Oy, this crunchy mothering board is hurting my brain

[Maus_Magill]

This stripmade me think of this thread.

[Unauthorized_Cinnamon]

@Guinastasia

I never understood this – what’s wrong with breastmilk in a bottle? It’s still breastmilk. Even if the baby never latches, he/she is still getting the nutrients he/she needs.
If it’s about “bonding”, Mom’s still holding the baby, and in this case, Dad can participate as well.

It’s unquestionably better than formula, but some features are lost when breast milk is stored and put in a bottle. (There have even been studies about which components will cling to the bottle surface and not get into the baby, and whether it’s better with glass or plastic.) You won’t get the same immune interchange between mom and baby. And as WhyNot points out, breast milk changes through the day and through the months, in response to baby’s needs. If you’re pumping that’s more likely to get disrupted. And pumping sucks. It can be very hard to produce enough milk while pumping, depending on the woman. Even women who could produce enough for twins if nursing may not produce well for a pump. I know I saw an article about this stuff go by on FB recently - I’ll try to dredge up a link.

I do really like the idea of feeding your baby like a breastfeeding mom, even if you are using a bottle of formula. Cue feeding, holding and cuddling, giving the baby some control over the bottle, etc. I think you can indeed get a lot of the benefits of nursing, even without breast milk.

[Sierra_Indigo]

You guys want crunchy?

Have you seen Hathor the Cow Goddess?

http://www.thecowgoddess.com/images/2002/charactersheet.GIF

[WhyNot]

@maggenpye

Preach it, sister!

I never knew we were illicit drug suppliers down here in NZ! I’m quite proud.

I ordered Domperidonefrom a NZ online pharmacy. It’s not approved in the US, but it’s not illegal to import for personal use.

It *doubled *my milk production, BTW. Awesome stuff.

[gurujulp]

@MsWhatsit

I haven’t seen anyone say that VBACs are evil and should never happen either. gurujulp said that he (she?) knew very few OBs that supported it. I cited one who does, and the major peer-reviewed study he helped run. You framed your post as a disagreement with mine, and I’m not sure why, as nothing I said ran counter to anything you said.

Edit: In response to dangermom.

I am male, but as FirstDaughter was a c-section, lots of research went into it, and our obgyn was okay with VBAC, and all of the midwives were into it, but after interviewing a few other OBGYNs, it turns out that though the doctors are mostly for repeat c-sections, the midwives are usually for VBAC, as long as you prep for it and keep up your exercise and kegels, and it is never a non-hospital environment decision.

[maggenpye]

@nashiitashii

Based on my understanding of the theory, life experience and the increased incidence of allergies in younger folks, I would say that there’s some evidence that exposure to allergens at an early age can provide the body with some desensitization to the allergens and reduce the risk of a fatal or severe allergic reaction in the future. When my husband and I were youngsters in the 1980s, this was something that many allergists actually practiced via allergy shots and exposure to allergens in small amounts. As you mentioned, in the 1990s there was a shift to avoidance of all allergens and an increase in severe allergies among children born during that time-- it may be coincidental or correlate to the behaviors recommended by pediatricians at the time, but the medical community has not formed a consensus on it at this point.

Thanks, now I know what I’ll be doing this morning, reading those links!

WhyNot, awesome indeed!

[lindsaybluth]

@overlyverbose

You must also have missed the breastmilk cheese craze, too.

Oh god, I almost threw up in my mouth. Please don’t tell me this is that mainstream.

[Guinastasia]

@lindsaybluth

Oh god, I almost threw up in my mouth. Please don’t tell me this is that mainstream.

What the hell IS breast milk cheese?
My mother only breast fed me for a few months because she just plain did NOT enjoy it at all. With my sister, she didn’t do so. And my sister had to have a special type of formula.
My mom’s not evil.