We promised we’d bring you the second half of this debate and here it is. The pros and cons of formula for baby.
Formula: Pros
- Convenient! Baby can be fed in public, and by anyone. This saves a lot of time for mama and she can easily get back to her pre-baby life.
- Freedom! Mama can eat or drink what she wants and so she doesn’t have to worry about last night’s mojito getting into her milk and making baby drunk.
- Formula digests slower so baby needs less feeds.
- Formula fed baby are more likely to start sleeping through the night from an early age, as early as 3 months, we’ve heard. Yes, this means more sleep for mama. This also means Happy mama 🙂
- You’ll have no physical discomfort and no misshapen boobs because left boob is engorged and right is empty.
- There’ll be no lugging around of a big, clunky breast pump bag. Gosh. Not only are most pump bags ugly, the machine makes the most annoying suction noise that reminds me of cows being milked. Yup. I said it.
- Formula is usually packed with all the vitamins that baby needs, so you don’t need extra supplements unless your doctor advises otherwise.
Formula: Cons
- It’s man-made; usually, formula is synthesized from soy milk or cow’s milk. There are strict regulations on how formula is made so it’s definitely healthy for baby to drink. Still, good to know.
- It is not custom-made to your baby’s need the way breast milk is. Formula is exactly that; a formula put together to be drunk by each and every baby.
- Breast milk contains more whey protein while formula contains more casein protein. The increased casein content is more likely to irritate baby’s bowels, causing problems like gas, diarrhea or constipation.
- It can be expensive ranging from N2,000 to as much as N9,000  for a 500g tin. Depending on how much baby eats, you could be spending as much as N30,000 per month.
- All the washing of bottles and nipples! All the scrubbing, and hot water and sterilizing. Because of the frequent use, you might need to buy more bottles and change bottles more often. And most doctors in Nigeria don’t encourage bottle-feeding because they find that the risk of contamination is high and babies are at risk of serious stomach infections. So you need to do extra sterilizing. It might not even be safe to delegate this to a maid.
- Judging Georginas. Like we said in our last post, breastfeeding is becoming a fad. And some proponents are so militant that they judge you for giving baby formula. Biko, show them this article, that you’ve done your research and you’re fully convinced that this is the best thing for you and baby and they can’t tell you nothing. Or you can just ignore them.
- Doesn’t taste as nice as breast milk. Personal opinion. Yes, I drank breast milk. Don’t judge me. Lol.
Ultimately, the choice rests with you, mama. You know what’s best for you and your baby. We hope we’ve been able to help you make an informed decision. All the best! And remember, you got this.
