OMG!


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencete...-Russians.html



If you couldn't breastfeed your baby (adoption, communicable disease, lactation difficulties) or if you chose not to breastfeed, what would you feed your baby instead?



I feed my baby SOY formula!

I'm not sure if I should be posting here, as I'm not a parent, but the topic title grabbed my eye. I'd definitely go with soy, despite the carcinogenic fear-mongering I've been hearing lately. I wouldn't trust the human donor, the cow is a no-no, and I sure as heck would not not feed my child mutant chimera milk that has been factory farmed like cow milk. Why are they putting human genes in everything now, anyways? Are they trying to ease the populace into Soylent Green or something?

Although I have no intention of having babies any time soon, I'd probably go with soy or cow's milk based formula. The idea of goat-breast milk freaks me out, I don't understand how, ok, I know it's been genetically modified and changed, but...can it still REALLY be human breast milk if it's been artificially made in a genetically engineered goat? That strikes me as very odd..

Neither, but I'd probably choose SOY formula, if it's adequate nutrition...



Genetically engineering goats to produce human milk is wrong... and weird

I'm very unhappy with soy formula, so needless to say I am hoping to be able to breastfeed. The goat milk is interesting but not something I'd be in a rush to raise my kid on (maybe an augment).

I want to breastfeed but if I couldn't I'd take donors milk. no cows, no weirdo engineered food, and no soy just cause I don't want to overdo the soy and prefer real breastmilk.

Real breast milk costs $4+ dollars an ounce and is generally pasturized before sale so it is not in exactly its pure form. I can see why people would feel conflicted about using formula when they can't afford to buy breastmilk, but I cannot see this solution being a popular alternative!

I'd use whatever my baby tolerated best. My 3 year old is on nasty hypoallergenic crap. I know it's not great, but it's the best she'll take. So that's what she gets. Babies are kind of fragile, especially in the early months. If I couldn't nurse or pump, I'd go with what was best for them, individually, than what went along with my morals and ethics. The idea of genetically modified breastmilk freaks me out and I wouldn't *start* with that. But if that's what we ended up with...meh. My kids have sensitive bellies though. I wouldn't have been able to throw either one of them on soy formula and called it good. Thankfully I was able to nurse my first and never used formula. My second will use formula the rest of her life so we just do our best.

I had to make this choice for the first week of my babies' lives. I chose cows' milk formula, and I would do so again. As we all know, breastmilk is generally the optimum food for a human baby. If breastmilk isn't available/appropriate, then you go to what you consider the best substitute. I personally feel (in the absence of any other issues) that fortified, adjusted cows' milk is a better substitute for human milk than any fortified plant/bean juice.




Precisely.

Well I still breastfeed my nine month old but if I couldn't and I could afford it I would probably use the donors milk. Breast is best!

that's gross. i'd go with Soy.

I'd probably go with the breast milk from donors. It's a little weird but it seems like it would be the most natural and healthy choice compared to the other options. I haven't actually researched soy formula so maybe that works fine but I'd think breast milk that actually comes from a human being and was meant for human babies would be best for them.



Now the genetically modified goat milk thing, that is super super creepy... It sounds like the start of a cheesy horror movie, mutated goat people!

I would like to point out that donor milk is often hard to come by. I've used it before, when I couldn't pump enough for my DD. My friend offered, but still, she was nursing HER baby as well and could only provide me with ~4 oz a day. To buy it, it costs about $4 an OUNCE. Not saying it's not an option, but it's not as simple as "oh, of course I'd use donor milk"! There's websites like milkshare that help connect people for that sort of thing, but the women asking way outnumber the women donating. So unless you have like 6 friends who happen to be nursing at the same time and all willing to donate a little milk on top of nursing their own little ones...hate to say it, but you're using formula.

Shauna is right. For the most part, breasts supply the amount the baby demands, so it is rare for women to have surplus unless they really make an effort to pump. Then there is the price. It sadly is often not a real option for mothers.

Yes, my friend worked hard to give me the extra. I had a sick baby, she had a healthy one. She knew if our positions had been reversed, I would have pumped for her as well (I actually did nurse her baby once to give her a break LOL). I have a lot of friends with lots of kids, but she was the *only* one who happened to have a nursing baby at the time, and that was 6 months after my kid was born. She wasn't helping from the beginning, only in the last few months before I had to go to formula. The timing is almost never going to be perfect, and with lots of people giving up nursing after only a couple of months, your chances of having even one friend willing to donate is slim. I'm definitely not knocking the idea! Just saying, have a back-up plan in case you can't nurse, can't find donated milk, and your kids can't handle the formula you would choose. You have to be flexible as a parent, which I didn't even really learn until my daughter was born disabled and medically fragile. Lots of the stuff you say you'd never do, you end up doing.