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Formula: Friend or Foe

On the tails of my “Gisele Rant,” I thought I’d address the issue of infant formula. Is it a miracle or is it a chemical poison? (The German word for “poison,” FYI, is “Gift.”) I have said it before and I’ll say it again; Breast is Best. Breast milk is the perfect food for immature human beings. In the same way that rabbit milk is the perfect food for baby rabbits. Mother Nature just works that way. Breast milk provides the right combination of nutrients to support a developing infant. As a baby grows, the milk changes to adapt to the baby’s needs. Bonus feature is the presence of important antibodies passed from Mom to kid to help protect an immature little immune system. Okay, so we get that I like breast milk. So why would I ever advocate the use of formula? I’ll tell you.

Before my first daughter was born, I underwent a frightful experience called “induced lactation.” Basically I took a combination of hormones and then began pumping, about 2 months before she was due to be born. (For those just tuning in, I’m the mother of two gorgeous girls, neither of whom sprang from this womb.) The process of getting breast milk out of my body was interesting from a scientific view, horrifying from a perspective of reality. The key to anyone producing milk is frequency. Hence the pump “backpack” that became my permanent purse. I pumped in taxis, trains, cars, restrooms, and airplanes. And I made milk. At my peak I was pumping 10 times a day and making a whole 2 ounces every 24 hours. Wow! Eat up kids! Dinner is served!
It’s not hard to see how formula became the mainstay of my daughter’s diet. By the time Eva was 6 weeks old, I’d had it. Maybe the clue that it was time to quit was when my family put a Santa hat on my breast pump to take a photo of “my other child.” Eva got cut off and everything went into the freezer for Zoe. When Zoe was born (13 weeks after Eva!), I offered her the option of breastfeeding. She politely declined once she realized that 4 ounces came all at once in a bottle. I defrosted my “stash” and she finished it in about 2 days. Oink.
So why am I sharing this very personal story with you? It is because I want you to understand how deeply I believe in breastfeeding. But also to understand that sometimes there is a very real need for formula. If you see a woman in the mall feeding a baby from a bottle, you can’t know if that was a personal choice based on a cultural factor, whether that child is adopted, whether she has an underlying health condition that requires medications or whether she had a mastectomy due to cancer. It’s hard to be a Mom who can’t breastfeed in today’s world of the Gisele Bundchens. But it’s important to remember that breastfeeding is just a small part of being a mother.
And in that sense, formula is a miracle. It has allowed women the freedom to return to the work force. It has enabled mothers who can’t bear children to become a parent. It has meant that single Dad’s can raise happy, healthy children. So to that I say, three cheers for my kids’ “chemical diet.”
And later this week: do I really need to buy the fancy brand name stuff or will a jug of Safeway Select do the trick?

Dr. Lara Zibners, Aug 10, 2010

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