I thought you guys would be totally against formula all together and nurse your child til she was four years old.  

I am always interested in why people use formula...especially when breastmilk is as "natural"

as you can get and never gets "recalled."

I agree that "breast is best" but for those of us who have to work outside the home for 10 hours/day, pumping doesn't always work.  but, i feel guilty about bailing on the breast when Elsie was only 10 months old.

actually 12 hours a day including bus commute.

ugh! i was seraching around for answers about the Earth's Best formula when i came across your blog. similar drama at our house. i work 3 days a week, and pumping twice a day doesn't adequately supply my 6-month-old with what he needs. it's way too hectic to try to always be pumping on my days off to "get ahead." sometimes we gotta do what we gotta do and i felt much less guilty using organic formula! i, too, had noticed the fishy smell, but he didn't seem to mind. i'm bummed! where did you find the other kind you mentioned? enfamil is gross! take care, jenn in l.a. (formerly lived in portland, or, or are you in maine?)

"I am always interested in why people use formula...especially when breastmilk is as 'natural'

as you can get and never gets 'recalled.'"

I have no idea why Elsie is formula-fed but can you not understand that sometimes breast-feeding is impossible?  

I would have given anything to breast-feed but my child had a swallowing problem that prevented him from managing nursing, no matter what the 3 lactation consultants I saw tried (yes, supplemental nursing systems, yes, everything that I've ever heard of we tried).  (Even a bottle was very difficult for him.)  I could never get a milk supply going even pumping with a hospital-grade pump constantly and none of the many kinds of supplements helped either.  Months and months of exhausting, agonizing trying, to the point where the baby developed a counterproductive feeding aversion.  So there we were, stuck with bottle feeding.  

The pain of not being able to do something that supposedly was so natural and better for the child is only compounded by people who breezily make such judgmental comments like yours, Katie S., about breastfeeding.  It may be natural, and it may not be recalled, but it may also not work, and as the loving parent I presume you to be I am sure that you'd have rather have me feed my child formula than let him waste away and die because breastfeeding is ideal.

Whatever the reason that Elsie's parents have ended up using formula, what an compassionless comment to parents who are clearly trying to do the best for their daughter.  Parenting is hard enough without having random people sweep through with uninformed judgments that don't take into account the full realities of people's situations.  

I hope that you've had an easy time on the breastfeeding front, and from your comment I trust that you have, which is terrific.  I wouldn't wish feeding problems on anyone. It would just be so great if people could extend a little more support and a little less judgment to people who make different choices -- or are compelled to use different options -- than theirs.  

Hi Jennifer,

We found Baby's Only at Whole Foods.  I have also been able to find it at larger local natural foods stores though not in Portland OR.  And of course you can buy it online. I think we might return the Earth's Best and go with Baby's Only because it seems to be the better product.

hunh, i was wondering where it went...

anonymous - i hope your child is swallowing well now.  that must have been very frustrating for you.  when my daughter was about 6 months old, i came down with the rotavirus and as such lost my milk supply due to dehydration.  not nearly as traumatic as your experience, but i totally get what it can feel like.  since then, she became a "nurse most of the time but drank formula a lot too when i ran out of boob juice" kind of kid.  thanks for sticking up for yourself.  us hippie-types need to remember that "best" is not always "best."

Our little guy loves Similac Organic. It has DHA and all that good stuff that a few of the other organic formulas don't. Good luck.

Serahrose, thank you for your kind words and support.  I didn't think to mention that our feeding story, while difficult, did have a happy ending -- the swallowing problem and complicating acid reflux did resolve with age, and since he was a little over 1 (and stopped with bottles altogether) everything has been on the upswing.  My son is now 2 and a half and is healthy, happy, and thriving.  

I can only imagine how difficult your experience was, both in dealing with a bout of illness with such a little one and then with the consequent breastfeeding effects. Thanks for sharing your experience.

Thanks again for your thoughtfulness and kindness.

Hey, I would say that breastfeeding for 10 months is an accomplishment. No need for guilt!

Why does every sentence in a blog about formula get people up in arms feeling like they can spout their wisdom about breastfeeding being the "it" for everyone. It's just not like that. I tried and tried with breastfeeding but since I didn't have a sufficient supply right from the get go we had to supplement with formula. I wish everyone would just remember that what's best for them and their family might not be best for everyone else.

Curiously, I've been watching Elsie and her cousin Ida grow up side by side--Ida eating nothing but milk out of my wife's breasts, Elsie supplementing with and then going fully fishy and non-fishy formula.  The thing is, Elsie appears to be much bigger and more attentive than Ida!  Also, she can crawl and clap, and Ida just flops around on her stomach and cries.  Maybe she should have been getting more formula?

Kudos, Maggie, for nursing for 10 months!  I totally relate to the pumping.  Seriously though, for what ever reason... I pictured you guys nursing your tot until she got her wisdom teeth.  

Has Elsie beaten Arthur at tennis yet?

That's what I would like to know.

Love, Occhio

I have used Baby's Only with my daughter since she was a few months old, and it's been great! And an incidental benefit is that it is half the price of Earth's Best (not that cost matters in this case, but ...) In case anyone feels concern over the "Toddler's Formula" designation on the label ... the company labels it such because they support breastfeeding for as long as possible. I had a long talk with them over the phone and it is absolutely suitable for infants as well. I did extensive comparison on the nutritional information between brands, and this one stands up great. I won't bother going into my reasons for being unable to breastfeed my daughter after 12 weeks, BUT, I will say that the judgment around formula feeding is rotten and unfair. I felt like a social pariah and hardly left the house with my child, for fear of comments about the way in which it became necessary to feed her. Yay for breastfeeders - it's the best! And yay for bottle feeders who didn't have another choice, but went ahead and nourished their children the best way they possible could.

I'm not a creep but I like to see breastfeeding, even and especially in public places like a MacDonalds.  I also like to see babies with bottles, just really sucking on those rubber nipples.  In fact, I just like to see people eating like they mean it, Bandit.

Actually, Ida did need some formula to get her through some bad jaundice in her first few days. I'm glad I don't have to use it now, at least for the present, but enfamil saved her young life!

Hello,

I was looking up info about Earth's Best and why I wasn't finding it on the shelves and happened upon this blog, which strangely enough is hosted by author Arthur Bradford, whom I went to school with and whose fiction I've admired right from the beginning, when it appeared in the Yale Literary Magazine (especially the one about the carnival swordswallower--named Rita?). OK. "Admired" is an understatement. "Blown away by" is more accurate. Congrats on Dogwalker, and on your baby girl.

Don't let the "breast is best" mafia get you down. I have two kids (one is 2 yrs. 3 months, one 10 months) and I am supplementing with formula with my youngest. I hate walking  into the health food store or Whole Foods and have some holier-than-thou La Leche League wannabe lectures on how "breast is best" while I cower, clutching a can of organic formula. I know, I know! I took all the classes, read all the books. But guess what? Sometimes I need to go teach a class, or write, or have a glass of wine w/out worrying about "pump and dump." And so I supplement with formula.

Congrats on a beautiful, healthy baby girl.

Wow!  Do NOT feel guilty about stopping breastfeeding at 10 months old!  That is so much further than many people go!  My son's pediatrician informed us that research indicates that the benefit of breastfeeding occurs in the first 4 months only and any benefit after that is negligible.  So, if you go by his line of reasoning, you went above and beyond!

This guilt related to breastfeeding makes me crazy!  I have several friends who formula feed there babies and I feel guilty about breastfeeding because I don't want to make them feel guilty about not breastfeeding because I know others have made them feel that way.  Ridiculous!!!

zz (and for others reading this) - it's not necessarily to pump and dump after one glass of wine.  Generally speaking, if you can drive, you can breastfeed.

i'd like to join this debate, but the water in my fishtank urgently needs changing.