Guilt-free Bottle Feeding: Why Your Formula-Fed Baby Can Be Happy, Healthy and Smart Paperback – September 13, 2022

This is a wonderful book for women who can't or don't want to breastfeed. The book is organized into two sections: 1) background on breastfeeding and bottle feeding and 2) the mechanics of formula feeding. The background is fantastic and makes the book worth reading. The mechanics are very UK/European specific and may not be as helpful for a US audience.In the first section Madeleine Morris and Dr. Sasha Howard talk about the pros and cons of breast and bottle feeding as well as the research that supports it. I particularly appreciated how they had a very balanced view and were very supportive of breastfeeding. They talk about our modern cultural environment that make breastfeeding difficult for many women and note that while we push women to breastfeed, we often don't provide the societal support that is necessary for breastfeeding to be successful, especially in the work environment.When my first baby was born, almost 6 years ago, I was obsessed with trying to breastfeed. It was not possible for us. I tried everything and continued to pump multiple times through the night after my son was already sleeping through the night (even though breastmilk was providing only a fraction of my son's nutrition). I was so tired and depressed I started eyeing the medicine cabinet wondering exactly how many pills it would take to let me sleep forever. In addition, I sacrificed bonding with my child in order to pump. I did all this because I believed with all my heart that breastmilk was best for my baby. I was wrong. In my case, formula was best for my baby. He needed a healthy mother more than he needed my breastmilk. However, I felt extreme guilt for years afterward.After being too scared to have another child for years, I'm pregnant again and once again hope to breastfeed. (I have my lactation consultant and therapist both lined up already). I bought _Guilt-free Bottle Feeding_ hoping more for the tips on the mechanics of bottle feeding. From my experience last time I knew that bottle feeding correctly wasn't as easy as it seems like it would be. Most infant care books will have only a couple of paragraphs, at most, of correct bottle feeding technique. Many of the problems with bottle feeding are directly related to an incorrect technique. From that perspective, this book doesn't contain the information I was looking for. There's still a lot of good information but the guidelines are UK/European based and tend to differ from acceptable practice in the US (it's a UK book so this makes sense).Even though the section on bottle feeding techniques wasn't quite what I was looking for, this is still a fantastic resource for any mother who is struggling with her inability to breastfeed. The research and occasional snarky humor really helped me absorb the material without becoming stressed about my prior experience. My lactation consultant recommended I read _Breastfeeding Made Simple: Seven Natural Laws for Nursing Mothers_ (2nd edition) which is a good book (and I've read _many_ breastfeeding books). However, I probably couldn't have gotten through it without _Guilt-free Bottle Feeding_ sitting right next to me reminding me that breastfeeding is great but I can bottle feed and still be a good mother.

This book does an EXCELLENT job of reviewing the problems with the way breastfeeding is being presented by public health authorities, medical professionals and lactivists. My biggest take-away from this book is that the research being used to justify the pressure on new moms to breastfeed have serious methodological problems and that parents MUST take things that they read with a grain of salt. You should be especially wary of lay people online claiming they have done research. For example, you might see someone online claiming that children who are bottle-fed will develop malocclusions of the mouth which sounds super scary but if you follow the advice of this book and look at the source they are using to make this claim, you might find that they are getting information from the work of Brian Palmer, DDS [...] Dr. Palmer’s website has lots of “research” that backs up some very sweeping claims about the importance of breastfeeding for total health but in reality is nothing more than the opinions of one dentist from his experience in his private dental practice, its junk science. This book encourages you to read the works of real researchers that have actually been published in peer reviewed journals. As this book explains, when you read a study on breastfeeding in entirety you will often find that there is a caveat in the discussion section which warns against drawing a causal links between breastfeeding and the claimed benefit because of methodological problems.Bottom line, the decision to breastfeed is a personal reproductive choice. Women should not feel like they can only choose to use formula only for reasons that others approve. It is entirely the choice of the mother and that choice encompasses far more factors than just the protective effects associated with breastfeeding."How Breastfeeding Reduces the Risk of Obstructive Sleep Apnea." Brian Palmer, DDS. Web. 10 Nov. 2016. [...]

The tone of the book is like an old friend talking with you over coffee. With all the constant onslaught of Breast is Best raining down on every facet of a new moms life and women constantly being judged solely by how they feed, this book is a shelter from the storm, a very welcome reprieve from negativity.If you're not a new mom-- tired, scared, overwhelmed, hormonal, sensitive, physically exhausted from just bringing a life into the world--you just don't understand the pressure and what it can do to you, especially if you try and try and have problems far outside of your control. It's not harmless. And that kind of pressure isn't even justified by science like most of us have been trained to think it has, so there's a cruelty there most people don't even get.This book tries to put some much-needed objectivity and compassion into a discussion so painfully devoid of both, without being mean to breastfeeding moms (quite protective of them in fact), which made it a great book for combination feeding moms like me. Highly recommended for new moms.

I am studying to be a lactation consultant and this book is really eye opening. the breast is best mentality has hurt and alienated so many lactating parents. I hope to change that in my career and this book will help!

How awesome that the authors have been brave enough to take on this subject and have done such an amazing job of releasing mothers from the guilt that can weigh them down and steal the joy of being a mum!

This book blew my mind. As a CBC I’m always in seacg