Comment by laurent_du
2 years ago
Maternal milk is better than formula in every possible way and there is a perfect scientific consensus around this. Formula is the least worst substitute to maternal milk but going around and screaming that formula is perfectly fine, as if it was as good (or even better!) than maternal milk is denying some very well-established piece of science for likely ideological reasons.
> Maternal milk is better than formula in every possible way and there is a perfect scientific consensus around this.
I have not seen result like this obtained in a randomized, controlled trial, and it is almost certainly false as stated: you're almost certainly exaggerating for effect, but doing that in scientific context is bad intellectual hygiene.
All results of this sort that I have seen have been purely correlational, and as such suffer from selection bias. This might be true, but the evidence is far from conclusive, and if such consensus exists among medical professionals, it only shows how susceptible they are to groupthink and parroting the stuff they heard from the cathedra.
Milk is better than formula, but formula is better than starvation.
There are way too many instances of infants "failing to thrive" because their mothers are bullied into relying on breast milk which they simply aren't producing enough of.
And this is what I'm talking about - Clearly, you've never been a mother who can't produce milk for her child.
I've been there with my wife and I'm only the husband.
Everything you say is true, but by saying this and in this manner, you lack empathy. You sound just like the mommy blogs and their followers that I'm speaking against who spout facts with no room for life's situations. My wife sincerely believed she was less of a mother because of people like this.
I say it again: Formula is _perfectly_ fine. Use it a little or as a total replacement. You're not a lesser mother/parent for it.
When you say more empathy is required, do you mean the same thing should be phrased differently, or do you mean it should not be said at all?
Probably something that says while breast milk is ideal, formula is a great alternative if it's not available.
Acknowledging that formula is a safe alternative and that you don't need to stress.
It’s like saying that you should only eat organic food. Sure, there is lots of science backing it up, but that’s besides the point. It’s not always possible or easy for everyone to get organic food. Any food is better than no food.