Before I start, I want to let you know that I do acknowledge that not every  mother manage to breastfeed and I am not here to let anyone feel shitty about themselves, especially just being a mother is already hard enough.

But if you were to come up to me and say ‘no, [breast is not best], well-fed babies are’, then I’m gonna have to disagree with you, whole-heartedly. Super-duper disagree. Big fat nope.

A well-fed baby should be the MINIMUM requirement— else you might as well starve the baby to death.

I can give you McDonald’s or a slice of premium steak — You cannot possibly think that ‘as long as I am fed, that’s the best’. There’s a whole galaxy difference in both of them!!! Like heaven and earth?!?! Unless the other option is to starve to death, then okay, I guess McDonald’s isn’t that bad.

Now removing starvation from the equation, you got to admit, breast milk is definitely the best, and there is no other substitute that can be any better than breastfeeding (ignore what Nestle tries to sell in the past. Total scam).

I can give you a big fat list about why breastmilk is better than formula, but you already know that don’t you? The amount of nutrients, the extra bonding of mother and baby, yada yada. So why do some people (in facebook especially) still arguing that ‘well-fed babies are the best’, when others are trying to promote breastfeeding? Could it be that this person is insecure about her ability to provide what is best for her child? Could it be because she had trouble with breastfeeding? No matter what, I really can never understand why people would argue about this.

I am not a fan of processed food (yes I do indulge myself once awhile), so giving my newborn baby (who JUST arrived in this world) processed milk (yes formula milk is process FYI if you haven’t realised) doesn’t seem like the best thing to do. (Before you judge me, I’m definitely not an armpit-hair-growing-au-naturale-vegan-hippie). It’s 2021 and everyone is all for ‘organic’ things, and yet… formula milk; really? The reason why breastfed babies feed so often is because breastmilk is easily digested by their immature digestive system. They have trouble digesting a processed cow milk (aka formula), and hence it stays in their gut longer. Nature, is really smart; sadly we’re not.

Unfortunately due to the massive spike in formula feeding in the previous generation, breastfeeding knowledge has also gone down to the drain. The new generation, well-intentioned mothers who wishes to breastfeed are not well supported. (My mother doesn’t even know a thing about breastfeeding). Many are told or given the impression that they are not producing enough milk (or any at all), leading up to feeding their newborns with formula, hoping that their milk will then ‘come in’. 

Sorry but that’s not gonna happen.

The moment a baby is fed formula, they will be too satisfied to suck for milk — the less sucking stimulation your breast gets, the less likely your milk supply will ‘come in’. In fact, it might just stop completely. The first 48 hours is very important for breastmilk production. Hence why colostrums are so concentrated. I do truly sympathize with mothers who are unable to breastfeed; but like I’ve mentioned, many are unfortunately poorly supported. Both with Mr. Monday and Little Tuesday, I had very thick colostrum, which means the volume were little. Besides having them to stimulate the production during feeding time, I actually spent the entire night (on day 2) trying to express milk manually to amp my production.

I was told to feed both Mr. Monday and Little Tuesday formula — which I cheekily refused for Mr. Monday but was not given a choice with Tuesday. They wanted me to feed Tuesday a top up of 40mls of formula which she refused after the first 20ml (she literally was breastfeed right before). This was day 2 of life!!! FYI, there is no way Tuesday could taken 40mls of formula. Formula fed babies have their stomach overstretched since birth, as formula are not as thick as colostrum. Because Tuesday was breastfed since birth, her stomach wasn’t ready to take in such a large volume. The nurse even said that she was meant to take 70mls, but she’s giving Tuesday less because it’s just a ‘top up’.

It’s shocking how little healthcare providers know about breastfeeding.

Being a second-time mother, I wasn’t gonna “take all these s***”. The nurse even tried force feeding Tuesday with formula but she flat out refused and shut her mouth even tighter than before. ‘That’s my girl!’, I thought to myself. (Hahaha! Yeah I’m a total b**** on the inside, but I got to fight for the best for my baby).

It’s a shame that my mother wasn’t supported AT ALL when she wanted to breastfeed both me and my sister. I’m sure my grandmother breastfed her, but my mother didn’t ask for help. I think new mothers think that breastfeeding is meant to be easy, and never thought that they would need help or support from others. Afterall it’s ‘natural’ right? How hard can shoving a nipple into a baby mouth be? Well you’ll be surprised. I’ll let you know next time!