I am a huge breastfeeding advocate, and have spent over 30 months of my life (so far) nursing my babies. My oldest daughter had (a diagnosis of) colic, and after 6 months, her pediatrician convinced me to stop breastfeeding and give her formula. We tried every brand in an effort to relieve her tummy troubles, and finally settled on THE most expensive brand. We were lucky enough to have the Choctaw WIC program offer us help buying her formula, when the state program refused to help since it wasn't an approved brand (because, you know, sponsorship trumps healthy babies???).
I now know that with a little support from an educated health professional I could have adjusted my diet, and continued to give my daughter the best nutrition for her growing body. She is now an incredibly smart, beautiful, and healthy 7 year old girl, so I realize that she is not suffering because she was fed formula as an infant. She did suffer. My poor little girl became so constipated she had to use laxatives until age 3. Without them she would go days without a bowel movement, and have tears from passing stools so large and compact that they clogged the toilet. She cried and trembled with sweat pouring from her face trying to use the bathroom. Potty training was affected, and took months longer to achieve because of the fear and discomfort. Finally, after being on a daily dose of Mirilax for 2 months, the constipation ended, but she couldn't control her bowels at all. That lasted another month, and caused a painful rash from constant irritation and cleaning.
She cannot remember these events, but undoubtedly has a lasting mental block , as she cannot use the bathroom at school or in public.
After such a traumatic experience I became even more determined to avoid formula feeding with my second daughter. She was a breeze! I nursed her successfully for 14 months, when she weaned quite easily. She has never had any kind of issues, is healthy, happy, and well adjusted. Her appetite is great, and she is so much more willing than my oldest to try new foods and eat a variety of healthy foods. This could be a personality trait or due to her exposure to a variety of foods through my breast milk.
Now with my youngest daughter I plan to continue breastfeeding until she weans herself or is over 2 years old. She has successfully overcome a severe milk allergy that we discovered just before she was 2 months old without compromising her nutrition thanks to my breast milk. She was passing blood in her stool , and through my own research I learned this was a symptom of milk allergy. I discussed this with her doctor and was told she may need to be on soy formula. Instead, I decided to eliminate dairy from my diet , and within just a few days her symptoms had disappeared. I told the doctor what I have discovered and she still did not give my daughter a diagnosis of milk allergy because she had not performed a painful and unnecessary allergy test. Now that she is 9 months old I have begun to reintroduce dairy slowly back into my diet. She is tolerating the additions well and growing at a healthy rate.
I believe breast milk can be a very important source of nutrition for many infants who have digestive difficulties. Formula is a blessing to those babies who medically need it, but breast milk can be just as medically important to an infant's overall health. All babies should be given the opportunity to eat the food that was designed by nature to nourish their fragile bodies. Even if a mother is not able to breastfeed, a healthy lactating donor should always be the second option over formula. This is the recommendation of the World Health Organization, and should be adopted by medical professionals throughout the US to ensure the health of future generations.
