of paid maternity leave. Now the percentage of women in the workforce in Swaziland and Papua New Guinea is 20% lower than in the US. Therefore the US has the highest percentage of working mothers who have to leave their infants (very) early on to return to work - in the world!! If they want to feed breastmilk, they have to have access to breastpumps and all that goes with that (freezer, storage bags, bottles, etc.). Although I could not find a statistic on the following, I'm sure that the US has the highest percentage of privately owned breastpumps in the world.

4. Formula is expensive. However, the more items/comfort/avenues of help you seek as in 2., especially if you feel you need a home visit from a lactation consultant for the $300/hr that someone quoted (which by the way, in many countries it is customary that lactation consultants visit you at home for free, paid for by your - mandatory- health insurance, or in places where breastfeeding becomes a matter of survival; everyone available will give their best advice and effort to help the breastfeeding mother) the more the cost can become indistinguishable, also depending on whether you are able to reuse items/experience for future babies, and how long you eventually give breastmilk, which most people in the US do not continue to do for as long as in f.e. India (3-4 yrs on average).

You make some great points, but I have to point out that in many places if your baby has poor latch, or you have no supply, and there is no one else to nurse your baby, your baby dies. So many (overwhelming majority) infants survive, but some babies that could survive (and thrive) with access to formula and clean water do die. Yes, absolutely

And 3-4 years on average in India? Do you have a cite to that? I ask because I am Indian and never heard of anyone breastfeeding that long. Maybe my family and my husband's family are not representative (totally different social classes, running the gamut from poor, illiterate farmers to wealthy descendants of royalty) so I'm curious where the 3-4 year average is coming from. This is from the International Journal of Epidemiology, but they used data from the National Family Health Survey Institute of India from around 2005 - The long duration stuck in my mind and was especially prevalent in East India (Orissa, Jharkhand, West Bengal) and Northeast India (Assam, Tripura, Manipur...).

[Anonymous]

Breastfeeding is hard, especially when you're getting used to doing it and a new baby too. Pumping is hard too, getting used to it and doing it as well as being away from your baby in order to do it. Being a mother is hard, sometimes it's easier to have help raising your child. Nothing about being a parent is easy except loving them. We think we need all this crap to breastfeed and pump just like we think we need to buy our kids all this crap to make them happy. How one chooses to parent is of no consequence to me or my family, this includes how they choose to feed their kids.

[Anonymous]

To the poster with the Neocate: I really had no idea; almost $35 for a 14 oz can of Neocate... (maybe one can get it cheaper, but that's the 'from the source' price).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To the poster with the Neocate: I really had no idea; almost $35 for a 14 oz can of Neocate... (maybe one can get it cheaper, but that's the 'from the source' price).

Actually, that IS the cheapest way to get it other than stuff like Craig's List, but I couldn't bring myself to buy my baby's formula from CL. If you order it through your pharmacy, which we started out doing, it was $45/can. Our ped, ped GI, and ped allergist each gave us some samples, so that helped, but yeah, crazy expensive. When my son was 10 months we were able to switch to Alimentum and it seemed so cheap by comparison!

[Anonymous]

Just my 2 cents about issues: I had no idea that BF just does not work out sometimes. My husband and i took a class all about BF and never once did the instructor mention the problems you could run into, or the bottom line that for some women, it does not work out (myself being one of those). I had extremely low supply, had to supplement right from the hospital, pumped every 2 hours for 2 weeks and saw virtually no increase, was trying to nurse and bottle feed and pump, took fenugreek, saw a lac consultant. After 3 weeks, I finally decided it was better for DS and I to enjoy our time together and give up being crazed about BF and trying to pump all the time. Whatever works for you is best!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can anyone explain why you needed more than, say, a dozen bottles? That seems really weird to me.

if you exclusively pump and store milk, you need a TON of bottles.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just my 2 cents about issues: I had no idea that BF just does not work out sometimes. My husband and i took a class all about BF and never once did the instructor mention the problems you could run into, or the bottom line that for some women, it does not work out (myself being one of those). I had extremely low supply, had to supplement right from the hospital, pumped every 2 hours for 2 weeks and saw virtually no increase, was trying to nurse and bottle feed and pump, took fenugreek, saw a lac consultant. After 3 weeks, I finally decided it was better for DS and I to enjoy our time together and give up being crazed about BF and trying to pump all the time. Whatever works for you is best!

Do you think part of the issue could be that US hospitals adhere to certain weight lost, must give formula guidelines? My daughter was 1 ounce from getting formula in the hospital. I did not end up having supply issues, but I often wonder, if she had lost that ounce and they had given her a bottle, what would have happened? Since they didn't, she was hungry and kept trying and trying to latch and going after me. I can understand the point of supplementing when a certain percentage of the weight has been lost, however doesn't it seem kind of weird when you think about the fact that no babies that are 1 or 2 day's old are really able to get much since its just colostrum anyway? My milk didn't come in until I was home from the hospital after a csection, so like day 5? I think the weight loss percentage thing was just luck of the draw for us.

[Anonymous]

I spent at most $400 on 2 pumps, handsfree bra, clearance nursing bras, 8 bottles, extra milk storage containers and bags, and some cheap things like nursing pads.

I eat a TON to keep up production, though. That cost way more than formula!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To the poster with the Neocate: I really had no idea; almost $35 for a 14 oz can of Neocate... (maybe one can get it cheaper, but that's the 'from the source' price).

Actually, that IS the cheapest way to get it other than stuff like Craig's List, but I couldn't bring myself to buy my baby's formula from CL. If you order it through your pharmacy, which we started out doing, it was $45/can. Our ped, ped GI, and ped allergist each gave us some samples, so that helped, but yeah, crazy expensive. When my son was 10 months we were able to switch to Alimentum and it seemed so cheap by comparison![/quote

Not the PP but my DC is on Elecare due to severe allergies. It costs about $40 for a 14.1 oz can (most regular formula cans are about 24 oz and at least half the price). We have spent between $400-$600/month on the formula alone.