Formula is better than breastmilk?

Nope! But the rhetoric that formula is poison or junk food is categorically false. Formula is the single most highly regulated food substance in the United States. The FDA issues nutritional standards that ALL infant formulas must meet to be sold in the US. And the FDA inspects every formula production facility once a year, rather than every three years as is the standard for other food production facilities.

Breastmilk is usually the optimal food for infants (save for rare occasions when babies are dealing with conditions like galactosemia), AND formula is nutritionally complete! Both can be true. We don’t need to stoop to vilifying choices we didn’t make to validate the ones we did.

Parents should just give up trying to breastfeed?

Not if they don’t want to! Breastfeeding is a noble endeavor. However, so much of the communication to new or expecting parents rarely explains the potential complications that often come in a breastfeeding journey. Parents are often blindsided in those early, vulnerable days. To not know why feeding isn’t working is a terrifying feeling. And when your OB, midwife, hospital, and pediatrician are assuming you’ll breastfeed, you can start to believe that’s your only choice if you want to be a good parent. Making choices out of pressure or fear is NOT the way to start parenthood. I want you to feel empowered to understand the benefits AND risks of ALL modalities of infant feeding and make the choice that works for your family! If that means pursuing lactation support, hooray! If that means combo-feeding, do it! If that means switching to formula, I’m here for you!

Choosing the next-best choice for infant feeding means improving other health factors (baby’s weight gain, mom’s mental health, dad’s involvement) then that IS the healthiest, best choice overall.

“Giving up” breastfeeding doesn’t make us quitters. It makes us flexible and adaptable. We never give up on our babies.

You’re anti-breastfeeding?

No way! But you’re going to hear a lot of support and information for formula feeding from me, because it is so lacking! There is so much lactation support for families who want it; virtual support, books, social media, and hopefully in-person support in your community.

I’m here to round-out that education and support. If you want only breastfeeding support, I enthusiastically encourage you to look up local CLCs/CLEs or IBCLCs near you. Get the support YOU need. Remember, support of one thing does NOT inherently mean the condemnation of the alternative. If I’m not what you need, no worries! Go in peace and find your support system.

The formula companies are paying to you say this…

Hardly! The Nestle debacle of the 1970s was misleading and malicious, full stop. Their marketing tactics were not okay. There was major national and international legislation passed such as The World Health Organization’s International Code for Marketing of Breast-Milk Substitutes, infant formula companies formed the International Council of Infant Food Industries, and Nestlé itself established the Infant Formula Audit Commission.

Marketing can always wander into predatory territory in any industry, including the breastfeeding industry. Companies profit off of vulnerable parents trying to establish breastfeeding, selling lactation supplements or cookies that have little to no basis in evidence.

We should do what we can to hold companies accountable across the board, and ensure marketing is honest and evidence-based, instead of fear-based or promising more than it’s capable. New parents and babies are vulnerable, and care should be taken to protect them. This doesn’t mean we should ban a nutritionally complete and often life-saving substance like infant formula because of a scandal from one company 50 years ago.