These issues are complicated to navigate for the midwives as well -- it's hard for them to know exactly who's hoping for more support, and who's really in need of an alternative option.
> More importantly, some mothers just cannot produce enough milk.
I'd guess this would be vanishingly rare, just due to evolutionary pressures over a long period of time, and there are other factors that just make nursing really difficult for many mothers. But I don't know for sure, and nowadays babies that would have simply died, or have killed the mother as well as died, can survive as a matter of course; so that changes the equation as well.
Breastfeeding (the first time around, especially) is quite a bit harder than most people realize -- it's partly a process of teaching the newborn what to do. They may be eager but default to a bad latch, they may be convinced their hand also needs to be in their mouth while they feed, or they may quickly pick up the habit of feeding for 20 seconds then taking a 2 minute nap, or they may decide they can only sleep while latched on. And those are just the problems we saw with our own two daughters!
But it is worth some serious effort (even if just for convenience, once it's working, among other benefits) -- it's just not worth destructive effort, and if it doesn't work out it's not worth remorse.
> She's also on the gifted and talented programme at her school now, so I don't think Formula did her any harm.
Right -- it's just so hard to predict. She might have been breastfed and yet be having difficulty in school as well; there are so very many factors involved, but many parents fix on a few (and torment themselves with guilt, or pride themselves on a choice well-made...).
But there are so many paths to a happy & healthy child who grows up to be a happy & healthy adult, and so many that go elsewhere, and many factors are totally out of our control.
> More importantly, some mothers just cannot produce enough milk.
I'd guess this would be vanishingly rare, just due to evolutionary pressures over a long period of time, and there are other factors that just make nursing really difficult for many mothers. But I don't know for sure, and nowadays babies that would have simply died, or have killed the mother as well as died, can survive as a matter of course; so that changes the equation as well.
Breastfeeding (the first time around, especially) is quite a bit harder than most people realize -- it's partly a process of teaching the newborn what to do. They may be eager but default to a bad latch, they may be convinced their hand also needs to be in their mouth while they feed, or they may quickly pick up the habit of feeding for 20 seconds then taking a 2 minute nap, or they may decide they can only sleep while latched on. And those are just the problems we saw with our own two daughters!
But it is worth some serious effort (even if just for convenience, once it's working, among other benefits) -- it's just not worth destructive effort, and if it doesn't work out it's not worth remorse.
> She's also on the gifted and talented programme at her school now, so I don't think Formula did her any harm.
Right -- it's just so hard to predict. She might have been breastfed and yet be having difficulty in school as well; there are so very many factors involved, but many parents fix on a few (and torment themselves with guilt, or pride themselves on a choice well-made...).
But there are so many paths to a happy & healthy child who grows up to be a happy & healthy adult, and so many that go elsewhere, and many factors are totally out of our control.