Formula and breastmilk differences
I am prompted by recent advertising of a formula in the UK as being closer
to breastmilk and implying that the brand had already been close to
breastmilk.  I am not mentioning the brand name as lactnet could well do
without a libel action and here in the UK the burden of proof is on lactnet
not the formula company.
Anyway it reminded me that if their marketing people are correct, and
goodness knows they can afford the best, formula and breastmilk are still
considered virtually the same in this country.
However, classes and writing on breastfeeding tend to overlook this.
To launch straight into trying to teach breastfeeding without first
explaining why caring for a formula fed baby is so different from
breastfeeding is a bit like trying to put paint onto something without
stripping off the old first. It may look good for a while but it is soon in
a worse state than before you started.
Can I suggest teaching straight off that
Formua is thicker than breastmilk-this takes care of worries about women’s
milk being too thin for their babies
Formula takes much longer to digest than human milk so baby starts giving
signs he wants to suckle eg head turning, chewing fists, crying hours before
it is safe to feed again as he will still be digesting the formula. Hence
the need for pacifier, baby rockers, mobiles between feeds. Hence also the
need for scheduling formula feeds. With the breastfed baby it is perfectly
in order to feed the baby when it gives these cues to feed as the last feed
will have been digested. It is also why these necessities for formula
feeding ie scheduling and satisfying(or attempting to )  the instinct to
suckle by artificial means are neither necessary or desirable in
breastfeeding. Then and only then can someone take in the damage to the milk
supply of these activities.
Formula contains no properties to relax a mother so the suggested time apart
from her baby is part of coping with this hormone imbalance. In the
breastfeeding mother this necessity is not present so mothers can feel much
more comfortable about not giving in to pressure to separate.
Formula feeding does not provide a mother with sensitivity to her infant
during cosleeping as she tends to sleep back to back with the infant whilst
the breastfed infant’s mother makes a safe space for the baby with her arms
and body during the night.
A high proportion of formula remains undigested by the baby so the stools
are unnaturally large. This takes care of concerns that the breastfed baby
is sick when a mother’s formula feeding friends and relatives see the
stools. If a formula fed baby has stools like that it probably is sick.
I’m posting this not because it is news but because the basic differences
between the two are very much underestimated and misunderstood by the
mothers we help.
Susan Stockwell
Poole UK




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