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Uhh what? How did you get this? In my experience it’s been the opposite. There’s stigma around breastfeeding in public. People aren’t breastfeeding and using f

Uhh what? How did you get this? In my experience it’s been the opposite. There’s stigma around breastfeeding in public. People aren’t breastfeeding and using formula because of a lack of education and the associated stigma.

vlunkr 4y ago
I don’t think this has been the case for the past 15 years or so. In young parent culture, there is absolutely stigma against using formula. I think these studies are a big part of it. There’s pressure from doctors and hospital staff to breastfeed when you have a new baby, and a key part of the sales pitch is increased IQ. It’s not hard to see how that causes serious guilt for moms who use formula.
- aldebran 4y ago
  When we had kids (party recently), there was education about breastfeeding but I did not see pressure and zero mention of IQ. They did have tables showing the nutrients in Breastmilk vs formula. That itself was scientific. No judgement either way. In fact they did mention they understand some families can’t or decide they don’t want to. Of course this is anecdata.
  - hollandheese 4y ago
    Then you had a great hospital! My wife and I had our child in late 2020, and our experience was vastly different and much like vlunkr said. Ours UCSF, pressured and pressured my wife to breastfeed even though her milk was having massive problems coming in. Instead of allowing formula they only allowed donor breast milk supplementation by tubes that were taped to my wife's nipples, to attempt to prevent "nipple confusion".
    - JeanSebTr 4y ago
      Not OP, but we had to get a c section and milk production was slow to come in. We also used the breastfeeding aid, but with formula. The way it was explained to us, the idea is to continue to stimulate milk production while supplementing. We used it for a week until production was sufficient. I personally enjoyed this as it allowed me to be more involved and removed the stress of knowing if we were feeding our child enough while still getting what we could from breastfeeding. We definitely had a great hospital. With all the stress and lack of sleep, I'm not sure I would've kept calm if they'd imposed stuff that way. Not letting you the choice of using formula when using the breastfeeding aid seems crazy.

vlunkr 4y ago

I don’t think this has been the case for the past 15 years or so. In young parent culture, there is absolutely stigma against using formula. I think these studies are a big part of it. There’s pressure from doctors and hospital staff to breastfeed when you have a new baby, and a key part of the sales pitch is increased IQ. It’s not hard to see how that causes serious guilt for moms who use formula.

aldebran 4y ago
When we had kids (party recently), there was education about breastfeeding but I did not see pressure and zero mention of IQ. They did have tables showing the nutrients in Breastmilk vs formula. That itself was scientific. No judgement either way. In fact they did mention they understand some families can’t or decide they don’t want to. Of course this is anecdata.
- hollandheese 4y ago
  Then you had a great hospital! My wife and I had our child in late 2020, and our experience was vastly different and much like vlunkr said. Ours UCSF, pressured and pressured my wife to breastfeed even though her milk was having massive problems coming in. Instead of allowing formula they only allowed donor breast milk supplementation by tubes that were taped to my wife's nipples, to attempt to prevent "nipple confusion".
  - JeanSebTr 4y ago
    Not OP, but we had to get a c section and milk production was slow to come in. We also used the breastfeeding aid, but with formula. The way it was explained to us, the idea is to continue to stimulate milk production while supplementing. We used it for a week until production was sufficient. I personally enjoyed this as it allowed me to be more involved and removed the stress of knowing if we were feeding our child enough while still getting what we could from breastfeeding. We definitely had a great hospital. With all the stress and lack of sleep, I'm not sure I would've kept calm if they'd imposed stuff that way. Not letting you the choice of using formula when using the breastfeeding aid seems crazy.