I read this a lot online - sometimes from mums whose milk didn't "come in" or who were medically unable to breastfeed, and more often from mums whose baby was unable to transfer milk effectively, dehydrated and thus the "life saving formula" was introduced. How we should be grateful there is now technology to manufacture this alternative for when breastfeeding doesn't work.

But I have to wonder how accurate this statement is.

Did the artificial substitute save the life of the baby in that he/she did not die, did it provide adequate nutrition so that the baby could grow? Absolutely - so is Carnation Milk a lifesaver too? (ie the replacement widely used pre formula?) or dilute cow's & goat's milk, or "dry feeding" which was used prior to animal milks. Isn't the reality simply that eating and drinking, thus not starving/dehydrating is the act that is lifesaving?

The second thing I wonder is, is it purely about surviving versus not surviving? Isn't the big picture about health too? ie how healthy that surviving person is long term? So we should be looking for the best alternative? The one that proffers the least risk of illness, disease and yes even death - not just in infancy, or childhood but ever reaching into adulthood.

If infant formula wasn't about, would babies be dying in droves? Or would someone step up and ensure that all mothers had the right to obtain donated same species milk? Whilst we have this "nearly as good" mentality around hugely profitable bovine based substitutes, where's the hurry in developing a costly appropriate milk banking system?

Of course this logic is fundamentally flawed given the cost of not breastfeeding to the NHS is massive longterm.

So in effect, this "lifesaving" alternative that we "should be grateful for", is actually the very thing that for many women undermine breastfeeding in the first place. Lack of effective support, a belief that actually breastfeeding doesn't really matter, debates over whether it is appropriate to give the milk of our own species in a public place? Booby traps galore, a belief breast is "best" and formula is "normal". All only made possible because of this alternative.

The Politics of Breastfeeding is the book to cover this topic in detail, but THIS and the short video below are a start.