It upset me the other day to hear that a
friend felt guilty about the fact she was formula feeding her child as well as breastfeeding. No mother should ever feel that way, I guess that's what I didn't like about the 'Breast is Best' slogan that was introduced. The truth is what is best is what is best for the parents. I've formula fed my first child, he's now 3 and is thriving. No health problems and is as a bright child who par his speech therapy issue is doing fantastic for his age. That year of formula feeding did no harm at all, though I couldn't wait until he turned 1 and was introduced to cows milk (much cheaper!)I practically told a health visitor with Oli to shove her unwanted advice where the sun doesn't shine when it came to weaning him. Apparently I went against all the rules by weaning him early, sorry who's rules? I thought I was the parent and made my own rules about how I feed my children? When it comes to weaning Dylan we'll both be doing it when we're ready, I've even been looking into baby led weaning this time around so he'll be doing everything when he's ready.
When it comes down to the differences between breast and formula feeding I cant actually tell you them, even though I have experience of doing both. Of course formula feeding means the luxury of sharing the feeding and being able to leave your child if you wish but then you can do exactly the same with breastfeeding if you choose to express. Yesterday I wrote a list about why I love breastfeeding and some of the things on this list you can take & apply to formula feeding. No difference to the bonding with your child be it with a boob or bottle and even formula feeding can be free if you need that extra bit of help and qualify for Healthy Start vouchers.I may have the personal opinion that the milk we produce was put there for a reason, so we can feed our children. But my personal opinion shouldn't matter to anyone. Only your opinions and your decisions are the ones that matter. No parent should ever feel guilty about how they choose to feed their child, I may be celebrating world breastfeeding week but everyday I celebrate the fact I have two healthy children one formula fed and one breastfed who I get to make the important decisions for.