4 ms·
Can you make formula from other ingredients? You can let a baby drink from another women's breast though. That's how they did it in the past, when a mother was
by ascar 5y ago
Can you make formula from other ingredients? You can let a baby drink from another women's breast though.
That's how they did it in the past, when a mother wasn't producing enough milk. It was an actual job called wet nurse [1].
[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wet_nurse https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wet_nurse
- simonh 5y agoWet nurses need to be already lactating mothers, not just any woman. Also in a strict lockdown how are you going to get a wet nurse to visit you?
- ascar 5y agoFrom GP comment it sounded like there are multiple mom's with infants in the building and statistically most of them should be breastfeeding. So if I run out of formula another mom is probably the best solution to not let my baby starve.
- simonh 5y agoSure, that's fair enough.
- grapescheesee 5y agoAnd unreal to even be having a conversation about.
- stjohnswarts 5y agoSure but how long can that last? I mean if no one is eating then the milk will stop and she's unlikely to sacrifice her kid's only food supply for yours.
- alisonatwork 5y agoIn China breastfeeding is less popular than other parts of the world[0], so the statistics might not work out. [0] https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2187934/china-should-ban-misleading-milk-formula-adverts-boost https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2187934/chin...
- ascar 5y agoThese numbers are actually surprising considering that natural breast feeding has health benefits for the baby. Although it says "only breastmilk" which can also mean formula is used as a supplement.
- dan-robertson 5y agoIn lots of poorer parts of the world formula is marketed as being better than breast milk. In many developed countries adverts like these are banned but they used to be allowed. There were also problems with e.g. young children with well-to-do parents being given only canned food and getting scurvy. The theme was again about a supposed better-planned diet than what poorer people from less advanced times had to use.
- wyclif 5y agoDefinitely true here in SE Asia and other parts of the developing world. In the Philippines for instance, you go to a supermarket and there are rows and rows of formula boxes and all you need to do is look at the packaging and advertising to see the message they're trying to convey: formula is for good-looking, light-skinned, smart, educated parents and only ignorant dark-skinned provincial poor people breastfeed because they can't afford formula. That's the thinking. There's almost no consideration that breast milk is more healthy for the baby.
- mensetmanusman 5y agoAmerica went through something similar about a century or two ago before birth control was prevalent. Because breastfeeding mostly delays the return of fertility, formula popularity resulted in a huge spike of babies. (Ancient societies would often breastfeed for more than two years). As society gathers more data on the huge health and IQ impact of breastfeeding, it will become the norm again as it is in the west (for the fewer mothers that do exist…).
- lordnacho 5y agoThat other woman would need to eat something to make milk too. Plus she'd need to be recently pregnant.
- ascar 5y ago> That other woman would need to eat something to make milk too. Well, eating something is much easier than replicating the composition of baby milk (i.e. making formula). I already answered your second point in a sibling comment. Though inducing lactation without pregnancy is actually possible according to my linked Wikipedia article. But that's not what I was thinking about when writing my comment.