One more practical reason for breastfeeding is that it is convenient. Imagine that a baby starts crying at night.
Start breastfeeding. The baby is calmed immediately. You can stay in the bed. 20 minutes later you can both sleep again.
Go prepare a formula. You need to get out of the bed, prepare the formula, check the temperature. Meanwhile the baby is crying. That makes both of you more awake, so when all is done, it is not sure that both of you will fall asleep quickly.
Similarly, when you go outside your home. How convenient is it to breastfeed, vs prepare the formula?
It doesn’t seem like you are arguing that breastfeeding is universally more convenient than formula. But breast feeding can be very inconvenient:
It is often painful
Elevated chance of inflammation
Public spaces are not setup for mothers to breast feed; some may not value it, but a lot of people value privacy.
Formula’s convenience lays in enabling asynchronous feeding of the baby—by separating the role of the producer and the role of the feeder, the other partner can take care of the baby whilst the mother sleeps.
Another compromise to make is store breast milk and reheating it on demand!
mother can’t be separated from the baby for longer than it takes them to get hungry, and must handle every nighttime wakeup. In the newborn phase that can be every 1-3 hours.
you can get around this by pumping, but this has its own costs. Pumping is uncomfortable to painful, time consuming, and then has all the inconvenience of formula feeding and then some (like maintaining a cold chain, and more steps requiring sterilization). It’s also a hardcore logistical puzzle to get as much stored milk as possible without underfeeding your infant in the moment. The best solutions are the least convenient to the mother.
and this is all pretty best case scenario. Lots of women or their babies have medical impediment or just don’t produce enough milk, even on medication.
some babies suck at breastfeeding and need a bottle. you could always pump and bottle feed, but as we covered, pumping has its own cost.
some women need medications that are contraindicated by breastfeeding.
None of this contradicts the evidence that breastfeeding is beneficial, or easier for some people. But the frame should be “this is (usually) a sacrifice that we want to quantify the benefits of, to figure out if it’s worth it” not “hey, free value!”
YES! These points are tremendously overlooked. Breastfeeding was a major psychological issue for my partner for these reasons, as well as some others that might have been a bit personal or idiosyncratic. Either way, it’s not AT ALL a zero-cost choice.
fully agree with the others who have pointed out the many cases where breastfeeding is less convenient, but more practically, one of the most useful baby-hacks in my experience was to put a tiny “skincare fridge” in the baby’s room and put bottles in it overnight (for prepared formula or pumped breast milk)
One more practical reason for breastfeeding is that it is convenient. Imagine that a baby starts crying at night.
Start breastfeeding. The baby is calmed immediately. You can stay in the bed. 20 minutes later you can both sleep again.
Go prepare a formula. You need to get out of the bed, prepare the formula, check the temperature. Meanwhile the baby is crying. That makes both of you more awake, so when all is done, it is not sure that both of you will fall asleep quickly.
Similarly, when you go outside your home. How convenient is it to breastfeed, vs prepare the formula?
It doesn’t seem like you are arguing that breastfeeding is universally more convenient than formula. But breast feeding can be very inconvenient:
It is often painful
Elevated chance of inflammation
Public spaces are not setup for mothers to breast feed; some may not value it, but a lot of people value privacy.
Formula’s convenience lays in enabling asynchronous feeding of the baby—by separating the role of the producer and the role of the feeder, the other partner can take care of the baby whilst the mother sleeps.
Another compromise to make is store breast milk and reheating it on demand!
Continuing the list...
mother can’t be separated from the baby for longer than it takes them to get hungry, and must handle every nighttime wakeup. In the newborn phase that can be every 1-3 hours.
you can get around this by pumping, but this has its own costs. Pumping is uncomfortable to painful, time consuming, and then has all the inconvenience of formula feeding and then some (like maintaining a cold chain, and more steps requiring sterilization). It’s also a hardcore logistical puzzle to get as much stored milk as possible without underfeeding your infant in the moment. The best solutions are the least convenient to the mother.
and this is all pretty best case scenario. Lots of women or their babies have medical impediment or just don’t produce enough milk, even on medication.
some babies suck at breastfeeding and need a bottle. you could always pump and bottle feed, but as we covered, pumping has its own cost.
some women need medications that are contraindicated by breastfeeding.
None of this contradicts the evidence that breastfeeding is beneficial, or easier for some people. But the frame should be “this is (usually) a sacrifice that we want to quantify the benefits of, to figure out if it’s worth it” not “hey, free value!”
YES! These points are tremendously overlooked. Breastfeeding was a major psychological issue for my partner for these reasons, as well as some others that might have been a bit personal or idiosyncratic. Either way, it’s not AT ALL a zero-cost choice.
fully agree with the others who have pointed out the many cases where breastfeeding is less convenient, but more practically, one of the most useful baby-hacks in my experience was to put a tiny “skincare fridge” in the baby’s room and put bottles in it overnight (for prepared formula or pumped breast milk)